The phrase, “this is the way we have always done it,” has been frequently used recently as the way to justify the current methods for fulfilling the mission of the Church. The only problem is that these methods do not work any more. If we keep the status quo, we will continue to have a mass exodus from our Churches. So what do we do?
I propose we return to the method that our Lord Jesus gave us to complete the mission. Actually, He modeled two methods for us in the Gospels. Let us take a look at both so we can better understand his preference.
- Program Ministry – Anytime you have one person presenting to a multitude, you have created a program. Whether it is teaching, preaching, healing, or leading, you have a program. We understand this model very well because it is the one we have grown accustomed (and complacent) to using. Our Religious Education follows this model.
- Relational Ministry – The Lord utilized an old Rabbinic practice of calling disciples to follow him. As he was preparing for his public ministry, Jesus called twelve men to follow him. During the course of three years he invested his life and heart into them, knowing that one day they would be asked to take on Jesus’ mission of restoring the world to the Father.
He kept them close to him and included them in his public ministry. He solicited their help in his program ministries. This opportunity gave them immediate access to the Lord and full view of who he was. During this period, he also gave them his love and his heart. It was his personal investment that created the loyalty that would motivate each of his apostles to take up the mantle and suffer or die for HIM.
People do not sacrifice, let alone die, for rules in a book. They will die for love!
Satan has done a great job of removing intimacy from our faith experience. We are a bunch of humans starving for love and running away from the truth. So we prefer a sterile religious education process where all we have to do is share content from a book devoid of any personal information about ourselves. But who wants to walk a journey to discover Christ alone?
What we are lacking is the intimate connection that programs never provide. The Holy Spirit wants to flow through disciples and use them to make new disciples. When hearts are connected, the Love of God (Holy Spirit) flows between them to minister to the world. I believe that we must return and emphasize relational ministry as the premier method for forming disciples.
How long would it take to transform your parish if each member of the core of the parish were actively forming three disciples a year? If their disciples were trained to do the same, how long until church membership stop bleeding and begins to grow? We can do this!
Well said. We keep repeating the same process expecting to get different results. There is a lost and dying world out there needing, desiring and begging for some kind of human and Spiritual contact. We have the means to help meet their physical and emotional needs, but even more powerful, we have the means to share Jesus with them. The Holy Spirit does not give us gifts and His power to keep for our own selfish needs. HE CAME TO BE SHARED, with love and truth.
This blog entry describes the model I was taught through high school and college. I share my faith with my peers , one at a time. I bring them together as a group and teach them to do with others what I am doing with them. They share their faith with their peers and repeat the process. I disciple my group; they disciple theirs. The process becomes exponential growth.