Healthy, Growing Churches (1)

“Therefore take heed to yourselves and to all the flock, among which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church of God which He purchased with His own blood.” Acts 20.28

Homilies on the Acts of the Apostles 44
John Chrysostom (344-407)
“Do you see how many compelling necessities there are? ‘You were ordained by the Spirit,’ he says, for this is what ‘the Holy Spirit has made you overseers’ means. This is one. Then, ‘to care for the church of God.’ This is another. And the third, ‘which he obtained with his own blood.’ Through his words [Paul] shows that a great deal hinges on this and that matters of no small value are at risk, if, with the master not sparing even his own blood on behalf of his church, we look down upon our brothers’ salvation.”

Chrysostom distinguished looking down on the salvation of God’s people from looking over their salvation, which is the duty of shepherds (Heb. 13.17). We look downon the salvation of God’s people when we don’t care enough about their spiritual wellbeing to do everything we can to ensure that they are growing in the Lord, attending to the disciplines of grace, and seeking the Kingdom in every area of their lives. We look over their salvation when, as true shepherds, we ensure that all members of the church have a loving shepherd to encourage, equip, direct, assist, and strengthen them for following Jesus. Indeed, “matters of no small value are at risk” in this, since we must all give an accounting of our salvation, and those who are called to teach, equip, and shepherd the flock of God are more accountable, and thus subject to more scrutiny and judgment (Jms. 3.1). On the day of this accounting, be sure: The Lord will not ask how many members your church had, or whether your budget increased each year. He will want to know if you shepherded His flock as He Himself would.

What would your church look like if it were organized to ensure that every member of the flock had a loving pastoral overseer to equip and guide them for a fruitful walk with Jesus?

T. M. Moore

Organizing with the Spirit
The Lord Jesus is building His Church. His Word is the blueprint, His Spirit is the General Contractor, and we are all builders together of the Body of Christ. But are we doing our work God’s way, or ours? The Spirit has His ways of organizing our work, and we do well to understand as much as we can about His methods. This is the argument of Dr. Kent Miller of Michigan State University, and you can watch our Conversationwith Dr. Miller, and download a free copy of his paper on the subject, “Organizing with the Spirit,” by clicking here.

The Fellowship of Ailbe is supported through the generous and faithful gifts of those who benefit from and believe in our work. Does the Lord want to use you in this way? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.