God’s Economy (5)

“And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16.18

The context for disciple-making
The Church is the indispensable context in which the work of making disciples goes forward, which makes the Church very important, and building the Church the second priority of the Lord’s agenda for these last days.

Indeed, central to the divine economy is the work of our Lord Jesus Christ in building His Church. In the field of the world, churches are like garden beds, each containing a portion of the field, cultivating it diligently, and sowing good seed into yet more of the Lord’s field. For this work, God has poured out His Holy Spirit, given His people His Word, appointed pastors and teachers, and established an order and procedures for carrying out His will.

But this is not a work which we may take on in whatever manner seems appropriate to us. It is not for us to define the church, nor to determine how the work of the church should proceed, or to what ends. The Lord has declared that He will build His Church, and He entrusted the apostle Paul with the blueprint for pursuing this great work.

We must build our churches as the Lord intends, or our work of making disciples will falter, the field of the world will not be sowed with good seed of the Kingdom, and tares will increase and spread throughout the Lord’s field. Which sounds a lot like where we are today. The time has come for us to rediscover the Lord’s plan for building His Church, and for committing ourselves to doing this work with Him, according to His designs.

The blueprint
In Ephesians 4.11-16 Paul, picking up on the Lord’s declared intention of “building” the Church (v. 12), shows us both what the outcomes of that project are to be, and the process we must follow. Paul says a church is being built-up when it is growing in unity and maturity, so that, increasingly, as a body, the local church constitutes the present incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ.

Paul’s understanding of a healthy, growing church has very little to do with facilities, numbers of attendees, size of budget, variety of programs, or degree of contemporaneousness. For Paul, a local church is being built up when it evidences unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, and maturity in discerning, speaking, and living the truth of God in love.

If this is not the focus of our efforts in building our churches – and it does not seem to be – then we’re working for something other than what the apostle Paul indicates our Lord is seeking. Mere numerical growth and a congregation of people who love their church are not the outcomes God intends in His economy. They seem to be the ones we’re working for, however; so it’s perhaps no wonder that our churches today are ineffectual at sowing and cultivating the Lord’s field for His harvest and glory.

Getting healthy, growing churches
Further, Paul told us how to achieve the outcome of healthy, growing churches. We must make disciples – real disciples, people who are equipped, soul and body, to serve others with the grace and truth of our Lord Jesus Christ, and who are, in fact, doing so.

We do not build the church by running programs, raising money, or bending over backward to accommodate the cultural preferences and conveniences of our contemporary generation. We must build the church the way Jesus did, investing in people for extended periods of time, equipping them for ministry, shepherding them by the Word of God, and then sending them out to live as witnesses for Christ and His Kingdom.

Does this sound like what’s happening in your church?

One of the indicators of a healthy, growing church, according to Paul, is that every member of the Body has become equipped and is serving others with the gifts God’s Spirit supplies (Eph. 4.13-16; 1 Cor. 12.7-11). Churches are not healthy when 20% of the people do 80% of the work, while 80% of the people wait around to be served. This is not a healthy church but a church in need of the reviving power of God’s Spirit. For every member to be thus equipped and serving, every member must submit to the process of becoming a disciple, a true follower of the Lord.

So the work of making disciples and building the local church are intimately connected.

As we persevere in this effort, God will build our congregations into true spiritual communities vibrant with worship, energetic for mutual edification, compassionate in sharing, and fervent in outreach to the larger community. That such churches are so few and far between in our day is a measure of just how much work we have to do in renewing this priority of the divine economy.

For reflection
1.  Why is having a healthy, growing church so crucial to the work of making disciples?

2.  How can we explain the increase of tares in the Lord’s field, when there are so many churches everywhere?

3.  Is it important that local churches work to become healthy and growing? What role does Paul’s model for a healthy, growing church have in your church?

Next steps – Preparation: How do the leaders of your church assesses its health? That is, how do they determine whether your church is healthy and growing? See what you can find out.

T. M. Moore

Our assessment tool, Twelve Questions that Could Change Your Church, can help you gain a sense of where you stand in this important part of the Lord’s agenda and the economy of God. You can download it for free by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.