DOING MINISTRY UPSTREAM
TO CHANGE CONDITIONS DOWNSTREAM
Presented by
William E. Randolph, Jr.
Senior Pastor
First Baptist Church
Jeffersonville, OH.
Western Union Baptist District Association
November 5, 2011
Cincinnati, OH
Dr. Zan Wesley Holmes, pastor emeritus of the St. Luke United Methodist Church in Dallas, TX. shared a story about a particular community that was nestled in the hills which was known for its aesthetic beauty and in particular for a stream that flowed from the top of the hill down. This community one day found its calmness and peace interrupted by a body that had floated downstream from upstream. When they found this dead body they immediately pulled it from the water and provided an appropriate burial for this unknown person. According to Dr. Holmes the community felt good that they had done a good deed by taking a dead person who had drowned in their stream and given it an appropriate burial.
But then the next day two more bodies floated downstream. By now the community is alarmed because evidently there was something going on upstream that was responsible for the deaths and dead bodies that were floating downstream. And so once again they do their charitable work by retrieving the bodies from floating further downstream and giving them an appropriate burial.
But then the next four more bodies float downstream from upstream and now the community is in an uproar. After all, the deaths that are coming from upstream must be addressed but they are content to simply provide the charity of a dignified burial and insure that the bodies that are floating downstream.
And the next day several more bodies have shown up in the stream and by now I think you know where I am going with this insightful illustration. Somebody said that it’s one thing for us to continue to retrieve these dead bodies out of the water and provide them with a dignified burial but somebody needs to go upstream and find out what the real problem is.
In a real sense they surmised that there must be something that is happening upstream that is responsible for the multiple deaths they were witnessing downstream.
And my concern because a lot of churches today have become so busy downstream that we are not adequately dealing with the real problem that is occurring upstream.
Mark 2:1-12
1 And again He entered Capernaum after some days, and it was heard that He was in the house. 2 Immediately many gathered together, so that there was no longer room to receive them, not even near the door. And He preached the word to them. 3 Then they came to Him, bringing a paralytic who was carried by four men. 4 And when they could not come near Him because of the crowd, they uncovered the roof where He was. So when they had broken through, they let down the bed on which the paralytic was lying.
5 When Jesus saw their faith, He said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.”
6 And some of the scribes were sitting there and reasoning in their hearts, 7 “Why does this Man speak blasphemies like this? Who can forgive sins but God alone?”
8 But immediately, when Jesus perceived in His spirit that they reasoned thus within themselves, He said to them, “Why do you reason about these things in your hearts? 9 Which is easier, to say to the paralytic, ‘Your sins are forgiven you,’ or to say, ‘Arise, take up your bed and walk’? 10 But that you may know that the Son of Man has power on earth to forgive sins”—He said to the paralytic, 11 “I say to you, arise, take up your bed, and go to your house.” 12 Immediately he arose, took up the bed, and went out in the presence of them all, so that all were amazed and glorified God, saying, “We never saw anything like this!”
There are several points that emerge from this text pertaining to doing ministry today.
1. There are four groups in this text (the crippled, the curious, the critics and the compassionate) who help us understand about
2. The four men were willing to do whatever was necessary to get their friend to Jesus. NOTE: The message was the same (get him to Jesus) but the methodology changed. The “traditional” method was to come through the door but they took an unconventional, non-traditional approach (they tore the roof off in order to get their friend to Jesus).
3. Likewise, we do not change the message (bring people to Jesus) but our methodologies must change if we are to effectively minister today. Some approaches were appropriate, and may still be, but we must be willing to do what is necessary to bring people to Christ without changing the message.
OBJECTIVES
1. A proper balance of the six purposes of the church
2. A proper balance between tradition & novelty,
doctrine & relevancy, the message & the method
3. Explore new effective, efficient and creative ways to
communicate the gospel and reach the lost.
A. BIBLICAL CHALLENGES (Downstream Conditions)
1. Change
2. Tradition
3. Resources (financial, volunteer workers, etc.)
4. Processes
5. Success
6. Complacency
7. Obedience
8. Youthfulness
9. Spiritual Arrogance (believing they are more spiritual than pastor)
10. Outreach
The question becomes in light of the challenges listed above (as well as some others) how is ministry to be done? What does it mean to grow a church in this context or the context where your ministry is?
THE SIX PURPOSES OF THE CHURCH
Acts 2:40-47
I= _______________________________
M= ______________________________
P= ______________________________
A= _______________________________
C= _______________________________
T= ________________________________
TOP TEN THINGS PEOPLE HATE ABOUT CHURCH
• Services too long
• Immoral leadership
• Double standards
• Overemphasis on money
• Irrelevant ministry
• Rude church members/ushers
• Afternoon services
• Fear of embarrassment
• Boring
• Politics from the pulpit
CRACKING THE CULTURAL CODE IN YOUR CONGREGATION
I. If we are to effectively minister, we must understand:
A. The Traditionalists
1. __________________________________________
2. __________________________________________.
3. __________________________________________.
4. __________________________________________.
5. __________________________________________.
B. The Progressivists
1. __________________________________________.
2. __________________________________________.
3. __________________________________________.
4. __________________________________________.
II. If we are to effectively minister, we must tear down walls.
Ephesians 2:14
“For he is our peace, who hath made both one, and hath broken down the middle wall of partition between us;
Galatians 3:28
There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
A. Walls of Denominationalism - __________________________
____________________________________________________________
B. Walls of Biblical Ignorance - ___________________________
____________________________________________________________
C. Walls of Bad Traditionalism - __________________________
___________________________________________________
D. Walls of Sexism - ________________________________
___________________________________________________
E. Walls of Racism - _______________________________
____________________________________________________________
F. Walls of Classism - _________________________________
____________________________________________________________
The only way the church can overcome this __________ is to submit itself to the truth of the ______________ _________.
John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, [Or his only begotten Son] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life