The Trellis, Vine and Slow Moving Ministries
Thursday, 29 July 2010 17:40
Category: Blog
"The Ministry Mind-Shift that Changes Everything"
The sub-title to book "The Trellis and the Vine" caught my attention because I live in an area of the Northeast that still struggles with provincialism. Actually it is struggling to maintain it at all cost. So to think that a need for change should be even be considered could result in opening the "rejection box" which is very painful.
So as I began to read about this so-called "ministry mind-shift," I found out rather quickly that I could not be lukewarm toward the issues raised because they were so deeply rooted in the New Testament church. This led to being really encouraged and moved rather deeply through simple yet profound statements like - "gospel partnership is normal christian life" (pg. 66); "it's interesting how little the N.T. talks about church growth, and how often it talks about 'gospel growth' or the increase of the 'word' (pg. 37). Another quote that struck a definite chord was this o... bservation - "Sunday sermons are necessary but not sufficient" (pg. 102). That is really good stuff and has helped my thinking about the movement of the Spirit in slow moving ministries.
The challenge for ministries that battle provincialism in both their church and villages is to remember that the gospel confronts every established system and eventually conquers it. This includes the systems that are worshiped in church-life. So preach, pray, train and encourage gospel-growth. Perhaps the "Trellis/Vine" resource may prove to be an encouragement for you in the near future.
