{"id":840,"date":"2014-03-17T01:57:16","date_gmt":"2014-03-17T01:57:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.resourcezoneinternational.com\/?p=840"},"modified":"2019-06-24T23:30:59","modified_gmt":"2019-06-24T23:30:59","slug":"how-a-pastoral-care-structure-can-stop-church-growth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.resourcezone.com.au\/?p=840","title":{"rendered":"How a Pastoral Care Structure Can Stop Church Growth"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"pastoral-care-structure\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The family is the basic unit of every society and plays a crucial role in fulfilling the physical and emotional needs of individuals. This unit of society is breaking down and not fulfilling its role which is causing an enormous problem for the church. For years, pastors have had the able assistance of strong families to keep the church going.\u00a0 Lately, someone has been tampering with the family.\u00a0 Families just aren\u2019t what they used to be.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t enough nurturing to go around.<\/p>\n

Most Christians today don\u2019t have the capacity to follow God with all their heart unless they have help along the way at critical choice points.\u00a0 It helps to have friends who are willing to ask, \u201cAre you sure you want to do that?\u201d \u201cWhat would the Lord Jesus do if He were in your situation?\u201d and other similar questions.\u00a0 It\u2019s in the absence of these rubber-meets-the-road encounters that we\u2019re in deep trouble as a society.<\/p>\n

The importance of a Biblical care structure<\/b><\/p>\n

Caring relationships are the key to developing a church that gets down to where people live.\u00a0 Such a level of church health is not dependent on the energy of the pastor to visit, know, and personally be available to each member of the congregation.\u00a0 Rather, the critical factor surrounds the willingness of the pastor to make a partner out of a volunteer leader who will look after five to ten people, praying and serving them to safety.<\/p>\n

This idea sounds simple, but it has enormous consequences.\u00a0 The typical pastor tries to serve the needs of about 100 people.\u00a0 Most clergy run out of strength, however, far sooner than they run out of people open to being touched in Jesus\u2019 name.<\/p>\n

One pastor who ministered in a particularly under-churched area was asked.\u00a0 \u201cHave you considered another worship service?\u201d \u201cAnother service?\u201d he said, almost with a look of fear.<\/p>\n

\u201cYour facilities and existing schedule could handle it.\u00a0 What makes you hesitant?\u201d The questioning continued. \u201cBecause they\u2019d come!\u201d he replied.\u00a0 \u201cOur staff and volunteer leaders are too overloaded now.\u00a0 If I added twice the number of needs, it would burn them out.\u201d<\/p>\n

There\u2019s something wrong with that reply.\u00a0 The issue is not church size; that attitude is seen in churches of 50, 500 and 5,000.\u00a0 At issue is the equation that says \u201cmore people equals more work.\u201d\u00a0 If God\u2019s foundation of care is to stem from the pastor himself, then this pastor was right.<\/p>\n

However, just before Jesus ascended to heaven, He set forth a better idea.\u00a0 He said, \u201c\u2026.It is for your good that I am going away.\u00a0 Unless I go away, the Counsellor will not come to you; but if I go, I will send him to you\u201d (John 16:7, NIV).\u00a0 In essence, the Holy Spirit came so that Jesus could be everywhere.\u00a0 Jesus said, in effect, \u201cAll you have to do is get two or three Christians together, and I\u2019ll show up.\u201d\u00a0 Jesus the Great Shepherd, unlike His human under-shepherds, can be in millions of places at once.\u00a0 His mathematics says \u201cmore people equals the potential for more love, more equipping, more evangelism, and more discipleship.\u201d What a difference!<\/p>\n

That strategy comes from the Master Himself! The Body of Christ is a wonderful phenomenon that has changed the role of the under-shepherd from Pentecost until the end of the age.\u00a0 God\u2019s plan for taking care of people today is not the old lone-shepherd model in which \u201creal ministry\u201d requires the presence of an ordained minister.<\/p>\n

Too many Christians live, perhaps without realizing it, back in Moses\u2019 day, when the best people could do was yearn for the day when the Holy-Spirit would visit everyone, not just the leaders.\u00a0 In one instance the Spirit rested on 70 of the elders and they began prophesying.\u00a0 Moses\u2019 assistant ran to Moses, asking that they be stopped.\u00a0 Moses replied, however, \u201c\u2026I only wish that all of the Lord\u2019s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!\u201d (Numbers 11:29, TLB)<\/p>\n

Back then, common wisdom was that a leader couldn\u2019t trust sharing the ministry with others.\u00a0 Yet God did put his Spirit on all people and we\u2019re still behaving like He hasn\u2019t.\u00a0 As the Apostle Peter explained in his Pentecost sermon, citing the prophecies of Joel, \u201cIn the last days\u201d, God says, \u201cI will pour out my Spirit on all people.\u00a0 Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams.\u00a0 Even on my servants, both men and women, I will pour out my Spirit in those days, and they will prophesy\u201d (Acts 2:17-18, NIV)<\/p>\n

Churches lose more people to neglect than to schism.<\/b><\/p>\n

Too many people see their pastor like a Moses figure \u2013 the only one who can do what needs to be done.\u00a0 Allowing the saints to become involved in the ministry creates all kinds of consequences.\u00a0 Yes, sometimes people disobey God or abuse the privilege of the indwelling Holy Spirit, leading to schism, prideful independence, and a damaged testimony before the world.<\/p>\n

However, that risk is worth the exposure to it.\u00a0 Most churches lose more people to neglect than to schism.\u00a0 Churches that fail to legitimize volunteer ministry inevitably experience a steady stream of people falling through the cracks.<\/p>\n

Most churches routinely lose half their newest people through neglect while less than 1% are lost to schism (if the pastoral staff is routinely listening to its leaders).\u00a0 No researcher or Bible teacher has found a guaranteed way of \u201cschism-proofing\u201d a church.\u00a0 Neglect and fall away can be promised.\u00a0 However, you will lose more out the \u201cback door\u201d than you will ever lose to schism.<\/p>\n

God\u2019s new after-Pentecost strategy deals with people in handfuls as well as by hundreds.\u00a0 Those ordained clergy following the \u201cMoses\/Jethro paradigm\u201d lead by hundreds, while volunteer leaders following the \u201cBook of Acts paradigm\u201d work by house-to-house groups of about ten.\u00a0 When you add up the harvest being reached, often those who lead hundreds wear out by the time they get to thousands.\u00a0 Volunteers who lead by tens are still looking for more people to help when the overall totals surpass tens of thousands.<\/p>\n

A great dividing line was crossed at Jesus\u2019 ascension.\u00a0 It needs to be recognized that by His Spirit there is now virtually no limit to the supply of volunteer ministers He will make available in a church.<\/p>\n

This Blog article contains some of the thoughts of Carl George in the Book \u2018The Coming Church Revolution\u2019<\/h5>\n

\"CNoyes\"<\/a><\/p>\n

  • Colin is the Director of ResourceZone International. He is a recognized authority in areas like coaching, leadership development, team building, organizational health and growth. He can be reached at info@resourcezoneinternational.com<\/a>\n

     
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