Leading the Mission
- Sep 11, 2006
- Series: Church Planting Bootcamp
Leading the Mission
Leading the Mission as a Christian "Christ loves me and gave himself up for me"
I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
The means and motivation for leading the mission is the love of Christ.
The love of Christ informs and transforms every aspect of our lives as leaders.
Check Yourself
Where do you go for love?
What idols are you exchanging for the love of Christ?
The idol of success
The idol of human approval and recognition
The idol of control
The idol of respect
Practice: Preaching the Gospel to Ourselves.
[A letter written from Jack Miller to a young missionary couple in the Ruwenzori Mountains of Uganda.] Getting the glory of Christ before your eyes and keeping it there-is the greatest work of the Spirit that I can imagine. Think much of the Savior's work suffering for you on that dreadful cross, think much of your sin that provoked such suffering, and then enter by faith into the love that took away your sin and guilt, and then give your work your best. The Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller, by C. John Miller.
Leading the mission as a Christian requires continual repentance and faith in Christ.
Before we can confidently say, "Christ has died for you," we must know experientially Christ has died for me.
We just don't get the love of Christ, thus we must pray.
I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.
I pray also that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is like the working of his mighty strength (Ephesians 1:17-19).
Leading the Mission as a Pastor "Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock"
Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood (Acts 20:28).
To be a good shepherd-and this is consistently the biblical concern-means to be accountable for the lives and well-being of the sheep. For this reason the designation is used for prophets, priests and kings in the Old Testament, and for ruling elders in the New Testament church. Shepherd after My own Heart: Pastoral Traditions and leadership in the Bible, by Timothy S. Laniak.
Being a pastor means carefully balancing and blending strength and authority with love and mercy.
Check Yourself:
What is my default mode of pastoring?
What steps can you take to know your people?
What's the plan for presenting everyone (under your watch) perfect in Christ?
Practice: Asking Questions
But most of them have an ungrounded trust in Christ, hoping that he will pardon, justify and save them, while the world hath their hearts, and they live in the flesh. And this trust they take for justifying faith. I have found by experience, that some ignorant persons, who have been so long unprofitable hearers, have got more knowledge and remorse of conscience in half an hour's close discourse, than they did in ten year's of public preaching. The Reformed Pastor, Richard Baxter.
Leading the Mission as a Theologian "I laid a foundation as an expert builder"
By the grace God has given me, I laid a foundation as an expert builder, and someone else is building on it. But each one should be careful how he builds. For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ. If any man builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, his work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each man's work. If what he has built survives, he will receive his reward. If it is burned up, he will suffer loss; he himself will be saved, but only as one escaping through the flames (1 Corinthians 3:10-15).
I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it (Matthew 16:18).
Check Yourself
What is your church driven by: pragmatism or theology?
Where do your methods for doing church begin?
Practice: Doing Theology
Spiritual Leadership is knowing where God wants people to be and taking the initiative get them there by God's means in reliance on God's power. John Piper, Brothers We Are Not Professionals.
Pragmatism equals success in the marketplace. In Scripture, pragmatism is not equivalent to truth and virtue. The Church has prostituted itself to the methods and techniques: it has become results oriented, the theology oriented. David Wells
Taken from Monthly Missiological Reflection #26 "The Missional Helix: Example of Church Planting" by Gailin Van Rheenan. http://missiology.org/mmr/mmr26.htm
Leading the Mission as a Missionary "Follow Me as I Follow Christ"
It has always been my ambition to preach the gospel where Christ was not known, so that I would not be building on someone else's foundation (Romans 15:20).
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea (Habakuk 2:13).
Check Yourself
Are you setting the pace for mission?
Are you eating with "sinners"?
Are you broken for the lost?
Practice: Look, Listen, Love
Works Cited and/or For Further Study on Leading the Mission:
Skillful Shepherds: Explorations in Pastoral Theology, Derek Tidball; The Cross and Christian Ministry, D.A. Carson; Brothers We Are Not Professionals, John Piper; The Reformed Pastor, Richard Baxter; The Christian Ministry, Charles Bridges; Shepherd after My own Heart: Pastoral Traditions and Leadership in the Bible, Timothy S. Laniak; The Effective Pastor, Peter White; Renewal as a Way of Life, Richard F. Lovelace; The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification, Walter Marshall; Outgrowing the Ingrown Church, C. John Miller; The Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller, C. John Miller; Building Leaders, Aubrey Malphurs; Leading with Love, Alexander Strauch; Spurgeon on Leadership, Larry Michael; Evaluating the Chruch Growth Movement, Paul Engle; Empowered Church Leadership, Brian J. Dodd; The Deliberate Church, Mark Dever and Paul Alexander; Shaped by God's Heart, Milfred Minatrea; The Gospel for Real Life, Jerry Bridge, The Gospel for Life: Renewal Articles, Jay Wetger: http://www.thegospelforlife.org/Articles/ChurchRenewal/tabid/60/Default.aspx.
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