Acts 2 defines for us the core Biblical
purposes for life and ministry. BBM from its founding has been
based on these purposes. Our mission is to help churches equip
believers to live and minister based on these purposes. Our four
key purposes are Worship, Discipleship, Fellowship, and
Evangelism.
We believe it is essential to be relevant
in ministry without compromising Biblical truth. Culture cannot
be ignored in ministry. Nor can culture become the controlling
influence in ministry. Balancing our relationship to culture is
dependent on understanding the Biblical purposes.
Building ministry on Biblical Purposes
requires consideration of each purpose and how it relates to
priorities. A balanced ministry means that you cannot focus on
one area but must integrate all the purposes.
The following principles are based on the
purposes.
1. All ministry must originate from
Devotional Preparation. Worship is at the core of all
ministry and prayer is an essential act in worship. Therefore to
maintain the priority on God, not ourselves, we must focus on
discovering His presence. It is God’s plan and blessing we must
seek not our own. If we seek to build our lives or ministries on
a program it will be our plan not His and it will only have the
strength we have. If ministry is built by sacrificing ourselves
to Him then we will discover a power beyond ourselves.
The Biblical exhortation is clear,
“I urge you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to
present your bodies a living sacrifice, acceptable to God, which
is your spiritual service of worship” (Romans 12:1).
2. Biblical Application
(discipleship) gives the structure for ministry. One of the
cultural struggles we face is the rejection of absolutes and the
desire for “tolerance.” A purpose based ministry must teach and
apply biblical absolutes. The pulpit ministry cannot be so
driven by culture that it neglects the clear message of
Scripture. A present danger is to allow cultural sensitivity to
distort the message.
The preaching and teaching must have
balance between being relevant to our culture without compromise
of truth. Application becomes a key in making truth relevant.
Creativity in presentation is vital to communicating truth. Use
of such things as powerpointtm
projection, drama, and interaction has become a necessity
because of our culture. The key to creativity is to be certain
that it supports the message and does not detract from it.
“All Scripture is given by
inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for
reproof , for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that
the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every
good work” (1 Timothy 3:16-17)
3. Relational Ministry
(fellowship- ministry) is the biblical model for how we serve in
the body of Christ. We live in a culture that has many means of
communication. However, the result has been a decreasing of
personalization and relationship building. Building ministry on
relationships provides the church with an opportunity to meet
the people’s needs in every area: physically, socially,
emotionally, and spiritually.
A ministry built on relationships will
develop “teams” based on understanding one another’s unique
“shape.” This will enable them to find their special “place” in
ministry. “SHAPE” is the acrostic used by Saddleback Church and
the Purpose Driven ministries. “PLACE” is the acrostic used by
Place Ministries. They both refer to five basic characteristics
of a personal profile. The five dimensions are: (1) Personality
(2) Spiritual gifts (3) Natural abilities (4) Passion and (5)
Life experiences. Assessing these five areas of our lives helps
us in not only understanding where we best fit in ministry but
also how we relate to others. (BBM conducts PLACE workshops for
churches using multi-media teaching methods.)
Another reason of a relational
ministry is that it helps us to be certain ministry is
people centered not program centered. A specific development in
relational ministry is that it can have a tremendous
effect on how we operate in boards. The desire in membership and
all church interaction is to follow the Apostles Paul’s
admonition to “beseech you to walk worthy of the calling
with which you were called, with all lowliness and gentleness,
with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love,
endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of
peace” (Ephesians 4:1-3).
4. Evangelical Determination
is key to a balanced ministry. If we focus only on the first
three principles the result will be an ingrown ministry. We need
to be not only “evangelical” in our theology, but evangelistic
in our practice.
A few years ago I wrote an article titled
“The Great Obstacle and The Greatest Omission in the Church.”
The obstacle is broken relationships and the omission is
evangelism. Many churches have a number of “outreach ministries”
where they minister to the social needs of their community. We
need to do this. Many churches also support missionaries around
the world. What is missing is true “evangelism” which is the
presentation of the gospel message (1 Corinthians 15:1-5).
A balanced ministry requires a
determination to “do the work of an evangelist, fulfill
your ministry” (2 Timothy 4:5). Focusing on those
outside the inner core of the church is vital to retaining
balance. When a church focuses on those already inside the
church the result is stagnation. Focusing on reaching those
outside makes the church mission focused not self-focused.
Balancing your life and your ministry are
dependent upon understanding and applying the biblical purposes.
Note: BBM does offer a complete
workshop called “Balancing Life & Ministry on Biblical
Purposes.” The workshop explains the purposes and principles for
leading a life and ministry based on the “Purpose Driven” series
by Rick Warren. You can contact Gary Becker for scheduling or
more information.
