Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Feb/77

Contributor - Rev. Henry Van Essen

Title - Biblical Church Building

Topic - Church Growth

How is a church built? Built up? Not a building of brick and wood, but a congregation of believers. When is a church completely built? What is the goal of all church (= congregation) building? The answers may vary. For some a church is reasonably built up when a good percentage of the members attend weekly; when the finances give no trouble; when everything runs without much difficulty. Ideas will differ. What is satisfactory for some is not good enough by far for others.

What the church is

We know that the church is the new creation of the Lord Jesus Christ. He bought the church with his own blood and for her life tie died. Therefore nobody can ever speak of "his" or "her" church. Nobody possesses the church except the Lord. He is the only King and Head, and He alone governs her. He alone can feed and build the church. She is His bride, and He is still at work to present her to Himself as a bride pure and spotless. Therefore all our thoughts about church building must come from Him. His goals must be ours.

The goals for the church

These are found in Ephesians 4 :13-16, part of which reads, 4 1 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; . . . speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every joint with which it is supplied, when each part is working properly, makes bodily growth and up builds itself in love."

1. Oneness of the faith is part of the goal, together with oneness of the knowledge. of the Son of God. There is still much difference concerning both in the churches across the world. Not that one super organization is called for, but full agreement in all matters of faith and knowledge of Jesus. This goal must first of all be striven for in the local congregation.

2. Next "mature manhood", becoming a full-grown Christian. The message is that many Christians remain children, or even babies; this has nothing to do with their age, but everything with the development of their faith and their knowledge of the Son of God. The goal is that the church becomes a Gideon band who in faith will serve and strive for the Lord every where. Children run away from a Goliath, babies are trampled under foot, but a full-grown Christian is like David.

3. Then "to attain to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ." Each Christian is not free to grow into whatever kind of man or woman he/she desires to be. Our full grown condition must match as much as possible the stature of the fullness of Christ. That means, how we look, behave, act, minister, work, spiritually. The goal is Christ-likeness, in every aspect of our lives. As long as this is not reached church-building must go on.

4. Bodily growth and growth in love (v. 15). We must grow UP in every way into Him who is the head from whom the whole body when each part is working properly makes bodily growth (= church growth) and up builds itself in love." Here church-growth and growth in love are linked together. It is plainly said: where there is no love, there will be no growth; absence of love kills. But where love increases, there people are loved for Christ's sake, and there they are attracted in an irresistible manner. The presence of the love of Christ causes the church to blossom; absence of this love causes the church to whither and die.

Summing up the goal

1. To come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God;

2. To come to mature manhood in Christ;

3. To come to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

4. To make bodily growth (church growth);

5. To up build itself in love.

It is clear that -the job of building up a church, a congregation, is a staggering large work, enough to make anybody despair. But the church is here, and the goal is set. Both come from Christ. The question is now:

How is this to be done?

Not by human tricks. We will not reach this coal set by Christ by holding lotteries, bazaars or skating parties. No matter how good some social contact may be, we will all agree that the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God is not increased by skating around an ice-rink. Social sciences such as sociology and psychology cannot help here either. Man cannot do it. But the One who created the church, Who set her goals, is also the One who promised, "I will build my church."

Jesus is the church-builder, architect, building-superintendent, and producer of all that is necessary to build the church. Everything comes from Him.

Wrong idea

Away with the idea that a man, a woman, will build up a church. Many problems have been caused by this idea for ministers and other Christian workers. When things are not going well with a congregation, the immediate reaction is that the trouble is with the minister: he cannot relate to the young people, he relates too much to the young people; he controls the consistory, he lets the consistory do as they please; he moves too fast, he does not move. The truth is that the largest part of most congregations look to the ministers and other Christian workers (program people) to build the church. These people are to be miracle workers. This causes fits of despair or fits of pride, guilt feelings, or superiority feelings from such workers. Meanwhile, everybody forgets (including the workers) that unless the Lord builds the house, they that labou,r thereon labour in vain. Congregations must not look towards their ministers,, nor ministers to their congregations, but both must look to the Lord Jesus Christ. Then healthy thinking and attitudes will return to the parish.

How does the Lord build?

"And His gifts were that some should be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the equipment of the - saint,. for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ." Take the first part of this sentence. What do all these workers have in common? They all preach and/or teach the Word of God. So what does the Lord give? Ministers of the Word.

Why are these given? "For the equipment of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ." The greek and most translations do not have a comma after saints; thus it says, 'in order to eq the saints for the work of diako ui! nia = serving and for the building up of the body of Christ. The saints are the believers, since every believer is holy in Christ. The message is: Christ gave ministers of the Word so that all believers might be fully equipped for the work of ministry, and that the body of Christ might be built up.

The equipping

It is only through the ministry of the Word that the believers can be fully equipped for their tasks. The work of serving, ministry, that is, all the other Christian work in a congregation and in the world, is to be done by all believers. We have neglected both truths far too long. Often churches do not consider the preaching and teaching of the Word of first importance. They want their ministers to do many, many other (little) jobs. The Word is no longer central. The congregation no longer depends upon the ministry of the Word of God for reaching the 5 goals of church building.

Most congregations have also forgotten that the ministry of the Word has a very definite purpose: to fully equip all believers for the work of ministry. Diakonia includes visiting the sick, the helping of a depressed neighbour; evangelistic work (deacon Philip), praying with someone, helping out, etc.

All this work of serving is far too often left to the minister of the Word and a few others' The congregation thinks: that's not our work, that's what we got the minister for.

The result of such thinking

First, the preaching and teaching of the Word has no purpose any longer. It was meant to fully equip all believers for the work of ministry; since these have now " unconsciously) decided that this is not their work, the ministry of the Word is emptied of its purpose. Result: little hunger for the Word. When, however, believers begin their work of ministry, they quickly discover their need for help, their hunger for spiritual food, and demand to be fed far more than once a week.

Secondly, the church is not being built up, for the believers are now by and large spectators, who watch the few do the work.

Thirdly, the ministers of the Word begin to question their preaching and teaching, since it does not seem to have any effect; they soon enter into more counseling, and other non-Word-centered ministries. Result: the congregations slip even farther away from God's plan. The five goals for church-building are far out of sight.

The ministers of the Word

These people are given to the church by the Lord Jesus Christ. He selects them, He calls them, He sends them. They are no better or worse than other Christians, just as human; but they are set aside by the Lord's choice for one of the ministries of the Word. That is their first responsibility, actually, it is their only one, to give themselves to the Word and to prayer. They do not build up the -church. But through their preaching and teaching ' the Lord by His Spirit equips every believer. Without the Lord nobody can do a thing. He builds His church. He has decided to use men to preach and teach His Word. He guides them through His Spirit in their preaching and teaching and then uses that which is preached and taught to fully . all believers for their work of ministry. That is how the Lord builds up His church.

The health of a congregation

This is determined by looking at these two items:

1. The preaching and teaching of the Word;

2. The active work of ministry by all believers.

If the first is alright, but if by far the larger part of the congregation sits on the sidelines, doing no active work of ministry, then theory is pumped in, not used; nothing -is really taken in, faith dies.

If there is lots of active ministry but little or no Word ministry, then humanism soon takes over and the church disappears. Examples of both abound . . .

A healthy church has both, not because it is such a great idea, but because it is the way of the Lord to build His church. Any other way is disobedience. His way may mean some large changes., even uncomfortable ones, yet it His way, and we are called to follow Him, so that the church makes bodily growth and up builds itself in love.

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