Home

We grew up going to church where ordained ministers would hold services on Sundays. Perhaps it was only me, but I saw this as holy men performing holy services on holy days in holy places.

As I’ve continued to study Scripture, I see that my understanding while I was growing up is much closer to the Old Testament than to the New Testament. But, what’s the problem with that? The Old Testament is Scripture too, right?

Yes, but when it comes to things like the temple, the priesthood, the sacrifices, the Sabbath, and other aspects of life as the people of God in the New Testament, the New Testament tells us that these things are shadows of reality, and not reality themselves.

Editors Note:
This is an excerpt from the Luke 10 Manual. You can find this book here on our site at this link in the resource section:
//simplechurch.com.ua/en/resursy/knigi- materialy/336-rukovodstvo-luki-10.html

The Luke 10 Manual is an inspiring and practical training manual that looks closely at the mission given to us by Jesus.

Using Luke 10 as the background scripture passage, the book answers very practical questions about finding a man of peace, making disciples, and planting churches. The book will challenge your heart as well as give you practical tools for reaching your family, friends, and neighbors.

INTRODUCTION

It is a privilege to present this material to you . Let me begin by stating that the Bible, in its cultural assumptions, is an eastern book and that Jesus was an eastern man. The cultural background was Hebrew not Greek and the geographic back ground was the Middle East not North America. Thus, you, as easterners, are better able to understand what Jesus was teaching than I am.

However, let me use my authority as a westerner to emphasize one thing, “Do not do church as we have done it in the west for the past hundreds of years. It has not worked very well for us. Why should it work for anybody else?”

The New Testament doctrine of ministry rests therefore not on the clergy-laity distinction but on the twin and complementary pillars of the priesthood of all believers and the gifts of the Spirit. Today, four centuries after the Reformation, the full implications of this Protestant affirmation have yet to be worked out. The clergy-laity dichotomy is a direct carry-over from pre-Reformation Roman Catholicism and a throwback to the Old Testament priesthood. It is one of the principal obstacles to the church effectively being God’s agent of the Kingdom today because it creates a false idea that only “holy men,” namely, ordained ministers, are really qualified and responsible for leadership and significant ministry. In the New Testament there are functional distinctions between various kinds of ministries but no hierarchical division between clergy and laity. —Howard Snyder

When we go back to the Word of God and read it afresh, we see that the clergy profession is the result of our human culture and history and not of God’s will for the church. It is simply impossible to construct a defensible biblical justification for the institution of clergy as we know it. —Christian Smith

For years, we have invited people to come to church. Successful evangelism has consisted of persuading our friends and family to join us at church. We have run special and exciting meetings with professional bands and gifted speakers. Even many of our simple/house churches have had this same mindset; invite someone to church, and pray that the presence of God touches their lives. And, praise God, many have found the Lord in this way. (First Corinthians 14 makes it very clear that there will sometimes be unbelievers in our gatherings.)

One problem: it's not what Jesus told us to do! And it's not the most effective means of changing lives.

Dear Nicolay,

I was so glad to see you in April. Although it was such a short meeting, I am always delighted to see old friends. You seem to be keeping active serving our Lord. Let me tell you about several of the meetings I had on my travels throughout Ukraine.

In the South of Ukraine, I met another man named Nicolay who came to Christ in 1991. In twenty years, he has had many experiences as teacher, pastor and leader. I was encouraged because Nicolay understands that the churches growth has plateaued resulting in the need for change. He is exploring “Organic Churches” because it has spoken to his heart. We had a great time sharing experiences and hopes for a renewed church.

In Kiev, I met one of my first church planting students. He successfully planted a church in 1993, built a building, and received a theological education. He is now a leader in the Oblast. However, he sadly admitted that his church has plateaued and shows little life. He wondered “where did I go wrong?”

If you watched the famous children's film "Adventure of Electronics", it is probably easy to remember how hard the mafia tried to find the "button", which would help them gain control over the electronic boy. No sacrifice of money or effort was too great.. They blindly believed that it would open the door to new opportunities.

Traveling through the labyrinth of pastoral ministry, I also was similar to the one who was desperately trying to find the "button". Sometimes I thought it was very close. This occurred especially in moments of successful ministry, when everyone was marveling at our fruitfulness or after the regular sermon, the words were said, "It was a good sermon." All of this seems so wonderful and it gives an impetus to move forward, but things are not what they seem.

All attempts to find a methodology or the secret of success in building the church lead nowhere. Again and again I was desperately continuing the search for a new system. Now, looking back, I understand what I did not in the past. I was already too deep in the system. I was part of it. It was part of me. I could not escape the system, and the system was using me. My mind was full of models and standard approaches. Moreover, I was not thinking about whether these models and approaches of ministry meet the Biblical principles of the teachings of Christ. And only now I realize I was looking for "button" for ministry success , but the Holy Spirit in His loving hand guided me to find a way out of the system. I think if I had heard this ten years ago, I would have been very terrified and could not even imagine the possibility of pastoral ministry beyond the traditional church system.

*Victor Choudhrie's 15 essential steps for changing traditional churches into New Testament churches.

1. Replace professional clergy with Priesthood of all Believers with authority to baptize, break bread and equip fishers of men. (1 Peter 2:9)
2. Replace Church building with "House of Peace." (Luke 10:5-9; Matt. 10:11-13)
3. Replace programmed Sunday service with daily informal gatherings. The Bride of Christ must have intimacy with her Lord every day and not just for a couple of hours a week lest she become unfaithful. (Acts 2:46-47; Hebrew 3:13)

Editors Note:
This is excellent material that has been used in starting and multiplying churches all over the world. This tool is a great way to start a group with unbelievers, and the principles that are used for studying the Bible are ones that many simple churches use regularly in the life of the church. The principles can be used with any scripture passage and the focus on discovering biblical truth as a group instead of depending on a weekly sermon is very practical and helpful for simple churches. The principles also emphasize the importance of application and obedience.

We hope to provide some additional examples of how to use this ministry tool in the near future.

Thanks to David Watson(New Generations International) for making this material available and to Todd Watkins and Pete Morton who have made some helpful additions and adaptions.
//newgenerationsintl.org/

Download