00 cmg chapter 06

Loving God and Men--the Basic Motive for All that Christians Do

Jesus commands, "`Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: `Love your neighbor as yourself.' All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments." Matthew 22:37-40

Click the explanation you want now, of why and how Jesus wants us to spur believers to love:

A. Teach Believers to Love God and Other People
B. Let New Leaders Develop Ministries Without Fearing Their Superiors
C. Give New Believers Much Loving Care While They Learn Discipleship
D. Encourage New Believers at Once to Care for the Needy
E. Where Poverty Reigns, Wed Church Planting to Development Work
F. Let the Holy Spirit Harmonize Gift-Based Ministries in Love
G. Discern ‘One Another’ Activities that Need Attention
H. Detect Spiritual Gifts by Releasing Leaders to Work With New Congregations or Cells
I. Review the Spiritual Gifts Revealed in the New Testament
J. Detect and Deal with Personal or Family Needs of Small Group Members
K. Keep In Balance the Three Vital Components Of Disciple Making

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06A. Teach Believers to Love God and Other People

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

"A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another." John 13:34-35 (NIV)

The purpose of this chapter is to explain why Jesus commands us to spur believers to love, and how to do it. Loving God and men is the basic motive for all that Christians do.

Find in Luke 10:25-37 what God counts as true Christian love:

On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. "Teacher," he asked, "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"

"What is written in the Law?" he replied. "How do you read it?"

He answered: "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind;" and, "Love your neighbor as yourself."

"You have answered correctly," Jesus replied. "Do this and you will live."

But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

In reply Jesus said: "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he fell into the hands of robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half-dead. A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, took him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two silver coins and gave them to the innkeeper. `Look after him,’ he said, `and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’ Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"

The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him."

Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise." (NIV)

Please ask God now to help you lead your people in being "Good Samaritans" by serving those who are in desperate need.

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06B. Let New Leaders Develop Ministries Without Fearing Their Superiors

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

Mr. 'Traditionalist' visits his coworkers in private to persuade them to elect him as chairman of the Mission Strategy Planning Group. At the group’s next meeting he tells those who disagree with his policies, "Do what I say or you must resign from my Strategy Planning Group! Do not argue with me! I hold the highest position in the group!"

"At least you talk the loudest," Mr. 'Foresight' laughs. "Enforcing rules by threat of force is not God’s way to organize or to do His work!"

Churches reproduce much more readily in an atmosphere of freedom balanced with loving discipline. Perfectionism—excessive fear of making mistakes—paralyzes the Lord’s work. Jesus warns us against excessive control in Matthew 20:25-28.

If you are a leader, please consider for a moment your methods of leading. God wants leaders who humbly encourage every member of the body to do ministry. Immature members will make mistakes as we give them opportunities to grow in ministry. New leaders, like new churches or cell groups, must learn to take their baby steps. We must not discourage them by pointing out every little mistake and putting unneeded limitations on them. Jesus allowed his disciples to make many failures. Parents all know the "ups and downs" of their own children as they develop. Failure and experimentation are a natural part of growing up. A major cause of failure in leadership is to fear failure. If we let fear control us, it paralyzes the work. We should rather be concerned that we all learn from our failures.

Scoggins tells how his congregations discovered how to lead within the flock rather than by lording over it:

We had to make an important decision. Were we going to lead because we were seeking self-promotion, or because we were heeding the call of the Holy Spirit in our lives? Motives are central in Christian service, as we read in 1 Corinthians 3:10-15; 4:6.

We found that leadership from within the flock gives far better results. Servant-leaders die to self as they discern what is pleasing to the Lord. When pastors become servant-leaders within the flock—not over it—they get to know the people, as shepherds know their sheep. Then they can discern the spirits of the people as they seek the Lord’s will for themselves and for the church. Close relationships are necessary in order to help members see the hidden motives of their own hearts. God then protects them from their selfish motives in "spiritual service." Many a sincere saint has been failed because of hidden, carnal motives in their service to the King.

We found that leadership from the top down controls and thus limits the avenues through which the Holy Spirit can speak and work. However, leadership from within the body encourages others to take initiative and broadens the avenues through which the Holy Spirit speaks and works. Leaders who stay close to the sheep discern the dangers that come through carnal motives. We can seldom predict far into the future the direction in which the Spirit is leading us, but leaders who work from within the flock soon detect dangers when they creep up. Such leaders enable workers more readily to help congregations reproduce.

The New Testament strongly emphasizes servant-leadership. Jesus warns us against exercising authority for the purpose of control; human authority exercised from the top down violates the command of Jesus recorded in Matthew 20:25-28.

Top-down Control often stifles church reproduction because it assumes that God will lead the church only through those presently in leadership. It leaves the so-called laity behind. Laymen must wait passively until their leader comes down from the mountain with a revelation from God about what they should do. That kills individual initiative and narrows the avenues through which the Holy Spirit can speak to the church. Servant leaders help others to take responsibility before the Lord and to do their part.

Patterson tells how, while writing Train And Multiply™ materials for new pastors, he learned by painful experience to build organization on loving relationships:

Missionaries in Honduras urged our first few churches in the larger cities, to organize a national association of churches with Hondurans elected as leaders. For the first few years, the Honduran leaders felt that they had authority simply because they were above others in the organization. They ruled like dictators. This caused friction with the rural churches where I was working. I asked other workers about it and found that they had the same problem. They said it was because of the Honduran culture and that there was nothing we could do about it. However, when we trained leaders on the job in our area, giving them the same attention that Jesus and the apostles gave to their trainees, they did not act like dictators. Rather they took on the role of servant-leaders.

The reason was simple. Our Honduran work was new; we had no mature, well-organized churches nor experienced leaders. So the only model of leadership that they saw for the Lord’s work was that which we gave them as they were being trained. The pastors from the larger cities received their training almost exclusively in the classroom and followed the leadership style of their professors—dictatorship! But those that we trained on the job by extension saw a different kind of leadership model. We listened to them as they talked about their infant congregations before we suggested what to do or what to study, to help them edify their churches according to current needs and ministry opportunities. I found that, if my students knew that I was helping them to develop a more effective ministry, then they were intensely loyal to me. They normally did what I suggested even though I had no organizational authority over them. They quickly adopted this servant leadership model with their own churches and apprentices.

My need to serve as a model servant-leader became compellingly evident. My authority had to be exercised through loving relationships, in order for the churches to work together in loving harmony and to reproduce normally. We needed organization for order, but taught our people to consider our organization’s authority to be lower than that of Christ and His apostles’ commands. We taught our leaders to build their authority on loving relationships, as Jesus did. That is why He Jesus told the new leaders that he trained, "If you love me, obey my commands" (John 14:15).

We taught our people that for the sake of order, activities might be defined by the bylaws of our churches and their regional associations, but authority was not to be based on the bylaws. Authority was to be based on our love for Christ and each other. The more traditional pastors kept rewriting their constitutions and bylaws to maintain control. They constantly feared that things might grow out of their control.

The question of authority came to a head when we organized regional associations of churches to coordinate inter-church projects for evangelism, fellowship, pastoral training and community development. The more traditional leaders in our national association of churches complained that these new regional associations would undermine their authority and church discipline. They accused us of undermining national church unity. They insisted on conformity to their way of doing things and called that "unity". They warned local pastors, "Things will grow out of control; you will only have confusion".

Our workers grew weary of such attacks, so we held a meeting to decide what to do. We prayerfully examined the Word to find God’s guidelines for churches to relate to each other. We found that in both Jerusalem and in Ephesus, the congregations were meeting in homes and formed one citywide body that was called the church of that city. Today those churches would be considered clusters of house churches or cells. The New Testament commands Christians to work lovingly with one another between congregations as well as within them. We agreed to do what the apostles taught to their new churches and began to cultivate loving fellowship between the churches, caring for each another in practical ways. We developed working relationships and mercy ministries rather than a politically oriented bureaucracy with man-made bylaws. Of course, we wrote brief bylaws based on Scripture, to define how our servant-leaders could maintain this loving inter-church cooperation in our region.

This regional organization among churches did not cause the confusion that our critics had prophesied. Rather, it built bonds between churches and strengthened their ministries. Our regional leaders had more influence and discipline by building their authority on loving relationships, than did those at the national level who at that time still ruled with a clenched fist.

Please ask the Lord to help you and your coworkers to lead with a humble spirit, encouraging others to serve not out of fear but out of love, inspired by your example.

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06C. Give New Believers Much Loving Care While They Learn Discipleship

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

New believers feel that God accepts them, when we who are in the church accept them in love. A newborn infant thrives on its mother’s love, but if its mother’s love is lacking it becomes socially impaired for life. Likewise, newborn Christians in the church may be impaired spiritually, often permanently, if they fail to receive loving care.

Scoggins learned from experience the need for loving care for newborn believers:

We saw in some churches that it takes months or years for newcomers to feel that they have become a real part of the church body. For a church to grow and reproduce the way God wants it to do, it must integrate newcomers into its life and heart. One way is to teach people to see each newcomer as a door to a new social network that God might add to the church. The person who brings a newcomer should immediately begin to shepherd that person in the basics of the faith. If people do not know how to do that, then we must show them how. We must train newcomers to share their faith at once with their social network to penetrate it for Christ. In some cases, a whole network of friends and relatives is harvested for the kingdom. Sometimes new churches are born because of such a harvest; others times an entire social network joins existing churches with dynamic results. We must avoid extracting a person from his or her social network and to "hiding" them in the church before we try to penetrate their network for Christ.

Since some newcomers simply show up at the church, we should ask volunteers to watch for them and begin at once to befriend them and to shepherd them in the basics of the faith. Such a ministry, like that of Barnabas, is essential to the healthy growth and reproduction of the church, as we read in Acts 9:26-28.

Stop a moment to think how you can help your people to serve and embrace new believers more fervently.

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06D. Encourage New Believers at Once to Care for the Needy

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

The church in Jerusalem took care of its needy people from the beginning (Acts 6:1-7). As the church grew in numbers, they found that they had to name workers to coordinate and carry out this work. Servants like them are what Scripture calls deacons. From the beginning we must teach new believers to obey the greatest commandment, to love God with all our heart and our neighbor as ourselves. We are to do good to all kinds of people, starting with the family of God, as we read in Galatians 6:10 and 1 John 3:16-18.

We should teach new believers to begin at once to show their love for God and their neighbor in a practical way, as taught in Luke 10:25-37.

Believers have been saved to serve one another, as revealed in Galatians 5:13. Each one has something to offer to the believing community as well as other neighbors.

We must avoid a self-centered approach to discipleship that tells new believers that God’s main interest is to meet their needs and make them more prosperous and comfortable. Jesus did not promise to us material riches on earth; he promised a painful cross for us to carry. Our daily bread, yes, but a big house and large bank account, no. God promises gifts that in this life are designed to serve others. Everyone who has the Holy Spirit has something to give others.

We receive much when we become part of God’s living community, but then our motive should be to give, not to get. Anything we receive should be seen not as what we deserve but as a gift by pure grace. Our responsibility, then, is to give freely. Caring for the physical needs of others is a basic way to show our love for God, as we read in Luke 10:25-37 and 1 John 3:16-18.

We should provide new believers with opportunities to practice simple acts of love and mercy before entrusting them with more influential leadership. A church’s foundation crumbles when human "termites", that lack loving compassionate, "worm" their way into positions of power. God gives to believers spiritual gifts to help them to cultivate practical love, to heal broken relationships and physical sickness, to deal with poverty, and to develop edifying relationships between workers. These include the gifts of compassion, giving, helps, service, and hospitality.

Please think now of new believers in your church--or the churches of those you train. Do they need encouragement to serve others who are in need, perhaps among their family members or friends?

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06E. Where Poverty Reigns, Wed Church Planting to Development Work

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

Good development requires persons with different spiritual gifts. Depending on the needs of the community, need, these needed gifts might include:

Compassion. In poverty areas church planting should incorporate mercy ministries or small businesses. We must not confuse mercy with mere pity that gives help in a way that creates dependency upon the givers. Workers accustomed to doing emergency relief must be retrained to avoid simply giving things away in long-term development projects.
Prophecy. This gift enables creative, powerful and artistic ways to communicate God’s messages to others "for their strengthening, encouragement and comfort" (1 Corinthians 14:3). The Hebrew prophets often used poetry and powerful symbolism.
Giving. Your coworkers in mercy ministry might include a businessman whose business provides employment for fellow workers or for nationals. The business might also enable workers to reside in areas where the government refuses residence to conventional, full-time missionaries.
Healing or casting out demons. In new fields where Satan has had complete control of the people’s minds for centuries and they hold a world view totally incompatible with Christianity, God often confirms the gospel message with healing and signs, as He did under similar circumstances in the book of Acts. Missionaries from churches in the West that do not emphasize these sign gifts also report such "power encounters" when they work in these areas.

If there is serious poverty, disease or injustice in your area, take a moment now to plan how you and your coworkers can deal with it firmly, in love.

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06F. Let the Holy Spirit Harmonize Gift-Based Ministries in Love

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

To mobilize believers in ministry, we must help them to work together with their different ministries in love, by the power of the Holy Spirit. We must not isolate the different gift-based ministries as separate programs or departments. Scripture urges us to use the spiritual gifts that the Holy Spirit has given to us to serve one another in love as a closely-knit body, as we read in Romans 12; 1 Corinthians chapters 2-13 and Ephesians 4:11-16.

During the 20th century Western churches compartmentalized ministries, creating separate programs for evangelism, Christian education, community development, worship and pastoral training. Such Western style of organization leads to a bureaucracy in which individuals gain influence and power. The church body breaks up into separate programs with little cooperation between them. Often simply maintaining one’s position of power within that program becomes one’s objective. Attempts to remove a grasping person or to reduce his budget results in verbal combat. Once a person becomes jealous of his position and protects it, he resists change regardless of what the Holy Spirit might try to say. Such fragmented organization hinders the Holy Spirit’s work, since "God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble." Fragmented, program-oriented organization fails to promote humility, forbearance, or cooperation on the part of every member of the body. We need these virtues to edify the body by harmonizing its gift-based ministries in love, as we read in 1 Corinthians 13.

The 20th century Western tradition of compartmentalized organizations may bring efficiency, but it fractures the church body. To foster church reproduction in poor, new fields, the biblical style of organization allows church planting to go hand-in-hand with poverty relief and pastoral training as an integrated effort. This interaction between persons of different gifts produces balance and a healthier church body. Nor can such networking be controlled from the outside and still allow the churches to meet needs as they arise. Leadership must come from within the churches themselves.

Please ask God now if your church--or the churches of those you train--have organized in a way that helps believers to talk with one another to find out their needs and interests, and to serve one another with their different gifts.

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06G. Discern ‘One Another’ Activities that Need Attention

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

Galatians 5:13 reveals the reciprocal nature of Christian ministry:

You, dear friends, have been called to live in freedom, not to satisfy your sinful nature, but to serve one another in love. (NIV)

There are many such "one another" verses in the Bible. We can practice them both within congregations and between them. Believers encourage one other, pray for each other, confess faults to one another and in many other ways serve one another. Since they cannot do this in large meetings, churches must also organize small group meetings, home groups or cells.

‘One another’ church body life cannot be confined to one’s own group or congregation. Believers also practice it between congregations, because a group small enough to do it with all of its own members is too small to have all the spiritual gifts, since God gives so many spiritual gifts! For example, if your congregation is weak in evangelism, do not go looking for another method to witness. Rather look for people with the gift of evangelism, who enjoy witnessing for Christ who can help you. Perhaps someone in another congregation is willing to help you, as you in turn help them in some way. Almost nothing is more powerful to build ministries than voluntary, loving interaction between congregations. We must constantly build loving fellowship between persons and between congregations. We organize this interaction way by building on relationships, so it will happen easily and joyfully. Let the congregation talk over which items they currently need to study and apply. Note the items that they choose.

New Testament "One Another" Commands

Commands For Building Joyful Relationships

Love:

Love one another, John 13:34-35; 5:12, 17; Romans 12:10; 1 Thessalonians 4:9; 1 John 3:11,14, 23 and 4:7, 11, 12; 2 John 1:5; 1 Peter 1:22

Love one another to fulfill the law, Romans 13:8

Increase our love one for another, 2 Thessalonians 1:3

Abound in love for another, 1 Thessalonians 3:12

Love each other deeply, to cover a multitude of sins, 1 Peter 4:8

Build caring relationships:

Have fellowship one with another, 1 John 1:7

Forgive one another, Ephesians 3:13 and 4:32 and Colossians 3:13

Greet one another with a holy kiss (an embrace in some cultures), Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 13:12 and 1 Peter 5:14

Wait for one another to break bread, 1 Corinthians 11:33

Bear one another’s sufferings, 1 Corinthians 12:260

Commands for Serving One Another, Within and Between Congregations

Serve:

Serve one another with the gifts each person has received, 1 Peter 4:10

Serve one another in love, Galatians 5:13

Be kind to each other, 1 Thessalonians 5:15

Care for one another, 1 Corinthians 12:25

Bear the burdens one for another, Galatians 6:2

Wash one another’s feet as a sign of a humble servant’s heart, John 13:14

Work with one another, 1 Corinthians 3:9 and 2 Corinthians 6:1

Teach :

Teach one another, Colossians 3:16

Instruct one another, Romans 5:14

Encourage:

Encourage one another, Colossians 3:16 and Hebrews 10:25

Exhort one another, Hebrews 3:13

Speak the truth to one another, Ephesians 4:25

Lay down our lives one for another, 1 John 3:16

Spur one another to love and good deeds, Hebrews 10:24

Edify:

Edify, in strengthen, build up one another, 1 Thessalonians 4:18 & 5:1, 11

Edify one another gathering together each one with a hymn, a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or its interpretation, 1 Corinthians 14:26

Give spiritual care:

Confess our sins one to another, James 5:16

Pray for one another, James 5:16

Commands For Cultivating Unity one With Another

Act with humility:

Honor one another, Romans 12:10

Be of one mind one with another, 2 Corinthians 13:11 and Romans 12:16; 15:5

Do not criticize one another, Romans 14:13

Do not speak bad one of another, James 4:11 and 5:9

Submit to one another, Ephesians 5:21

Be clothed with humility toward one another, 1 Peter 5:5

Live in harmony:

Have patience one with another, Ephesians 4:2

Live in peace one with another, Matthew 9:50

Receive one another with hospitality, Romans 15:7 and 1 Peter. 4:9

Glorify God together, Romans 15:6

Please take a moment now to plan how you will help your people obey any of these 'one another' commands that they may be neglecting.

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06H. Detect Spiritual Gifts by Releasing Leaders to Work with New Congregations or Cells

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

Find in Exodus 18:14-24 a reason to establish small groups and prepare their leaders:

When his father-in-law saw all that Moses was doing for the people, he said, "What is this you are doing for the people? Why do you alone sit as judge, while all these people stand around you from morning till evening?"

Moses answered him, "Because the people come to me to seek God’s will. Whenever they have a dispute, it is brought to me, and I decide between the parties and inform them of God’s decrees and laws."

Moses’ father-in-law replied, "What you are doing is not good. You and these people who come to you will only wear yourselves out. The work is too heavy for you; you cannot handle it alone. Listen now to me and I will give you some advice, and may God be with you. You must be the people’s representative before God and bring their disputes to Him. Teach them the decrees and laws, and show them the way to live and the duties they are to perform. But select capable men from all the people-men who fear God, trustworthy men who hate dishonest gain-and appoint them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties and tens. Have them serve as judges for the people at all times, but have them bring every difficult case to you; the simple cases they can decide themselves. That will make your load lighter, because they will share it with you. If you do this and God so commands, you will be able to stand the strain, and all these people will go home satisfied."

Moses listened to his father-in-law and did everything he said. (NIV)

The "love chapter", 1 Corinthians 13, should be read together with chapter 12 to appreciate its significance. It is part of Paul’s exhortation to use different spiritual gifts in loving harmony. Gifts used without love possess no value for God. We can enable most of the believers in a church to serve in a ministry if we help them discover their gifts in a small group where loving relationships are easier to form.

We can help members to detect and use their gifts in a small body in several ways:

Arrange for them to join ministry or evangelistic groups to use their spiritual gifts to minister to the unsaved community and to each other. Seekers are easier to bring to faith and to follow through in small groups.
Start new home groups or churches in which they can be active. They will find it difficult to do a ministry in an older group that has others who are already doing it.
Help existing groups to add ministries in which new workers can participate. Deal with felt needs and opportunities for witnessing or serving others. Shepherding groups minister to communities or families with different needs and bring together different gifts (Romans 12:3-8).
Develop children’s ministries and show them how to serve their parents and each other. Help older children to give discipleship training to the younger.
Name persons with a loving, helping disposition to give discipleship training to newer Christians or families. Discipleship training is easier in small groups, especially new small groups. The apostolic churches did it in homes, as seen in Acts 2:46; 5:42; 20:20; Romans 16:3-5 and Philemon 2.
Awaken and practice the most edifying gifts. What will be most edifying depends upon current needs and circumstances.

We seek people with the following gifts to help a group build its organization on loving relationships, rather than on abstract policies or mere position:

Leader. Healthy groups need a leader who inspires the people with the vision, who knows what God wants His people to do, and who can coordinate their gift-based ministries.
Evangelist. Healthy groups "do the work of an evangelist" (2 Timothy 4:5) and need a person with this gift to stimulate and furnish a model for the others.
Pastor. A pastor is a shepherding elder. Healthy groups need at least one shepherd. This person is not always a teacher and is not always the leader. He has a shepherd’s heart and watches over the flock, ready to give loving care to any member who needs it.
Teacher. The group will be healthier if its teachers can teach the way Jesus and His apostles did by listening to those they teach, to help each person to apply the Word of God to their life. The gift of teaching, as Scripture demonstrates it, is sometimes absent in traditional church classrooms where someone stands in front of a group merely passing on information. That is a form of teaching but is not what Scripture reveals that teaching should do.

The teacher’s task is to mobilize others for different ministries, as we read in Ephesians 4:11-16, and to apply Scripture "for every good work", as we read in 2 Timothy 3:16-17.

A traditional teacher who cannot teach this way should name helpers who will do so in smaller groups.
Traditional teachers sometimes take the title of leader but do not really lead; they just teach.

Scoggins discovered the value of teaching in the home and wrote:

"Our experience shows that as a head of a family carries out his God-given responsibility to teach, his giftedness becomes apparent. Even if he is not gifted as a teacher, he is still required to teach his family, for which task God will give him grace. Because of this, we train our members who are heads of families in the basics of teaching, at least for family devotions."

One person might have more than one spiritual gift, but no one has all of them. Even if they did, they would not have time to exercise them all. And if they tried, they would only hinder others in the group from developing their own gifts.

In addition to the gifts of leader, evangelist, pastor or elder, and teacher, other gifts yield more specialized ministries. Some groups specialize in marriage or family counseling. But they must not neglect other ministries. Others deal quite successfully with drug or alcohol abuse recovery, and they, too, must deal with the other gift-based ministries as well. Other groups offer grief counseling; they must not focus exclusively on this ministry, or they will rob their members of a balanced Christian life A struggling group’s greatest weakness is often its greatest strength taken to excess.

Some groups focus on the needs of the unmarried or the elderly; these groups also need persons with gifts of exhortation, discernment, compassion and helps.
Most groups pray for the unsaved, the sick and the hurting. Those who take the lead in this may be people with the gifts of faith, healing, or freeing those who are oppressed by demons.
Groups doing community development need persons with the gifts of discernment, giving, and compassion. But, to maintain balance, they also need persons with the other more common gifts of teaching, shepherding and evangelism.
For groups meeting in homes, someone must have the gift of hospitality.
Groups ministering cross-culturally need persons gifted as apostles (sent ones) or missionaries, along with the other common gifts. In new mission fields, task groups must train pastors and therefore need at least one instructor having a gift of teaching.

If you are a leader, then please fix in your mind the Bible passages that explain how to harmonize spiritual gifts in love: Romans chapter 12; Ephesians 4:11-16 and 1 Corinthians chapters 12 through 14.

Take a moment to think of potential leaders whom you should ask to lead new churches or cells. Let the Holy Spirit guide you in this, as He did for the leaders of the Antioch church in Acts 13:1-3.

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06I. Review the Spiritual Gifts Revealed in the New Testament

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

We must help everyone to know and to use their spiritual gifts to serve one another in love. Most church ministries require several gifts working together. For example, an evangelist should works closely with teachers and leaders to follow up new believers. To help your people understand the different gifts, you might relate to them some examples for gifts that they do not understand. Biblical examples are mentioned beside each gift named below. Some passages may be too long to read during a meeting, but you can relate from memory the important parts of the story.

Note the gifts listed below that need to be developed in your group or church. You may have to arrange for help from other groups or churches that have people with gifts that your congregation lacks. You should also give help to them in areas in which your group is strong.

Spiritual gifts listed in Romans 12:4-8:

Serve—Samuel, 1 Samuel 1:20-28; 3:1-21; Deacons, Acts 6:1-7; Dorcas, Acts 9:36-41.
Prophesy—Isaiah, Isaiah 55; In the New Testament prophecy refers primarily to messages from God for strength, consolation and encouragement (1 Corinthians 14:3)
Give—Abigail, 1 Samuel 25; guidelines: 2 Corinthians 9
Teach—Ezra: Nehemiah 8; purpose, Ephesians 4:11-16.
Encourage—exhort: Paul with the Ephesian elders, Acts 20:17-38.
Lead—lead as a servant leader who helps others to minister: Moses, Exodus 18:13-26.
Show mercy—The sheep and goats, Matthew 25:31-46; the Good Samaritan, Luke 10:30-35; David with Saul, 1 Samuel 24

Additional gifts listed in 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 7-30.

Counsel with wisdom—Solomon, 1 Kings 3:5-28
Base decisions on knowledge, in facts—Bereans’ searching the Word, Acts 17:10-12.
Help—Aquila and Priscilla, Acts 18:1-5, 4-28.
Go, as an apostle, a sent one, having itchy feet, a spiritual entrepreneur—Romans 5:20-21; Paul and Barnabas, Acts chapters 3-14.
Discern—Nathan, 2 Samuel Chapters 1-12; Paul, Galatians 2:6-21
Heal—Jesus and the paralytic, Mark 2:1-12; Peter and John heal the crippled man, Acts chapters 3-4
Administrate—Nehemiah: Nehemiah chapters 2-3
Do miracles—Elijah: 1 Kings 18:16-46; Elisha: 2 Kings chapters 2-5
Speak in tongues—Cornelius’ household, Acts 10:44-48.

Use this gift with the gift of interpretation, which follows:

Interpret tongues—see cautions in 1 Corinthians 14
Use—faith the leper and the centurion, Matthew 8:1-13 and Old Testament faithful, Hebrews 1. All need faith but some with this gift strengthen exercise it more effectively and awaken it in others.

Additional gifts listed in Ephesians 4:11:

Announce the Good News, Evangelist—Philip; Acts 8:26-40.
Pastor, shepherd — Acts 20:28-34 and 1 Peter 5:1-4

Please take a moment now to plan how you and your coworkers will harmonize the believers’ spiritual gifts:

Arrange for believers to serve each other with their different gift-based ministries.

Help them to serve in love and by the power of the Holy Spirit.

Arrange for mutual serving, both within your congregation and between congregations.

Aim for as many believers as possible to have an effective ministry.

Plan this with your coworkers if possible.

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06J. Detect and Deal with Personal or Family Needs of Small Group Members

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

Cell groups or house churches should take advantage of their small size to deal with personal and family needs as well as ministry opportunities as they arise, as taught in Exodus 18:24-26.

Home groups enable elders to listen to everyone in their group, to know their personal needs, to pray for each one, and to help all to participate. Shepherding elders should enable all members of the group to have a ministry of caring one for another. Mobilize as group leaders those persons who will take the time to give loving care. If they are already quite busy, they can name helpers.

Scoggins relates how house churches enable listening and caring:

Men who will take time to listen to folks and care for them will volunteer to do that when given a chance to do so. Some will come of their own will, even though we did not think that they would. With proper discipleship and care, many who are at first reluctant to lead will make radical changes in their lives to become effective elders. Others will require a challenge to consider if God has indeed called them to be a shepherd. Do this with great care and prayer, realizing that the call must be from God. Individual must weigh the cost and the call before the Lord, to determine if they are willing and able to respond. Their response often begins in their home; so, detect potential leaders by seeing how they shepherd their families. A call to shepherd the church normally shows itself first with one’s own family.

Please pause now to consider family needs among your people, and how you or your coworkers will deal with them.

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06K. Keep in Balance the Three Vital Components of Disciple making

Cited from Church Multiplication Guide, Patterson and Scoggins, William Carey Library, Pasadena, chapter 6.

Some teachers with an academic orientation to ministry will focus only on the content of their teaching, neglecting the task and the people. Correct this imbalance by working closely with others who apply the teaching to the people's lives, families and ministries.

Picture a triangle. One side corresponds to the Father, another to the Son and the third to the Holy Spirit; the Three are one God. Think about how the Persons of the Trinity relate to each other; none exists or works without the others. Similarly, the three primary ingredients of discipleship training harmonize with each other to form what we call balanced discipleship. These three ingredients correspond somewhat to the roles of the three Persons of the Trinity. These are:

loving Father authority,

the Word made alive in our lives through Christ’s presence in us,

Spirit-empowered ministry.

Let’s examine these three ingredients of discipleship training that you must keep in balance.

Loving father authority leads to proper relationships and enables us to submit to proper authority. Love emanates from God the Father. "God is love." Believers receive His love and pass it on as they submit to His Father authority.

The eternal Word becomes incarnate in our believers’ lives as they abide in Christ. God the Son is the eternal, living Word, the very image of the Invisible God. He is transforming us to conform to the image of Christ. The written Word, the Bible, likewise takes on flesh as we apply it to our lives and ministry in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Spirit-empowered ministry focuses on the task. God the Holy Spirit empowers us for our work.

The three Persons of the Trinity are One. They are never separate. They always work in perfect harmony. Likewise the three ingredients of balanced discipleship should harmonize in joyful equilibrium. By building on loving relationships (side one of the triangle) we teach the Word (side two) for service empowered by the Holy Spirit (side three).

Just as Jesus the eternal Word took on flesh to make the invisible God known to us, in loving obedience to the Father, the written Word the Bible also takes on flesh as the Holy Spirit enables us to apply it in our lives and churches. Discipleship with this balance greatly strengthens our pastoral ministry. Here are some areas in which many of us can improve the balance.

Some teachers emphasize the Word so exclusively that, unlike Paul, they pay little attention to their students’ present pastoral work. They fail to make a meaningful effort to adapt their teaching to the current needs of the students’ flocks. They do not share responsibility for their students' effectiveness in ministry. However, their ministry would be greatly improved if they listened to their students to learn their needs, interests and ministry opportunities. It also helps to communicate with the churches in which their students work, so they can coordinate their teaching with their students’ ministries.

Some churches and organizations emphasize loving relationships so exclusively, that they neglect the Word and other pastoral work, thereby becoming ingrown and sterile. Their ministry would be easily improved by their focusing on the tasks that the New Testament requires for a church, and by cooperating closely with other churches whose gifts and ministries complement theirs.

Some churches and organizations put unbalanced emphasis on the task. Pastors, missionaries and other workers sometimes neglect their families, bruise one another in their drive to achieve, and burn out. However, their ministries would be strengthened significantly by their making a prayerful effort to keep in balance by developing relationships, teaching the biblical basis for all they do, and cooperating more closely with churches that provide strength in the areas they lack.

Blessed is the Christian leader who understands why making disciples begins with baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, as Jesus commands in Matthew 28:18-20.

Balanced discipleship training, starting with baptism, brings the new believer into a proper relationship with each person of the Trinity, laying the groundwork for integrating the three essential ingredients. One cannot simply add equal portions of all three, for they produce one another as in the following manner:

Good relationships based on loving authority will lead to powerful teaching of the Word and effective task-oriented ministry.
Teaching the Word in balance with the other components of discipleship training, will mobilize your disciples for the task and will build relationships based on loving submission to God's authority.
Task-oriented ministry empowered by the Holy Spirit will lead to both good relationships and doing the Word.

Conscientious Christian workers will recognize areas in which they are weak and will work closely with others who are strong in those areas, seeking to keep the balance. No one, working alone, can keep this balance.

Please take a moment now to plan how you and your coworkers will help your people to serve one another and other congregations in love. Include:

Strengthening loving family life,

forgiving and seeking reconciliation with enemies,

Balancing discipleship training by developing loving relationships while developing ministries and applying the Word to all that you do.

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