Steve Mills Email: stevem@northwestministry.com Executive Director of Church Ministries Northwest District

Jesus had an intentional and specific strategy for developing people. He built into His disciples the purposes and values of the kingdom of God. The disciples embraced the Kingdom's values because Jesus modeled them.

How can your church fulfill the awesome task of building people as Christ did? By intentionally----and in balance----building the five purposes God has for His church into the life and ministry of the local church.

God's plan for the church involves five primary purposes: worship, evangelism, fellowship, discipleship, and ministry. These are essential to the local church's effectiveness and health. If a church overemphasizes one of these purposes, the others are deemphasized and the church becomes unhealthy and dysfunctional. The members will not be healthy functional disciples.

The magnification church focuses on the purpose of worship. The leader's role is to lead and perform in worship while the people watch more as spectators than as active participants.

The outreach church focuses on the purpose of evangelism. The leader's role is to preach and wit-ness, while the congregation's role is to invite people to church to hear the gospel.

In the family church the primary focus is upon the purpose of fellowship. The leader's role is to provide ministry, care, and nurture much like a chaplain. The members' role is to relate and work together as a family.

In the discipling church the focus is on the purpose of teaching. The leader's role is to teach, and the members' role is that of students.

In the ministry church the focus is on the purpose of serving. The leader's role is that of activist, encouraging the members to be involved in meeting social causes and needs. The members' role is to become reformers.

When all the purposes are not intentionally built into the church's life and ministry in a balanced manner, the church's strength becomes its greatest weakness. For instance, a family church focused on fellowship often develops such strong relationships that it fails to reach those who don't know Christ. This church is weak in the purpose of evangelism.

A church tends to focus on one purpose because of the gifting and passion of its present leadership. If the leader's gifts and passion are for worship, the church focuses on and gives priority to worship. This attracts people drawn to the purpose of worship and begins to develop an imbalanced culture. The other purposes then are minimized in the church's life and ministry. This imbalance produces believers who demonstrate the same imbalance.

For example, a church may focus on evangelism. The pastor's passion/gifting is evangelism. He actively reaches out to the lost and encourages the congregation to do the same. The church hosts outreach events that members invite unchurched friends and family to attend. The goal is to get lost people to church to hear the gospel so that they will get saved. When this pastor leaves, the church calls another pastor who is nothing like the one who just left.

Generally, a church selects a pastor based on its previous pastor's perceived weaknesses. The church is tired of hearing about reaching the lost, sees a need to disciple the new believers, and wants a pastor to care about them. So the church heads down the fellowship or teaching road. When this pastor leaves, the church calls a pastor who focuses on worship or ministry. The church jumps from one purpose to another and never realizes its potential.

Lead the church to discover and embrace all five purposes of the church. Read the Scriptures and note the purposes' importance to the church. Each purpose needs to be present----in balance----to have a church that effectively builds people.

Every church has strengths. If your church is strong in the purpose of worship or fellowship, then celebrate that strength. It is a vital part of who you are as a congregation. Celebration helps people know that as a church they have value and strengths while acknowledging that they can become healthier and more effective. You don't have to change everything you are doing or stop doing the things that are important to your church. You need to become more intentional and balanced in all of God's purposes for the church.

Even as you celebrate your strengths, identify and acknowledge which of the five purposes is weakest. If your church is weak in the purpose of teaching/discipleship, use different strategies (e.g., Sunday school, small groups) to strengthen the teaching purpose. If your Sunday school has not been valued and developed to its full potential, focus on training and equipping leaders and teachers. If Sunday school has not been emphasized in your communication and ministries, people may think it is unimportant. Begin to include teaching/ discipleship intentionally into the ministry processes of your church.

Take a close look at each purpose. Find ways to build all the five purposes intentionally in balance into the life and ministry of your church.

For years, a church allowed the teaching purpose to become very weak. Although they had a crowd on Sunday morning in their multiple services, people were not developing the values, disciplines, character, and commitments of true disciples. Sunday school was just another program in the church involving few people.

The pastor decided this needed to change. The leadership began to look at different strategies to strengthen the teaching ministry. They visited other churches and read books about teaching models and ideas. They changed the ministry's name, set up fellowship groups as part of the class structure, and provided valuable studies.

In the next quarter, their enrollment more than doubled previous levels. Growth has continued largely because they continue to include teaching/discipleship in the church life and ministry.

As you intentionally build all five purposes into the life and ministries of your church, people will become spiritually mature, reflecting Christ in their lives and ministries.

We Build People Pastor's Kit, Steven R. Mills, Springfield, MO: GPH 1997.

Kingdom Principles for Church Growth, Gene Mims. Nashville, TN: Convention Press 1994.

The Church - God's People on Mission, Laney L. Johnson. Nashville, TN: Convention Press 1995.

The Purpose Driven Church, Rick Warren. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan 1995.