^{The Expositors Collective Seminar will be held on April 5-6 at Maranatha Chapel in San Diego. Visit expositorscollective.com for more information. This seminar seeks to present prospective expositors (18-34 years) the opportunity to experience a hybrid course in gospel-centered preaching/teaching.}

You are a living witness

Your story is just that, it is yours. When this simple truth is owned, something causes your story to have incredible power. You are a living witness of the power and ability of Jesus to transform a life. Your unique perspective sheds light on the glory of Jesus in a way that other people need to hear.

GOSPEL-CENTERED LIVING PRECEDES GOSPEL-CENTERED PREACHING.

As you become comfortable with your redemptive story, the more easily people will be able to see the immense glory of Jesus through your life. While admiring other preachers can be helpful, if you try to become them, you will lose credibility with your hearers. Do not be a different person when you are in and out of a teaching role. Be passionate, but express your personal passion for God. Be sincere, using your own voice and sharing your own thoughts. Be yourself, not someone else. Being comfortable in your own skin is gospel-centered living and gospel-centered leading. The heart of the matter is that gospel-centered living comes before gospel-centered preaching.

GOSPEL-CENTERED LIVING BRINGS BALANCE.

Finding our own identity in the forgiveness and justification we have in Christ enables us to share the two sides of this coin authentically with others. Through the cross of Jesus Christ, you are already made righteous, accepted, approved, beloved and adopted as a child of God. Growing in a strong identity in Christ enables preachers to proclaim the gospel with authority and power. Resting in the full approval of God through Jesus produces freedom from seeking the approval of others, enabling you to become the most authentic version of yourself.

FREEDOM IN PREACHING COMES FROM HAVING YOUR IDENTITY SECURE IN CHRIST.

If your highs are too high and your lows are too low after preaching, it is an indication that you are not finding your identity in Jesus, but in your performance or in the approval of others.

As preachers, we have to be personally experiencing the enjoyment of the gospel in our lives, in our minds and in our hearts. Once that is in place, it allows us to stop trying to be somebody we are not, to stop trying to perform and to be ourselves. Each one of us has been uniquely made by our Creator to be His work of art: His poēma (Ephesians 2:10). He delights in what He has made. He wants us to be who He has made us to be, and not somebody else. The more we grow in that area, the better we become at representing the gospel and truly expositing His Word.

Back in the 80s, my buddies and I wanted to go on a mountain hike up to the top of Sandia Peak in Albuquerque, New Mexico. The La Luz Trail was the way to go. We embarked early one Saturday morning on a typically hot day. Sandia Peak is 10,678 feet (3,255 m) and unknowingly, has no water sources along the way. So, needless to say, we hiked all day and made it to the top despite the excruciating lack of liquids.

Have you ever been so thirsty that even the thought of a cup of water seemed like paradise. What is true on mountain hikes is true in spiritual life. Sometimes we experience drought. It’s then we know what it is like to thirst for God. We see this in Psalm 63, “O God, You are my God; early will I seek You; my soul thirsts for You; my flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water“ (Psalm 63:1).

Droughts are Normal

If you have ever felt like you were alone in a drought, know that droughts are normal and necessary to life. If you notice the heading of Psalm 63, it says, “A Psalm of David when he was in the wilderness of Judah,” or in other words, when he was in a desert! David experienced drought, and we can learn from his experiences and find courage for our own droughts.

David was basically a fugitive. This Psalm speaks of “those who seek to destroy my life.” At the time David wrote it, he was hiding in the wilderness from King Saul who was hunting him down to to kill him. At the end of David’s psalm, he writes “But the king shall rejoice in God” (Psalm 63:11). When Saul was chasing David, he wasn’t king yet. Yet we see David’s confidence was in God’s ultimate plan for his life. David had already been anointed by Samuel as the future king of Israel (1 Samuel 16). While he was still in the desert, David put his hope in God. He knew and held tightly to God’s promises to him while in a drought.

Throughout the Scriptures, we see that dryness came when God’s people were doing what God asked them to do. This is true with Elijah as he sat by the “drying brook” of Cherith (1 Kings 17:1-7). He had to trust in God’s promises and faithfulness throughout the drought. Moses knew the luxuries of Egyptian royalty for 40 years, but God had to send him to the desert for another 40 years to break him. In Moses’ desert, God revealed the “I AM” to him.

Peter faced his own drought. After he denied Jesus three times, we find him discouraged and returning to his trade that Jesus called him out of. Though it was a self-inflicted, spiritual drought (John 21), God was at work for Peter’s good (Romans 8:28). Even Jesus experienced deserts and knew drought. After His baptism, He experienced 40 days of hunger and thirst and was tempted by the Devil (Matthew 4). From the cross, Jesus cried out, “…My God, My God why have you forsaken Me?” (Mark 15:34).

The thirsty voices of those called by God are a normal reality throughout scripture. And when you think about it, it’s our thirst that led us to Jesus in the first place. Jesus said to the Samaritan woman in John 4, “If you knew the gift of God and who it is who says to you ‘give me a drink’ you would have asked Him and He would have given you living water” (John 4:10). Jesus later said, “If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. He who believes in Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.” (John 7:33; 7-38).

Droughts are Necessary

Droughts are necessary in order for us to be deeply rooted and firmly planted. Just like a plant seeking water in a time of drought, spiritual droughts cause us to dig deep in our walk with God. Our roots grow down in the foundation laid by the Gospel. The Gospel not only cancels the unpayable debt of our transgressions, but at the same time, raises us up into royal status in God’s family.

When you think about it, droughts lead us to Christ in the first place and cause us to be true worshipers of God. Spiritual droughts are necessary because they produce authentic worship.

In verses 1-4 David fainted for God to answer because life was not making sense to him. David wanted God more than he wanted life itself. Then, in verse 5-9 David described a quenching of that thirst in God alone.

Authentic worship looks like that, both a passionate need for God along with a profound satisfaction in God. People know how deep you are not by “seeing” your outward expression but by benefiting from your strong identity that’s rooted in God’s love. People know you’re deep when you get tested, and you’re not yanked out. You’re still standing and staying put in your devotion to God.

We can’t see roots; they’re hidden. We notice and care about the outward. Few people see the “root,” but this is what God sees and cares about. He is the Master Gardener (John 15). He allows dry seasons to come into our lives to help us develop deep roots in Him.

Dry Seasons Happen in Churches Too

On a side note, this is not only true for us as individuals, but also true cooperatively as churches or even as church movements. There is a subtle temptation, when the ministry is not experiencing abundant growth and prosperity, to look back to what was or to pander after other churches or movements that seem to be in a season of blessing. But we must remember that there are normal seasons ordained by God that force us to dig deep into the things that matter.

Droughts are normal because they are necessary. Droughts are normal. Everyone goes through them at some point. But in them, remember God’s Word to you. Trust in it. Droughts are necessary. They cause our roots in Christ to grow deeper. They develop authentic worship. The rock under circumstances and emotions should ultimately land on our security in God.

Here in Australia, the government began in January of 2016, an initiative to take in 12,000 refugees from the Middle East.

This opens up an incredible opportunity for the church in Australia. The refugee crisis seemed to reach its pinnacle in public awareness in 2015. News stories abounded worldwide, with pictures of refugees from the Middle East pouring into Europe. As a result, Christians have had to take a hard look at what our responsibility should be to the refugee crisis.

We have discovered that nearly 40% of Sydney residents speak a non-English language at home.

There are more than 250 languages spoken in Sydney. Arabic, which dominates the western suburbs, is the most widely spoken non-English language. Sydney has a huge population of Arabic speaking migrants who have sought asylum in Australia.
God has opened many doors for us to minister to the Arabic community here and to help with the decision-making teams that are settling the refugees. I have been ministering at the oldest Christian Arabic fellowship here in the western suburbs of Sydney. After services, many of the people come up to me to tell their stories. With tears and gratitude, they ask for prayers and help for their relatives still in the Middle East. Also, the churches in the northern beaches of Sydney have rallied to provide homes, resources and mentorship to arriving refugees. This group is working closely with the Premier of New South Whales’ office.
In addition, part of our work is partnering the Arabic speaking churches with sympathetic Aussie churches to better receive the refugees. Unifying the church at large is so important in many aspects of evangelism within a community. We are also working with the Salvation Army who has a parachurch unifying presence in Sydney regarding issues like this. The Salvation Army’s latest initiative, “The Big Hello,” stands to support and welcome Syrian and Iraqi refugees to their new home of Australia.

How we welcome refugees impacts their future.

People who are warmly received gain a sense of belonging. The kind of welcome they receive impacts how they interact with others from the outset, as well as their long-term integration.

God gives us wisdom in His word as to how we should welcome refugees.

“When a stranger sojourns with you in your land, you shall not do him wrong. You shall treat the stranger who sojourns with you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt: I am the Lord your God” (Leviticus 19:33-34).

Also, Job writes, “The sojourner has not lodged in the street; I have opened my doors to the traveler” (Job 31:32). Though we are not under the law, the wisdom and principles of God’s law stand. And is it not mercy that crowns God’s people? Micah 6:8 says that what God requires of us is to, “Do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God.” Also, when Jesus was asked, “Who is my neighbor…” He explained through the parable of the Good Samaritan, the kind of love and mercy that a true neighbor has. We, God’s children, are to be the ones who express a unique kind of mercy that is only found in the gospel (Luke 10:29-37). This mercy is to be shown to the “foreigner.”

When you think about it, the entire Bible is a book of refugees. Throughout the scriptures, we see God working out His redemptive story through sojourning men and woman.

As Christians, we know in some way what it is to be a “foreigner” and a “stranger” in another land.

We live in a world that is not our home, and we long for our homeland heaven. Jesus also understands the plight of the refugee. He left this homeland to come to a foreign land where He was mocked, ridiculed and died at the hands of an unjust government. As God’s people, we should have some understanding and compassion towards displaced people. We must remember that the outworking of the gospel in our lives is shown by mercy. Mercy involves sacrifice, forgiveness, benevolence and yes….even risk. Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful…” (Matt. 5:7). God is “merciful and compassionate” and risked it all in order to rescue us. As we aim to discern our place in the refugee crisis, may God give us His mercy, compassion and wisdom.

I began my journey in better understanding this complex issue when I traveled to a gathering of church leader’s in Istanbul, Turkey, last year. There I began to understand the plight of the refugee and how tremendous the problem is. For instance, in Jordan, up to 80% of the population are refugees. Refugees in any country are, by law, not allowed to work. The conditions in the camps are deplorable in many countries, and the people living in the camps are in complete despair – willing to risk their lives in a small raft at the hope of possible safety elsewhere.

Following my trip to Turkey, I became acquainted with Voice of the Refugees headquartered in Anaheim, California. They have been an incredible support and resource to us as we work with the churches in Australia on this issue. They provide some valuable information in answering basic questions about ministry to refugees.

Earlier this year, I was able to travel with a couple other pastors to Northern Iraq for inductive scripture training to encourage the workers in the IDP camps. (Internally Displaced Peoples are people that still live in their own country but are displaced from their homes, lives and work.) I experienced first-hand the conditions and heartbreak of these displaced people. Most of the IDP are well educated, middle class, home-owning families who have had to leave everything behind to literally flee for their lives, because of their unwillingness to give up their Christian faith to become Muslims.

The current worldwide refugee crisis is an opportunity for the church.

It also comes with risk. We can pray for our governments to have wisdom in handling this crisis. We should pray for our leaders! But as the church, we are called to go beyond our fears, take risks and minister God’s love and truth to all people. In this time that we live, there is a profound opportunity for God’s people to live out the gospel. This watershed issue will reveal our faith and our understanding of the gospel.

This is Part Two in a series on “Gospel Centered Preaching”. If you missed Part One click here.

There are many preaching approaches common in our day which do not maintain Christ as the central emphasis of the message. We as Bible teachers must ask ourselves the hard questions about our own motivations, and what we are hoping to accomplish in our delivery.

Here are some preaching approaches that are not gospel-centered:

1. Advice-centered preaching centers upon simply giving advice from “self-help” principles found in Scripture.

While this may at first seem helpful, Jesus said, “You search the Scriptures because you think that in them you have life, but these are they which testify of Me” (John 5:39). The gospel is a living transformational message found in the person of Christ. Jesus did not come just to give good advice, but to Himself become the agent of transformation. He is “the way, the truth, and the life” (John 14:6).

2. Virtue-centered preaching focuses on exhorting listeners to rise up and be better people.

For example, you can challenge people to “Dare to be a Daniel!” or “Fight the Goliaths in your life!”. While this may seem harmless it subtly leads people away from the gospel in which Christ is our strength. We are weak and He is strong. For the sake of Christ, then, I am content with weakness…“for when I am weak, then I am strong” (2 Corinthians 12:10). It is Christ living in us, empowering us to be strong in faith like Daniel and David. We need to abide in Him to find strength in every situation.

3. Politics-centered preaching leverages the Scriptures to promote a particular political view.

This may tickle the ears and rally the crowd; however, it does not follow the example of Jesus. He never allowed the political parties of His day to distract Him from the big picture. His priority was always preaching the kingdom of God.

4. Apocalyptic-centered preaching focuses primarily on interpreting the signs of the times for daily living.

While it is good to be aware of the signs of the times, as Jesus said, “When evening comes, you say, ‘It will be fair weather, for the sky is red,’ and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times” (Matthew 16:2). However, placing too high of a priority on eschatology will lead to an unhealthy fixation with times we are not meant to know in totality.Whereas, thorough communication of the gospel implications in the whole of Scripture will bring real change, as well as prepare people’s hearts for the coming of Christ.

5. Church-centered preaching uses the pulpit to focus congregants on the vision of their local church initiative.

If the core vision of the church is gospel-centric, then Christ will be exalted. However, these days, a church group may be tempted to exalt personalities and local pursuits such as church buildings, or bigger budgets. Bigger and better can at times capture the hearts of leaders. Although it’s good to want to shine a light in your community, a subtle change in focus can bring about a shift in priorities. Administering the gospel through every appropriation of a church vision is to ultimately communicate the gospel to people. That may or may not translate into projected church growth, but at least a gospel-centered preacher can sleep well at night knowing he has administered the ultimate mandate from God.

Gospel-centered preaching is intended to make rich men poor, and poor men rich. When the gospel is preached, people who are strong in a sense of their own morality are brought low as they realize their own inadequacy. The gospel greatly humbles any disciple of Christ when considering that the King, Jesus, gave up everything to redeem an unworthy mankind. For a poor man, the gospel is the best news he has ever heard. He is now in Christ, a child of God, an inheritor of the kingdom of heaven, and all the riches of God through Christ. Nothing that this world has, or will ever offer him, can compare to this invitation.

What a privilege it is to proclaim this good news! The King of the universe, from whom all the Law, ethics and virtue came, who puts political leaders into place, who is coming back soon to ultimately fulfill the grand story, is our wonderful Savior, Christ, the head of the church, surrendered Himself to occupy our sin-filled world, becoming the propitiation and sacrifice for us, fulfilling something we could have never accomplished––reconciliation with God. This good news consistently unpacked from Scripture is for unbelievers unto conversion, and is for believers unto spiritual health. When the gospel is preached week after week in the context of the whole of Scripture, everyone and anyone in need of the grace of God in Christ is welcomed to come to Jesus. The gospel is the fuel for the Christian, not just the ignition that starts the journey.

“Gospel-centered” seems to be a catchphrase these days. Some may say it without really knowing what the term represents. Being gospel-centered is important to our theology, our preaching and our living, but it’s important to know why.

Gospel-centered preaching is based on a theology in which Jesus is at the center of everything.

God has fully and completely accomplished our salvation through the person and work of Jesus. Through Christ, God rescued us from judgment and brought us into fellowship with Him. We have been reconciled to our Creator and now we can enjoy this new life in Him forever. No part of our salvation was won through our personal strength, effort, or good works. It is all the work of Christ. That’s the message that comes through in every passage of Scripture. Gospel-centered preachers are to be living witnesses to the grace of God, pointing to the accomplishments of Christ in their own lives. The Gospel-centered preacher not only preaches the gospel––it’s not just an important additive, or ingredient––rather, the gospel itself is to saturate everything about the messenger and the ministry he oversees.

Gospel-centered preaching exalts Christ through the biblical narrative because the gospel is the culmination of the grand narrative of Scripture itself.

The Holy Spirit infills the preaching of messages pointing to Christ. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up, I will draw all people to Myself” (John 12:32). In my experience, nothing grips the hearts of the listeners more than when a gospel truth is pulled from each passage of Scripture. The gospel is set up in the Old Testament accounts of creation, the fall, the promises, the exodus, the battles, the prophecies, and all the various rebellious aspects of the characters in Scripture. Further, the gospel unfolds in the New Testament; as the four gospels comprise the glue that binds all Scripture to the person and work of Christ. The epistles are Christ-centric letters that make clear the implications of the gospel for application to each person, church, and situation.

Gospel-centered preaching places the person and work of Christ at the core of exegesis.

In my own preaching I used to preach “practical-step” sermons to help congregants do the “right thing” in order to discover the Christian life. What I suggested was a pattern of principles derived from Scriptures that would lead to success in life. Over the years I have come to see that the Scriptures point us to the work and person of Christ alone. Ultimately, when we have Christ at the center of our lives, He makes the changes. The Scriptures are clear that it is “Christ who works in us both to will and to do for His good pleasure” (Philippians 2:13) and that ultimately it is “Christ in us, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Therefore, it’s important to me, to present Christ, and Him alone in my sermons. I no longer desire to place on people a works-based list of directives. This change in my own preaching has been a transformation that points to the key difference between works- based and gospel-centered preaching.

When we keep the gospel of Christ’s redemption at the center of our preaching, we have a message that is vitally important.

In 490 BC, Pheidippides brought a vitally important word to the Greeks in Athens that the Persians were defeated. He ran 26.2 miles from the city of Marathon and dropped dead on the ground after crying, “Victory!” Pheidippides’ race is a great example of the heart of gospel-centered preaching in that he had a truth so important that he would be willing to die to bring it. Christ did all to “save to the uttermost those who come to God through Him” (Hebrews 7:25) On the cross His message, “It is finished!” (John 19:30), is vitally important and must be preserved in its pure, essential form.

In part two in a series on Gospel Centered Preaching we learn some preaching approaches which are not gospel-centered.

Modern churches may question the necessity of international missions outreach. After all, isn’t it enough that we reach our local community for Christ? Is it important for every local church to reach beyond its neighborhood to bring the message of Christ to the world? These are good questions for discussion.

I believe missions are the life-blood of the church. Individual Christians and local churches alike will become stagnant without outreach. As God pours into us His riches (His Word, His Spirit, and His great love) we must pour out His goodness back into the lives of others or we will not be revitalized. When missions take a back seat in a church’s priorities and functions, it is because the heart of the church has drifted from the God-given purpose for its existence.

The mission (singular) of God.

What we normally think of as “missions” in the church could be more accurately referred to as simply the mission (singular) of God. The missional heart of God is seen in the example of the Father in sending Jesus. As Philippians chapter two instructs us, “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus…” who left the glory of heaven to come to this stinky earth to rescue people! The very nature of God leads his church to giving itself to a hurting world. The very nature of God is to seek and save the lost.

Jesus told us that His mission was to be lived out through His body, the church. He said in Acts chapter 1 verse 8, “you shall receive power, when the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and you shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” Therefore, true missions take place not only in our backyard, but also to foreign peoples in distant lands. It is incredibly important for the pulse of every church to have the heart of a missionary. Worldwide mission is the very heartbeat of the gospel itself, to carry the good news of Christ to our neighbor and to the ends of the earth.

A gospel-centered church cannot be anything but a missions-centered church.

Every healthy church has a dynamic of outreach that we call missions. A gospel-centered church cannot be anything but a missions-centered church. A church that focuses only on meeting the needs of its local members has become more like a club. When we turn inward, we become ill with the disease of self-absorption. In economic downturns many churches cut missions budgets, but it is important to remember to stay true to the heart of a God-on-mission when we consider our church budgets.

Jesus’ remedy to those that find themselves having turned inward.

Jesus’ remedy to those that find themselves having turned inward is to “lift up your eyes and look at the fields, for they are already white for harvest” (John 4:35). He also says, “Therefore, pray the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into His harvest.” (Matt 9:38). So let’s look and pray for missionaries in God’s fields.

Recently the world population exceeded seven billion people! Astonishingly, just less than 50% of the world’s largest people groups remain un-evangelized according to the World Christian Database. Obviously, the need is very great for churches to keep international missions at the core of their values. It’s important for church leaders, to prayerfully identify, send and support missionaries with as much conviction as anything else the church sees as relevant. In doing so, we model that single mission of God that has never wavered.

In a perfect world we would not need to govern people in the earthly sense, because everyone would behave just as they should. Obviously, the same would be true in the church. However, the church is full of sinners, redeemed sinners, but sinful people nonetheless. Yes, we have a new heart and a new position in Christ, yet we still sin every day we are on this earth. Pastors and leaders are not even exempt from this plight. The great reformer, Martin Luther, is known for often using the Latin phrase, “simul justus et peccator”, which means that we in the church are simultaneously both saint and sinner. With this in mind, we need a plan to help us flawed saints to function properly in community with one another. Proper church governance is a necessity in order to hold men and women accountable to God and to each other.

We know that the Holy Spirit birthed the church: as believers, we are now redeemed men and women under the “Head” who is Christ (Ephesians 1:22, Colossians 1:18). According to Ephesians 4, Jesus also equips people through dispensing spiritual ‘gifts’ to His church. Within God’s various giftings, He has provided leaders to serve His church. They are to lead under His guidance and by His Spirit as they use the spiritual gifts that He has graciously provided. However, (and this is very important) God has set these leaders in the ‘body of Christ’ to be part of an accountable whole. Let’s remember that church leaders are gifted people sharing the Gospel, yet they themselves are still growing in the likeness of Christ.

Since God has given spiritual gifts to His church for the purpose of governing (while at the same time there is the persistent problem of sin) how must we organize to carry out His mission on earth? Well, God has made it abundantly clear: we are to function as a body (1Corinthians 12:20). How then does a body function? A body functions as a set of equal and necessary parts all connected to the head, the command center for the body. No body part is any greater than any other as the Apostle Paul so eloquently elaborates. When one part of the body is valued or looked at as greater than the rest, it gets unhealthy. Only Christ Himself, the preeminent Head, is greater.

Keeping this very important fact in mind, let me share three essential points to consider when selecting a style of church governance. These are general guidelines not intended to get into the ‘nitty-gritty’, but to emphasize that we have some clear non-negotiable guidelines that apply no matter what governance model a church adopts.

Is the model Biblical?

God appoints leaders to the church to protect the integrity of the Gospel (Acts 15), and to build up His people in the Word of God (Acts 6:1-7). There are many profound examples of leaders in both the Old and New Testaments of Scripture. For example, Moses, Joshua, David, Jehoshaphat, and Esther (among many others) were leaders appointed by God in the Old Testament. Christ Himself also appointed and empowered apostles, by the Holy Spirit, to be leaders in the New Testament. Of course, Jesus was undeniably the greatest leader who ever lived, so ultimately we want to follow His leadership model. Hermeneutics 101 is interpreting the whole of Scripture with Scripture itself. We call this maintaining the unity of Scripture. Therefore it makes sense to apply this principle to the formation of our ecclesiology. It’s helpful to glean from all the men and women God used throughout Scripture as leaders of His church, but especially Jesus.

In the New Testament, we are given clear structural guidelines for what governance should look like in the church. In Acts 6:1-6, Acts 14:23, Titus 1:5, and Acts 20:17 we see that leaders need to be “appointed” to oversee or “govern” the church. In 1 Peter 5:1-4, 1 Timothy 3:1-13 and Titus 1:6-9 we also see the character traits that must accompany the overseers. Please take time to read these passages, they exemplify what the Apostles require in the lives of those who would govern under Christ’s authority.

Is the model spiritual?

By spiritual I mean, there a spiritual purpose. Spiritual oversight of the church is necessary, but also spiritual oversight of the governing members. The purpose of church governance biblically is to help keep the church in a spiritually pure place – a place in which Christ is supremely exalted. Whenever sinful human agendas cloud the true purpose of the church, a spiritually minded governing body should graciously, yet firmly, steer people back towards the glory of Christ. When adopting a governance model, questions should be asked about what safeguards should be in place in order to maintain the spiritual focus of the leaders and the flock they are shepherding.

Is the model sustainable?

As the gospel goes out from the church, the Lord adds to the church, and in many cases multiplies the church. The church is then continually reproduced in other communities, cultures, and contexts. In a church’s history there is always a founding group of oversight, but as time goes on and people are added, will the founders’ model endure to the next generation? Will the model work in other cultures and in missions? These are good questions to ask. For example, certain corporate models of organization familiar to the American church, do not work well in other ethnic contexts. Overseas missionaries will tell you that what works in America does not always work well in the country they serve in. Therefore it is important that the guidelines laid out in Scripture are appropriately contextualized to each unique culture where Jesus is building His church. This requires much prayer and sensitivity wherever you may be serving in the Lord’s Kingdom. Christ does not want to see the church’s advancement crippled under the weight of man made tradition. Ultimately, if a church governing body seeks to continually maintain its biblical integrity and remains humble in exalting Christ alone, it will be impossible for the Gospel to be marginalized, no matter what culture we serve in.