Highly effective churches are totally focused on fulfilling the Master’s commission which states, “Go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age” (Matthew 28:19-20, NLT). From this commission, we get 3 foundational activities: Outreach; Nurture; Equipping.
These should be used to measure the effectiveness of churches under the headship of Yahshua. The overriding programme that highly effective churches should consider and be engaged in is the ‘ONE’ Programme.
The passion and motivation for reaching out to people without Yahweh should infuse every member and be part of their everyday life. Every member should see it as their responsibility to reach out to others in order that they might come to know Yahshua, being saved from their sin and its consequences.
Church leaders must consistently teach, promote and encourage members to connect with lost people. Collectively, the church must engage in activities that will draw people to a saving knowledge of Yahshua. For highly effective churches this is NOT an option! Henry Trumbull put it well when he said, “Unless a man is ready to work for the salvation of others, it may be questioned whether he himself is saved; he who wants only enough religion to save himself is not likely to have even that much.”
People coming to faith are regarded as newly born babies (John 3:3-7). If they are not properly cared for they will soon deteriorate and eventually die. A newborn child cannot look after himself; he can’t feed himself, he is totally dependent on others to nurture him. In a similar way, new believers must be nurtured by older believers. Too many people have been won to the faith only to turn away because nurture was poor or non-existent. Highly effective churches have in place a robust nurturing process which ensures all new believers are loved, cared for, supported, taught and guided in the new life and community they’ve entered. Here they begin the journey of becoming highly effective disciples.
Robert Frost said, “The world is full of willing people; some willing to work, the rest willing to let them.” Some people have no sense of serving others and no awareness of the needs of others. They only think of themselves and contribute nothing to their environment.
Highly effective churches understand that people are saved for a purpose; to grow and mature in order to do some great work for the Master – not to be idle. We know the devil finds work for idle hands – if we’re not busy serving the Master we’ll serve someone or something else. So, highly effective churches train and equip members, then send them out to do the work they’re called to do. That work has everything to do with ‘making disciples.’ This is precisely what Yahshua did with His disciples – He expects the same from us!
When churches are committed to, and vigorously implement, the ‘ONE’ programme, they may never be successful in terms of having fantastic worship centres, fantastic music and worship teams, huge operating budgets, and burgeoning programmes, but they will be EFFECTIVE in fulfilling the Master’s commission.
I appeal to you, leaders: prayerfully consider the ‘ONE’ programme for your church; commit yourself to it and enthusiastically implement it. You’ll see growth in the long run!
Train up a child in the way he should go and he will never depart from it.
PROVERBS
The evangelistic harvest is always urgent. The destiny of men and of nations is always being decided. Every generation is strategic. We are not responsible for the past generation, and we cannot bear the full responsibility for the next one; but we do have our generation. Yahweh will hold us responsible as to how well we fulfil our responsibilities to this age and take advantage of our opportunities.
BILLY GRAHAM
Every accomplishment, great or small, starts with the right decision, “I’ll Try.”
ANON
Matthew 4:18-20
As Yahshua was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. ‘Come, follow me,’ Yahshua said, ‘and I will send you out to fish for people.’ At once they left their nets and followed him.
Hebrews 5:13 – 6:1
Anyone who lives on milk, being still an infant, is not acquainted with the teaching about righteousness. But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil. Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Messiah and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in Yahweh.
Eternal Father,
You’ve given us the privilege of continuing with Yahshua’s work and ministry. We want to do the best we can, through the inspiration of your Spirit, to make disciples of all people. Thank you for the ‘ONE’ programme enshrined in Yahshua’s commission. I acknowledge that we desperately need Your help to implement this into our church life; I bow my heart to You and ask that You empower me and those I work with, to give ourselves fully to it; help us to teach and motivate our members to live it out in their daily lives. Our desire is to be a highly effective church.
The Living WordNew Audio Devotional
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1 Corinthians 15:19-20 NIV - If only for this life we have hope in - Bible Gateway
Rejoice, Rejoice, Oh Christian, Lift Up Your Voice And Sing Eternal Hallelujahs To [Yahshua the Messiah] The King! The Hope Of All Who Seek Him, The Help Of All Who Find, None Other Is So Loving, So Good And Kind.
Homer A. Rodeheaver
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