In the summer of 2007, my pastor buddy Greg Davis (FBC Cashion) and I drove to Fort Worth for a week-long class on “equipping” members to serve on the campus of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Our professor, Dr. Nancy Diaz Bolet, was everything one would want a good teacher to be. She was resourceful, thoughtful and reflective. Through scripture, experience, and research, Dr. Bolet taught us why and how to equip believers to serve. It was my favorite class of Seminary. I loved the principle of each church member using their gifts for God’s glory. She gave us a model of equipping that was thorough, scriptural, and empowering. Of-course I used many of the principles and methods in my own ministry in the small church. Our church grew as a result. I know that we could use that same model of equipping in countless SBC churches in our association and get positive results. But the model indicates a long-held belief that has robbed our churches of the culture they need to thrive in the coming age. We have assumed as pastors and staff that equipping means recruiting church members to grow our church. I respect that model. Many have been blessed by that model. But there is a better way. With the decline of the American Church Culture, we must go beyond training members to be good members. Instead of using people to grow the church, let’s use the church to grow people. I admit this is a wild, kingdom concept. Many local churches will balk at the principle. But the result will be sending believers Into the Wild with God and going outside of the walls of the church to Build His Church, unite His people and Bring Him Glory. Let Thy Kingdom Come!
In the spring of 1995, Brother Floyd McKee baptized me at Rancho Village Baptist Church. Through Rancho, I became indoctrinated to SBC life. Brother Floyd officiated my wedding, hired me as a youth director, and gave me a “bulls eye” putter so I could beat him on the golf course. This past winter, Brother Floyd went home to be with his savior after a long bout with cancer. His last task as pastor was to turn the church over to a Hispanic congregation. Although Brother Floyd had been at Rancho for 30 years, he sang hymns in Spanish during his final days. Brother Floyd certainly wanted the church to grow during his tenure. I worked alongside him to help us grow, but the growth never came like we hoped. The lack of growth never detoured Brother Floyd of His Mission. “Christ shall be preached, and People matter.” Never did Brother Floyd put church growth before me. He used his position, the church and his resources to invest in me. I mattered more than the building, and more than attendance. He treated me the same whether I was working at the church or not. Rancho Village Baptist Church is not Rancho anymore. Nevertheless, God still reigns, and Brother Floyd’s investment in me is still real.
When we use the church to grow people then we will always have people. The people may not be on the premises. They may not even have their names written in the Book of Life (yet). The church is us. We are the Temple of God. We the church are the church wherever we are. With that being said, we still profit from a healthy 501 c3 church that has a functional building and a place to cook potato salad. The building, worship, staff, organization and structure of the church is fine as long as we remember that we use to the church to build people, not the other way around. I’m thankful I didn’t give up my life for Rancho Village Baptist Church. The building is high maintenance, and its problems are daunting. I gave up my life to God my King, my Savior Jesus Christ not the 501 c3 church. Asking people to give up their lives for an institution is selling the gospel and the kingdom short. People want to give up their lives for the one that saved them and loved them while they were still sinners. Let’s serve for God and His Glory, not for the church and their attendance figures.
How do we equip God’s people to serve Him? Our curriculum is scripture (2 Tim 3:16-17). Christ calls gifted people to build people up and equip them for the faith (Eph 4:11). We need to be equipped so that we are not tossed back and forth by false doctrine and worldly philosophies (Eph 4:14). Equipping begins at creation (Heb 11:3) and comes from God’s working in us through the spirit (Matt 21:16). The church needs cooperation and unity for equipping to take place (1 Cor 1:10). We can be equipped for a task that comes to an end (Acts 21:5) or equipped for eternity (Ps 139:13). Equip has a connotation with perfection, and that perfection only comes by Christ being perfect for us (Lk 6:40). There is human work to equip, yet God works to equip us through His divine hand (Heb 13:20). God equips through suffering (1 Pt 5:10) and repairs us through equipping us (Mt 4:21). God works through gifted individuals to supply what is lacking in us (1 Thess 1:10). Our equipping doesn’t stop when someone sins. We restore (equip) them gently back (Gal 6:1). Our aim is nothing but perfection (2 Cor 13:11). That is dependence on the perfect savior as we work to equip believers to serve their King.
