Leading a Church in the Twenty-first Century: An International Perspective

How Shall We Lead the Church?

In this Pneuma Review conversation, preacher and international instructor Aldwin Ragoonath asks, what is hindering church growth in North America? How can we can lead towards growth in the church in the Twenty-first century?

 

Where I am Coming From

I was born into a nominal Hindu home that progressed to a nominal Christian in Trinidad and Tobago, West Indies. I became a committed Christian at age 15 and received some of my theological training in Trinidad where I pastored for a few years. Later, I pastored for more than 20 years in Canada. I earned a Doctor of Ministry in homiletics and a Doctor of Theology in Pentecostal preaching. My book, Preach the Word: a Pentecostal Approach (Canada: Agape Teaching Ministry, 2004) has been printed in several languages and is being used around the world.¹ In the last thirteen years I have facilitated Pentecostal preaching seminars and courses in Pentecostal preaching all over the globe to more than 4,000 pastors, mainly in the 10/40 window—among the highest populations of non-Christians in the world.

Problems within the Western Church

David Mains, founder of the national Christian Canadian TV program 100 Huntley Street, did a survey of 100 cities in Canada trying to find out what are some of the problems hindering church growth. He discovered that the major problem in the church is apathy. People don’t care about the church and its ministry.² This can also be said of America.

Selfishness, in all its manifestations, is the second problem. When a proposal is presented to a pastor or lay person, the usual response is, “What’s in it for me?” Historians in the future will refer to this generation as the “I” generation. People are preoccupied with “I.”

People in the church and outside the church are not only concerned about “I” but are very materialistic, overly concerned with money and possessions. Success is measured by how many things i.e. houses, money and cars one possesses. And everything else is sacrificed at this altar of “me, myself and I” including: family, relationships, friends, and commitment to God.

The thing I have observed with people and churches is they can get stuck in the past and see the past as the measuring stick to do ministry today. For example, we are all glad that Martin Luther brought to the church’s attention our “justification by faith.” The Lutheran church has institutionalized justification by faith, but the church has failed—in my opinion—to accept new revelations brought to its attention, such as the baptism of the Holy Spirit.³ Of course it is imperative that every church denomination hold on to the fundamental doctrines of the historic church, but getting stuck on doctrinal distinctives and methods of the past comes at a great cost to church growth. Generally the church is stuck on traditionalism instead of flowing in the creative work of the Holy Spirit. The same could be said of Pentecostals as a movement because they are stuck in the past. They are stuck in the past, mainly in methodology: how to pray for people to be filled with the Spirit, confrontational evangelism, praying for the sick and needy, counselling, preaching, missionary work, the ministry of the pastor, Sunday School, etc.

One of the first questions the western church asks of a growing church is what “method” is the pastor using? It is my observation that God uses people in a particular geographical and social situation to bring that community to faith in Christ. If you are able to identify the method one uses it still cannot re-duplicate what God is doing in another geographical location. God uses people anointed by the Spirit to do His work, not methods. The method is the man. The church and society is constantly changing. For example large city-wide healing and evangelistic crusades are not working therefore there is a greater need to depend on the Holy Spirit to offer this ministry to local congregations. In my limited pastoral experience, more people got saved and healed through pastoral ministry  than through city wide crusades. The day for church crusades and revival meetings has passed: People don’t respond to these types of meetings.

For a while the church was hoping that the church growth movement led by Fuller Theological Seminary and many other seminaries would produce church growth as it promised, but it failed to deliver.⁴ Like most pastors, I read just about everything on the subject and attended many seminars, but the most it did for me was to affirm that I was doing the right thing and that was seeking the Lord through prayer and fasting.

Pride, superiority and arrogance are deadly sins. Why then do we see these things on display in so many western churches? For example, a pastor might have a congregation of 250 people, a secretary, a youth pastor and a Christian education director. Usually his head is filled with book knowledge, but he walks around as if he knows everything. The Bible reminds us that the devil fell from his position in heaven because of pride and many pastors are falling because of pride. As the saying goes, “pride goes before a fall.” Pride is a result of self-confidence gone too far; it is a result of our self-importance: we are the richest country in the world. We have the best theological books and we have beautiful buildings. But when a pastor from the west tries to teach church growth in the third world to a church that has 14,000 members, it comes across as a joke. This is a common problem of any world power, but America as a world power is declining. It is predicted that in the not too distant future China or India will be the next world power. How will the American church react to the changing power and a more powerful global church? The church in the west is bankrupt and needs to look to non-western countries to teach them what it means to be a man of God and how to discern the Spirit of God for our times.

When I was doing research for my Doctor of Theology on Pentecostal preaching, I spoke to several homileticians. One told me we have better prepared sermons, greater oratory skills but the anointing of the Spirit is missing. We should see results in the lives of our audiences produced by the ministry of the Holy Spirit.⁵ Today when someone preaches there are fewer conversions, few healings, and less deliverances.

Leading the Church in the Twenty-first Century

Prayer and fasting was the distinguishing mark of the Pentecostal church; that is no more the case.⁶ The Pentecostal movement was born in prayer and fasting. At Azusa Street, there were all night prayer meetings, all day prayer meetings and twenty four hour prayer meetings. As the movement grew, Tuesdays and Fridays were set apart for praying and fasting—but over time, prayer and fasting declined. Today prayer and fasting may take place one day per week (for part of the day).⁷

We have substituted prayer and fasting for programs, praise and worship, education, expensive church buildings, TV programs. But none of these have produced church growth. Only a small percentage of churches are growing; church growth is now mainly transfer growth.

One of the many things I have observed from the third world is that a growing church is a praying and fasting church. When the church in the third world wants to plant churches in any particular area they don’t read a book on church growth but they go to the Lord in prayer and ask the Holy Spirit for directions, and He always directs the church. I have seen this first hand many times and I have heard stories from Superintendents.⁸

Jesus has taught us that certain things do not happen until we fast and pray. In Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus defeated the devil in the context of fasting and prayer. “[T]his kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29). When Paul wanted direction from the Lord for ministry he went to the Lord in fasting and prayer, Acts 9:1-19.

If we are going to return to the fire that once burned in our souls, I believe we need to return to daily devotions of nothing less than one hour; one day per week in fasting and prayer, and at least twice a year we need to set apart a few days where we seek the Lord for direction for ministry and empowerment.

Vision is something the Lord impresses upon one’s heart to do something for Him and how to do it. The person with the vision sees the future clearly while no one else can. It can be born in prayer, fasting, reading, observing, daily devotional time or a conviction. It is something that you cannot get away from, it does not stop, the desire to do what God impresses you to do becomes stronger with time. Another word for vision is a dream. Solomon tells us without a vision the people perish (Prov. 29:18). Paul was in similar situations like us: many opportunities, but which one should I choose? He wondered if he should go to Asia or Macedonia and then He received a vision that he should go to Macedonia (Acts 9:1-9). We do not know if Paul was in a trance when he had this vision, received news of the needs in Macedonia or the Lord appeared to him. The absence of the description of the vision in Paul’s experience leads me to believe that God speaks in various ways. And when we follow His vision for our lives we will have fruitful ministries.

We who claim to be Spirit-filled and Spirit-led should be able to hear the voice of the Spirit when He speaks. It might be an impression, a burden, a need but it always has to do with soul winning and building-up the body of Christ. When that happens we need to obey the Spirit and do what He says. Will we read the Spirit wrong? Yes, sometimes we will. But as we walk with the Lord we will learn to read the Spirit right.

Focusing on hurting people is one of the secrets for church growth. This was definitely the focus of Jesus’ ministry, and churches focusing on the poor and needy are growing.⁹ There are all types of hurting people in every strata of society. The following are some of the needs we can focus on: stress, sickness, marital problems, blended families, hopelessness, anger, frustration, drugs, delinquent children, etc.

We should emphasize preaching or evangelism outside the church. Having a church building is no reason to disobey the Lord’s command to go into the world and preach the gospel, Matthew 28:19-20.

Evangelism calls for a conscious act, it does not happen without prayer and planning.

Evangelism calls for money and time set aside to work. Too many churches are spending money on the maintenance of church programs and little or no money on evangelism.

Evangelism calls for commitment from the pastor and the congregation.

Evangelism calls for looking for opportunities to evangelize.

It might be a worthwhile exercise to get together a group of people and discuss this suggestion: how can we communicate the gospel outside the church building?

How can we move our people to action?

Emphasize loving Christians and non-Christians alike, this is the example Jesus gave us. “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16). “Beloved, let us love one another, for love is from God; and anyone who loves is born of God, for God is love. The one does not love does not know, for God is love.” (1 John 4:7,8 NASB). The heart of Christianity is love, and when love does not exist in the church it become cold and careless. During a recent trip overseas a pastor reminded me that they win non-Christians one person at a time by showing genuine love for them.¹⁰

To love someone is to care for that person and his family. It is to participate in the practical things in life such as: their future concerns, their celebrations, etc. and communicating with them as friends. We must keep this in mind when communicating with non-Christians.

Ask for permission to share the gospel when the right time comes and the Holy Spirit will guide you on how to share the gospel. When trust is established, non-Christians usually ask questions about our faith.

The Bible emphasizes Christian education not Sunday school¹¹ and we should do the same. “[T]each them the statutes and the laws, and make known to them the way in which they are to walk and the work they are to do” (Exodus 18:20 NASB).  “Go into all the world and teach all nations…” (Mathew 28:19). Some pastors and lay people seem to act like Sunday School is the Bible and the only method to reach people with the gospel. Sunday School started only a few hundred years ago to teach children to read and write and to present to them the gospel. Non-Christians are usually not awake on Sunday mornings but they are awake in the evenings and if we change our time for Christian education to the evenings, people will attend. Boys and girls clubs during the week have a greater potential to present the gospel to children.

Seek to be a good preacher like Paul but not a great preacher. Paul said to seek excellence: “My message and my preaching were not with wise and persuasive words, but with a demonstration of the Spirit’s power” (1 Corinthians 2:4).¹² This is the conclusion I have made after 15 years of teaching preaching. The impression I had previously thought that great orators pastor large churches. But after travelling around the world, I have come to another conclusion; the largest churches in the world are pastored by average preachers and men who are filled and directed by the Holy Spirit.

A healing and deliverance service for those who are sick, demonized and any other problems should be conducted, I suggest, every three months. Doing so presents a balanced gospel, as described in Luke 4:16-20.¹³ Preaching and praying for the sick and needy goes hand in hand. This special type of service should be preceded by fasting and prayer. The regular Sunday morning service does not give us time and opportunity to fast and pray and effectively minister to the sick and the needy. However, this type of ministry can be effective through proper preparation and promotion.

Want to see God do something new? Think outside the box—let the Holy Spirit work creatively in and through your life. I think we have underestimated the Holy Spirit to work creatively in daily ministry. Every sermon we preach is a creative work of the Holy Spirit. At creation the Holy Spirit was one of the persons of the trinity who helped create the world. “Let us make man in our image” (Genesis 1: 26). “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26, ESV). As in the weekly sermon, we need to allow the Holy Spirit to work through our lives in creative ways to do ministry. The point I am trying to make is that ministry is a creative process and God leads people differently and we need to stop following successful pastors and trust the Holy Spirit to lead us in our context.

Learn to communicate with immigrants because non-Christians are coming into our country and the mission field has come to us. Missionaries who go overseas have to learn a new language and culture which takes a long time. I see new immigrants as the future of the English speaking church, but we need to be open to love and learn from their culture. We need to change; the new immigrant will naturally change. If we target a particular language group we have to realize that they are open to learn from their new culture and are open to the gospel. Genuine friendship needs to be developed before we can reach these people and we need to be transparent. Anything less than Biblical love will fail.

Focus on the community you are ministering in. Open up your church building for social and community events. Identify and help in community events. If there is a bazaar happening in the community become part of it. The more people see you in the community they more they will get to know you and the more they will trust you in times of need. Mix with the people.

Pastoral care is imperative to develop a community. If the average size of a church in North America is 75 then the average pastor can be available to meet the needs of the people. People will always remember the pastor and the church during times of grief, sorrow and sickness, so don’t miss a good opportunity. In cities people are disconnected and need someone to provide support and assurance in the good times and the difficult times. The apostles remind us to: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28 NIV).

Seek to meet the needs of the audience in preaching like Jesus did. He spoke about the needs of the people. The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is a good example. We can become so involved in expository preaching (which I enjoy) that our sermons sometimes can have little relevance to the needs that confront our audience. Jay Adams said, “We can preach effective expository sermons if we choose the correct text and apply it.”¹⁴ I don’t totally agree with preaching expository sermons all the time, however if a community is going through a difficult time financially, we have to address the need and assure the congregation of the presence of God during difficult times; that can be best done by treating this subject topically. The congregation can also to be taught how to live within their means and not to be in bondage to credit cards.

As the leader of the church, the pastor needs to create a family atmosphere in the church. In the age of individualism, people are yearning for community yet some have not experienced it and don’t know what it is. Living in a community of believers is a better choice than living in a materialistic, self-centered and uncaring world. Pastors are also the shepherd of the flock, the father of a family and if you work from that premise you will know what to do. Peter reminds us to “Shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly” (1 Peter 5:2). And Paul said something similar when he said: “Pay careful attention to yourselves and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with his own blood” (Acts 20:28 NIV). One of the ways churches are creating community is through small groups, Adult Sunday School classes, couples groups, seniors groups, Choirs, boys and girls clubs, etc.

 

 PR

Endnotes

¹ This book is translated into Spanish, Chinese and Indonesian. Read a review of the book at: /aldwin-ragoonath-preach-the-word

² David Mains, 100 Huntley Street TV Program, Ontario also see Reese Currie, http://www.compassdistributors.ca/topics/apathy.htm [Not available as of April 26, 2014].

³ This is my personal observation. This lack of openness can be said of most Christian denominations.

⁴ Bob De Deeway, “Faulty Premises of the Church Growth Movement: Rick Warren, Robert Schuller, Donald McGavran, and C. Peter Wagner Mislead the Church.” Published by Twin City Fellowship, Critical Issues Commentary, P.O. Box 26127, St. Louis Park, MN 55426, available from http://cicministry.org/commentary/issue89.htm#top; Internet; accessed 20 December 2010.

⁵ Aldwin Ragoonath interviewed Jessy Moon, professor of homiletics, Central Bible College, Springfield, MO, 1999.

⁶ Aldwin Ragoonath, “Pentecostal Preaching in North America,” Th.D. diss., (University of South Africa, Pretoria, South Africa, 2001.)

⁷ Bishop Ithiel C. Clemmons, Bishop C H Masson and Roots of the Church of God in Christ (Bakersfield, CA: Pneuma Life Publishing, 1996).

⁸ In conversation with Rev. I Kaithau, General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God, Indonesia (2008) and Rev. D. Mohan the general superintendent of the Assemblies of God in India (2009).

⁹ David Wilkerson, Times Square Church, Located at 51st Street & Broadway, Manhattan in New York City, www.tscpulpitseries.org/tsc.html. Editor’s note: David Wilkerson was killed in a car accident on April 27, 2011.

¹⁰ Aldwin Ragoonath interviewed Lesley Matthew the general treasurer, from New Delhi, India Church of God, in November 2010.

¹¹ Sunday schools began as schools for the poor. They were created in England around the year 1780. The schools provided rudimentary instruction to working people on their free day. By the 1790’s there were several of these schools in the United States. For the next three decades, Sunday schools were part of an informal network of free schools operated by various religious and philanthropic groups to provide rudimentary education to children of the poor. Depending on their sponsorship and frequency of meeting, these schools placed more or less emphasis on religious and moral instruction. Schools run by the New York Free School Society, for example, combined daily academic instruction with Sunday attendance at Sunday schools. In October 1811, Presbyterian missionary Robert May opened an evening Sunday school in Philadelphia in which, unlike previous free schools, he taught religious doctrine solely and without remuneration. Schools resembling May’s became increasingly common during the decade 1810-1820 as young, newly converted Protestants turned Sunday teaching as a means of expressing their newfound convictions. By 1820, there were several hundred Sunday schools in the United States. All emphasized religious instruction over reading and writing, although most taught the later subjects as a means of inculcating the former. Many Sunday school organizers, in fact, began lobbying for extension of a system of free daily schools so that they would be free to teach religion alone on Sundays. [Robert May Sunday School Minutebook, 1811-1812, Presbyterian Historical Society.] http://www.thewordsofeternallife.com/sunday_school.html [Not longer available as of April 26, 2014].

¹² Paul was the greatest preacher among the apostles but he was not the greatest orator.

¹³ Ragoonath, “Pentecostal Preaching in North America,” p. 52. I see in Luke 4: 16-20 teaching that preaching has two parts; 50% sermon and 50% signs, wonders and miracles. That is why I encourage a special service to prayer for people who sick and needy.

¹⁴ Jay Adams professor of homiletics, made this observation during one of his lectures in the Doctors of Ministry program at Westminster Theological Seminary, Escondido, California in 1998.