Ministry is all about relationships because ministry is all about connecting people to God. From evangelism to leadership, every step involves a relationship. While it might seem natural for every church to embrace this value, the reality paints a different picture.
So, some churches are all about the building. Everything they do is tied to that physical structure. If the building goes – poof, there goes the church. Then, there are personality-centered churches. If a specific person isn’t around anymore, people pack their bags. There are the program-focused churches. They reel people in and keep them coming with attractive programs. Last but not least, the policy-centered bunch. These churches put rules above what people actually need.
But here’s the kicker: anything that isn’t centered on relationships isn’t what Jesus had in mind for His church.
Churches become something other than relationship-centered because they forget they are in the “people” business. The Church is not about theology, music, counseling, or recreation. Some might say, “But you teach theology with every sermon.” The truth is that I teach “people” some theology in every sermon. All the speeches, songs, and events we pull off as a church should be helping people connect with God. If that connection’s missing, we might as well be doing nothing.
Jesus was all about linking people up with His Father. He wasn’t here to build fancy structures, kick off elaborate ceremonies, or launch a bunch of programs. Remember that famous line from John 3:16? “God loved the world so much that He sent His only son…” It wasn’t “God loved the world so much He built a mega-church” or “God loved the world so much He threw the ultimate worship fest.” No, it has always been about people for Jesus. If it weren’t for people, Jesus would have never come.
Take a look at Acts 2:41-47, the original description of the Church. Everything they did was people-centered. Teaching? All about people learning. Hanging out and praying? Totally about building relationships. Giving and looking out for each other? You guessed it, all about those connections. The bottom line is if the early Church didn’t have relationships, they’d be nothing. It was a “people movement,” plain and simple. It was all about people lending a hand to others.
The best way to reach people? Well, it’s people. Connecting people? You guessed it, it’s through other people. And growing leaders? You got it; it’s people mentoring people. Every step of ministry is people teaming up with other people. That’s how Jesus did it and how we should be doing things today.
Impact Discipleship Ministries is designed to help you know how to be and build disciples of Christ. If we can help your church learn more about disciple-making or provide resources to help you, please contact us at impactdisciples.com. We are happy to serve you in any way we can.
This post originally appeared at: Relationship-Centered Ministry – Impact Discipleship Ministries
Because of the importance of intentionality in disciple making, we at Discipleship.org are going to emphasize this skill set and mindset over the next four months. Please join with us and seek to share understanding, insight, and practical tools so that you can become skilled at intentionality in relational disciple making and you can help those on your team or in your leadership group to do the same. There are four ways in which we are emphasizing intentionality to help you in the next four months.
- Discipleship.org City Tour Forums – our four City Tour Forums are designed to help you and your team both understand and develop an intentionality posture. The tour is comprised of one day, high impact forums where there will be teaching and round table discussions. Every attendee also gets a copy of Brandon Guindon’s new book, Intentional: Living Out the Eight Principles of Disciple Making.
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Take the FREE Individual Disciple Maker Assessment – we designed this assessment with a team of national and international disciple making leaders to help each individual be able to evaluate their disciple making mindset and skill. Just by taking this assessment, you will gain an appreciation for the value of intentionality, along with a sense of how you can increase your own level of intentionality. Click the image below to take the assessment.
- Read the short FREE book, Becoming a Disciple Maker: The Pursuit of Level Five Disciple Making – Bobby wrote this short eBook with statistician Greg Wiens to help you understand the mathematical and practical impact of one person’s disciple making efforts and skills.
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- Read Brandon Guindon’s book, Intentional: Living Out the Eight Principles of Disciple Making – Brandon wrote this Discipleship.org book and Zondervan is publishing, because the understanding and practice of disciple making is so crucial. Every attendee at each of our City Tour events (Nashville, Houston, Dallas and Raleigh), as mentioned above, will receive a FREE copy of Brandon Guindon’s book.
Click the image below to pre-order Brandon Guindon’s book from Amazon.com. Please join with us in this quest to better understand and practice intentionality. It will help us all to become more and more like Jesus, the world greatest disciple maker.