While reading Craig Van Gelder's The Ministry of the Missional Church: A Community Led by the Spirit over some coffee this morning, one sentence sent me on a tangent of thinking. Van Gelder made the observation that Jesus taught his disciples a lot about the nature of the church/people of God, but never really said much about how it would be structured or how it would be modeled. Instead, Jesus told his followers the Spirit would come and lead them to be the unique community.
Church leaders of all kinds--missional, emerging, denominational, traditional, pastoral, etc.-- talk a lot about models. I, too, am often captivated by ideas and dreams of ways a church might be modeled or structured. Van Gelder's, point, however, reminded me that God does not always reveal models to leaders. God does send the Spirit, though, to equip the people of God for ministry and mission. Those who lead the church would be wise to remind themselves that the ministry of the Spirit within the church is to empower the people of God. The role of the leader is to help the people of God hear the voice of the Spirit and to create spaces for dialogue to take place. When God's people together listen for the Spirit's voice and are constantly sharing what they are hearing, a missional model can emerge. This model won't be shaped by the church down the road or by consumerism or prevailing church strategy. Instead, this model will be shaped by the Spirit.
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