"No specialized training is needed in evangelism. As long as you can bring people in and let them learn through a long-established discipleship system via watching a series of videos, you can thus materialize the idea of 'no threshold for missionary work'”, said a pastor in East China.
For a long time, churches in China have focused on evangelism and discipleship, but the management system has rarely received any reforms, and the innovation of church planting is almost unknown. At present, quite a few churches are still using the traditional top-down “pyramid” management system, which is a vertical management system with different layers. Under the trend of “horizontal” management, some churches have begun to consider innovating their management system, inheriting the advantages of “pyramid” management while avoiding its disadvantages.
In the past few years, Pastor L, who is from East China, has made fruitful attempts and innovations in these aspects.
In an interview with the Christian Times, an online Christian newspaper in China, Pastor L (pseudonym for safety reasons) said that at first, he did not come up with innovating his church management system. “In the process of my church’s development, I found that our system had problems in that it could not extend itself. Our previous system could only allow us to manage the local area, and we also had some groups in other places. In the process of managing the church, I found that due to geographical distance, we could not effectively manage them, which showed that there was something wrong with our management system.”
Pastor L said, for example, that there were some group leaders who did not know how to lead them. They did not know what to do when faced with new members, nor did they know about multiplying groups. “We have been doing it for so many years, and we know how to do it ourselves, but those new group leaders have no idea at all. At that time, we discovered that there was something wrong with the inheritance. The key point of the problem was administration. Could our entire administrative system be duplicated? Administration can be organized at the upper level, but so can it be well practiced in the cell groups? The whole administration here has become a system, including how to train new members when they come over. All is well at the upper level of administration, but they are not so when it comes to group leaders at the lower level.”
After discovering the problems, Pastor L began to think about how to solve them.
Traditional pastoral ministry is based on experience. Pastor L started to lead the church at the beginning of 2000 during which he constantly accumulated the experience and lessons learned. Pastor L said that he didn't know the reason why, but he felt that the group leader should have mastered these things long ago and that there should have been no problem. However, the reality completely exceeded his expectations. He found that the things that he had already mastered for a long time could not be done by the team leader. He realized that there was something wrong with their ability to adopt new practices, and a lot of things could not be passed down from him to the group leaders in different places.
“For me, because many churches have small groups and co-workers, it comes from the experience gained in the long pastoral ministry, not from learning. Then how can I turn my years of experience into something that they can completely copy in a short time? So I sorted out a course, and worked out our discipleship process, administrative process, and multiplication process of the group. All of which were worked out in great detail. It was a lot of sorting out and summarizing, and it was written down in words. It was all sorted out so that others can learn and absorb it better.”
In a city that doesn’t have a church or a city that already has small gathering spots, in terms of how to go from zero to one, and how to go from one to two, this system has sorted it all out. With the system in place, it is relatively easy to implement leaders. If this system is sorted out, it will have a standard to use.
Pastor L said with emotion that in the past, he, as well as other co-workers, always had to do much repetitive work, so precious time was wasted in vain. Although he was very diligent, the service efficiency was actually very low. “We conquered this matter, and then formed it into words and courses, which can be used directly. What we are going to do now is to record many things into videos, so that we do not have to talk about them repetitively. We can do it once and always benefit from it. Then in the process of practice, we also need to pay attention to constantly appearing new problems, and then constantly improve this system.”
The church where the pastor serves has launched its own mission goal - there is no threshold for the mission. In traditional cognition, there is not only a threshold, but the threshold is surprisingly high.
To this, Pastor L explained that in their church system, everyone could do missionary work. In the past, it was necessary to train missionaries professionally. It took at least one to two years of training to send a missionary. When they are sent to a place, all they have to do is face new people, cultivate new people, party process, discipleship, visit, and so on. And all this needs to be studied and trained before they are qualified. But in the current innovative church planting mode, for example, there is a believer in the church. He originally worked here, but he was very burdened with his family, and then he preached the gospel to his family. After someone came to faith, he could immediately become a small gathering there. Missionaries do not need professional training, as long as they gather together, as long as they can bring people here. After the man comes over, what will the discipleship be? It is enough to learn through the long-established discipleship system, that is, discipleship videos, and there is no need to specially train missionaries. In this way, the goal of having “no threshold for missionary work” has been successfully achieved.
- Translated by Charlie Li
宣教不需要经过专业的训练，只要能把人带过来，通过早就已经做好的牧养体系也就是牧养的视频来学习就可以，如此就实现了“宣教无门槛”，华东一个牧者说。(==当summary）
长期以来，在中国教会领域，一直把焦点放在传道、牧养上面，而对教会的管理体制却少有改革，植堂模式的创新更是鲜有听闻。目前，相当多的教会依然是传统式的自上而下的“金字塔式”的管理体制，这是一种层层分级的垂直式管理体制。而在当今流行“扁平化”管理的浪潮之下，一些教会也开始思考教会管理体制的创新，在继承金字塔式管理体制的优点的同时，避免金字塔式管理体制的弊端。
过去几年的时间中，华东某地一教会的牧者L牧师在这些方面进行了富有成效的探索和创新。
在接受中国网络基督教报纸--基督时报的采访中，L（笔名）牧师说一开始他也没想过要做教会管理体制方面的创新。“在教会发展的过程中，我们开始发现我们的体制有问题——无法跨越空间，我们之前的体制就是只能管理当地，在外地我们也有一些小组，在管理的过程当中我们就发现因为距离的原因，我们无法有效的管理他们，这就说明我们的管理体制出现问题了。”
L牧师说，比如说有一些小组长，小组不知道怎么带，面对新人他不知道怎么做，整个小组的裂变和扩展组长通通都不知道。“我们做了这么多年，我们自己是知道怎么做的，但是那些新的小组长他们却完全不知道，这个时候我们才发现传承出了问题。而问题的关键点就是行政，我们整个行政系统是不是可复制的？行政在我们这可以有条有理，那么到了下面的小组这里能不能有条有理？我们这边整个行政已经成系统成体系了，包括新人过来以后如何栽培他们，这些通通都是有的，可是到下面的小组长那边就没有了。”
发现问题以后，L牧师开始思索怎样解决出现的问题。
传统的牧养都是凭着经验。L牧师是从2000年初那时候开始带领教会的，在带领教会的那些年当中L牧师不断的积累着传道牧养的经验教训。L牧师说，不知道究竟是出于怎样的缘故，他觉得这些东西小组长应该也早就掌握了，应该没有什么问题。但是现实完全超乎了他的预料，他发现自己早就掌握的滚瓜烂熟的东西到了小组长那里却完全做不来。这个时候L牧师终于发现，原来他们的传承出了问题，很多的东西从L牧师他们这里传承不到异地的小组长那里。
“对我来说，因为很多牧养教会带小组带同工，它是从漫长的牧养历程当中所获得的经验来的，不是从学习来的。那我怎么能够把我这么多年的经验转化成他们短时间内就可以完全复制的一些东西？所以我就整理出一个课程，制定了我们的牧养流程、行政流程，还有小组的裂变流程……这些通通非常详细的制定出来。就是很多的整理总结，成为文字化的书面化的，全部把它给梳理出来了，这样的话别人就可以比较好的学习吸收了。”
一个空白城市，或者是已经有小点的城市，怎么从0到1，怎么从1到2，这个体系全部都给梳理出来，有了体系以后，同工的执行就相对来讲它就比较容易了，把这个体系梳理出来，它就有1个标准可以去用。
L牧师感慨的说，以前的时候他也好，其他的同工也好，总是要做很多重复性的工作，宝贵的时间就这么白白的耗费掉了，虽然很勤奋，但是实际上服事的效率其实是很低的。“我们把这个东西攻克，然后形成文字、课程，他们直接就可以用了。我们现在正要做的就是把很多的东西全部录成视频，这样的话就不用再去讲了，一次完成，永远受益。然后在实践的过程当中，也需要注意不断的发现新的问题，然后不断的完善这个体系。”
L牧师所服事的教会推出了自己的宣教目标——宣教无门槛。宣教怎么可能没有门槛呢？在传统的认知当中，宣教不但有门槛，而且这个门槛还不是一般的高。
对此，L牧师解释说，在他们的教会体系中，每一个人都可以做宣教。以前的时候是需要专业训练宣教士的，要差派一个宣教士，最起码也要经过一年到两年时间的训练。把他差派到一个地方，他所要做的就是面对新人、栽培新人、聚会流程、牧养、探访等等这一系列的工作。而这一切都需要经过学习和训练，学习完以后才能差派出去。但是在现在的创新的植堂模式里面，比如说教会有一个信徒，他原本在这边工作，但是他对他的家人很有负担，然后就给他的家人传福音，有人信了之后，就可以在那边马上就成为一个小点。宣教不需要经过专业的训练了，只要有召聚力就可以，只要能把人带过来就可以。那人过来了以后，牧养怎么办呢？就是通过早就已经做好的牧养体系也就是牧养的视频来学习就可以了，并不需要专门训练宣教士。如此，就顺利实现了“宣教无门槛”的目标。
专访|华东某教会植堂模式的创新探索：让宣教无门槛
"No specialized training is needed in evangelism. As long as you can bring people in and let them learn through a long-established discipleship system via watching a series of videos, you can thus materialize the idea of 'no threshold for missionary work'”, said a pastor in East China.
For a long time, churches in China have focused on evangelism and discipleship, but the management system has rarely received any reforms, and the innovation of church planting is almost unknown. At present, quite a few churches are still using the traditional top-down “pyramid” management system, which is a vertical management system with different layers. Under the trend of “horizontal” management, some churches have begun to consider innovating their management system, inheriting the advantages of “pyramid” management while avoiding its disadvantages.
In the past few years, Pastor L, who is from East China, has made fruitful attempts and innovations in these aspects.
In an interview with the Christian Times, an online Christian newspaper in China, Pastor L (pseudonym for safety reasons) said that at first, he did not come up with innovating his church management system. “In the process of my church’s development, I found that our system had problems in that it could not extend itself. Our previous system could only allow us to manage the local area, and we also had some groups in other places. In the process of managing the church, I found that due to geographical distance, we could not effectively manage them, which showed that there was something wrong with our management system.”
Pastor L said, for example, that there were some group leaders who did not know how to lead them. They did not know what to do when faced with new members, nor did they know about multiplying groups. “We have been doing it for so many years, and we know how to do it ourselves, but those new group leaders have no idea at all. At that time, we discovered that there was something wrong with the inheritance. The key point of the problem was administration. Could our entire administrative system be duplicated? Administration can be organized at the upper level, but so can it be well practiced in the cell groups? The whole administration here has become a system, including how to train new members when they come over. All is well at the upper level of administration, but they are not so when it comes to group leaders at the lower level.”
After discovering the problems, Pastor L began to think about how to solve them.
Traditional pastoral ministry is based on experience. Pastor L started to lead the church at the beginning of 2000 during which he constantly accumulated the experience and lessons learned. Pastor L said that he didn't know the reason why, but he felt that the group leader should have mastered these things long ago and that there should have been no problem. However, the reality completely exceeded his expectations. He found that the things that he had already mastered for a long time could not be done by the team leader. He realized that there was something wrong with their ability to adopt new practices, and a lot of things could not be passed down from him to the group leaders in different places.
“For me, because many churches have small groups and co-workers, it comes from the experience gained in the long pastoral ministry, not from learning. Then how can I turn my years of experience into something that they can completely copy in a short time? So I sorted out a course, and worked out our discipleship process, administrative process, and multiplication process of the group. All of which were worked out in great detail. It was a lot of sorting out and summarizing, and it was written down in words. It was all sorted out so that others can learn and absorb it better.”
In a city that doesn’t have a church or a city that already has small gathering spots, in terms of how to go from zero to one, and how to go from one to two, this system has sorted it all out. With the system in place, it is relatively easy to implement leaders. If this system is sorted out, it will have a standard to use.
Pastor L said with emotion that in the past, he, as well as other co-workers, always had to do much repetitive work, so precious time was wasted in vain. Although he was very diligent, the service efficiency was actually very low. “We conquered this matter, and then formed it into words and courses, which can be used directly. What we are going to do now is to record many things into videos, so that we do not have to talk about them repetitively. We can do it once and always benefit from it. Then in the process of practice, we also need to pay attention to constantly appearing new problems, and then constantly improve this system.”
The church where the pastor serves has launched its own mission goal - there is no threshold for the mission. In traditional cognition, there is not only a threshold, but the threshold is surprisingly high.
To this, Pastor L explained that in their church system, everyone could do missionary work. In the past, it was necessary to train missionaries professionally. It took at least one to two years of training to send a missionary. When they are sent to a place, all they have to do is face new people, cultivate new people, party process, discipleship, visit, and so on. And all this needs to be studied and trained before they are qualified. But in the current innovative church planting mode, for example, there is a believer in the church. He originally worked here, but he was very burdened with his family, and then he preached the gospel to his family. After someone came to faith, he could immediately become a small gathering there. Missionaries do not need professional training, as long as they gather together, as long as they can bring people here. After the man comes over, what will the discipleship be? It is enough to learn through the long-established discipleship system, that is, discipleship videos, and there is no need to specially train missionaries. In this way, the goal of having “no threshold for missionary work” has been successfully achieved.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Interview: Innovative Attempt of Church Planting in East China Sets No Threshold for Missionary Work
