When looking back at the churches in China between 1979 and 2009, we can see that growth was one of its most prominent features. Despite numerous challenges and inexperience, grassroots churches generally benefited from the era and developmental dividends, achieving exponential growth in membership and size.
Since 2009, the period of vigorous growth has subsided. While some churches have seized opportunities for development during special times (such as leveraging online gatherings during the pandemic), many grassroots churches generally feel the strain of stagnation and struggle to maintain vitality. Coupled with other factors, this has led many pastors to adopt a laid-back mentality. During a visit to a region with relatively developed churches, I was surprised to hear local pastors estimate that about 80% of pastors or churches show this laid-back attitude, exacerbating the perception that churches are struggling to sustain vitality and continuous development.
However, regardless of the era or environment, there are always churches that serve as spiritual beacons, maintaining vitality and continuous growth, passing on the faith. This holds true today. Compared to the monotonous forms of Chinese churches decades ago, today’s orthodox Protestant churches exhibit greater diversity in terms of categories and theological stances. By category, there are rural churches, urban churches, migrant worker churches, and churches for professionals, etc. Theological stances encompass Fundamentalism, Charismaticism, Evangelicalism, Reformed theology, and others.
Within the diversities of regions, theological positions, and church systems, we can find churches that remain vibrant and sustainable. Although they vary in form and characteristics, they all grasp the fundamental missions and responsibilities of a church – gathering, nurturing, training, serving, and evangelizing – to meet the needs of people and the times.
Upon closer examination of these vibrant cases, seven key principles are concluded, ranked from most to least important. By solidly implementing two or three of these points, a church can regain vitality and achieve growth; some churches may even exhibit attractiveness by excelling in just one of these points.
Below are the seven points:
I. Emphasizing Sunday worship and sermons
II. Fostering daily devotion and spirituality
III. Providing abundant pastoral resources
IV. Focus on training and educating co-workers
V. Exploring the changing strategies of evangelization
VI. Social service as a new extension
VII. Renewing the mode of management and development
While part 1 discusses the first three points, this article articulates the rest points.
IV. Focus on training and educating co-workers
"What is most valuable in the 21st century? Talents!" Originating from the sensational script of a certain movie, this statement has become the consensus of our era. In retrospect, those churches that experienced significant growth during the past few decades attached the greatest importance to training disciples and co-workers. During the past ten years, this trend has become even more prominent.
All along the ratio between pastors and parishioners in churches in China has never been high. Since the churches have been subdivided into smaller congregations or operated through cell groups, this problem has been exacerbated. According to Pastor Chen from Shandong, the urgent and gigantic mission of the church is to train more full-time and voluntary workers. A certain Pastor Li from Beijing said, “If the Church of China wants to make significant progress during the next stage so as to stem the tide of stagnation or degeneration during the next 10-20 years, it must possess the most excellent and exemplary talents --- this is the most crucial factor.” Such talents refer to not only pastors and seminary students but also rank-and-file believers.
The nurturing of talents requires massive patience, time, and energy. Now different types of resources, curricula, and handbooks on co-worker and discipleship training are readily available. Regarding theological education, during the 1990s, the Church of China started exploring courses on daily devotion. By now, three decades have elapsed. Obviously, on the basis of traditional theological education and academic systematization, there needs to be more emphasis on the sinicization and implementation of the Christian faith.
V. Exploring the changing strategies of evangelization.
Right at the beginning, almost 2,000 years ago, evangelization was one of the most important missions of the Church. While the mission remains the same, the strategies have undergone numerous changes. During the past 40 years, there have been three important changes in the strategies of evangelization: miracles and wonders during the 1980s and 1990s, gospel tracts and verbal testimonies during the 1990s and 2010s, and the increasing emphasis on relations and testimonies in daily lives since the year 2010.
In about 2014, a certain city church on the eastern coast ceased distributing gospel tracts and spreading verbal testimonies, focusing instead on building relationships. According to the pastor of this church, the era of gospel tracts is over. She explained, Previously, many people neither heard about the gospel nor read any gospel tract. So they were very curious. But now the situation has totally changed: no one bothers reading gospel tracts anymore. Even if tens of thousands of gospel tracts were distributed, just one or two people would come to church and accept Christ. This would be deemed a ‘satisfactory result’. But even more than usual, no one will come to church because they have received a gospel tract. Thus, they re-examined the Bible and discovered that Jesus spread His ministry through relationships. Peter and Andrew brought their brothers and friends to Jesus. Also, very often someone who got healed by Jesus testified to the other villagers about Jesus’ healing power and even his identity as Christ. All these show that Jesus did not always preach to strangers and Hhe e often spread the gospel through relationships. Now their gospel strategy is as follows: first try various means to build up relationships and then share the gospel.
The strategy adopted by Pastor Xu and his co-workers from northeast China is evangelization through relationship-building and life testimonies. According to Pastor Hui, in our society, mutual trust between people is very fragile. If a person is approached by a stranger, he will subconsciously fortify himself with self-defense and automatic resistance. But during the 1970s and 1980s, people communicated with strangers with more trust and good intentions. Under the present social-cultural influence, Christians telling strangers about the gospel is doubtlessly full of challenges. "In our view, the best strategy for gospel outreach is building relationships. Moreover, it is not proselytizing by verbal preaching but through testimonies in daily life.
A certain city church in Guangdong found that it is hard for old believers to take newcomers to church. Besides, if the newcomer does not understand what is being preached, it could be very embarrassing. Thus, they promote relationship-building, encouraging members to reach out to their friends and relatives by holding seminars for extended families and different professions.
Apart from this, watching movies, organizing tours, reading clubs, and cultural seminars are also being used for gospel outreach, and they do bear fruit.
VI. Social service as a new extension
According to a certain brother from Zhejiang Province who has been ministering through social service for many years, it was previously easier to invite people to church. Now it is much harder. So a change of mentality is necessary --- the church needs to reach out to the masses. He uses the analogy of "a new deep-water pier" to describe the potential of the church in offering social services.
According to the analysis of a Christian writer from Jiangsu Province, owing to historical reasons, the church has all along attached the greatest importance to structure and organization, while neglecting the offering of social services. Thus, the church of our time should embrace a social structure, offering social services, and participating in social management, thereby manifesting its core values and social responsibilities, demonstrating to society that the Christian faith entails unconditional love and does not expect any return or reward. As a matter of fact, the church has a centuries-old tradition of social service value system.
According to Brother G, who has helped churches participate in the gestation of social services for many years, an over-emphasis on evangelization during the offering of social services can backfire and diminish the scope of the gospel. Likewise, the slogan "Believe in Jesus, go up to heaven; reject Jesus, go down to hell" narrows the spectrum of the gospel. Some people subdivide the Christian mission into two facets: the gospel mission and the social mission. But such subdivision can easily lead to overemphasis on one or the other. For example, taking the "short, swift, money-saving" approach so as to see the fruit of the gospel as soon as possible: distributing charity quickly, showing love briefly, and seizing the opportunity to preach about Jesus... But actually, the kingdom of God has a very wide spectrum, consisting of peace, righteousness, love, goodness, and holiness. All these require us to demonstrate them in tangible ways through our daily lives.
Nowadays, society has undergone cellular divisions and intersections, resulting in different types of communities, each with its own specific needs. For example, after-school activities for the children of full-time working mothers, the gymnastic needs of those who spend their days at their offices, the dancing drills of the old folks at public squares and their social needs, and the cultural yearnings of the youth in regard to music and painting. In response to the above needs, the church can commence relevant major and minor social services, thereby opening up new channels to reach out to and merge with the masses.
VII. Renewing the mode of management and development
Good management is part and parcel of the development of all organizations. During the past few decades, the management system of the Church of China has undergone evolution and improvement. Many books, courses, and resources on church management are readily available and many churches are taking initiatives in learning and implementation. In Guangdong, the senior pastor of a church came across a good book entitled The Church Management and studied it with his co-workers. The co-authors of the book are a pastor and an economist. The senior pastor then realized that his co-workers sometimes had misconceptions about their ministries. Once the church adopts certain external management skills, the pastor and his co-workers can set their priorities and further perfect their ministries.
Besides practical management, the mode of church development also experiences ongoing changes. It is thus necessary to be practical and adopt models in the specific context of the local church, e.g., focusing on the dual nurturing system of emphasizing cell groups and discipleship training, the evaluation system of a healthy church, and the management mode of pastoral parishes. In recent years, there have been churches trying to revive the home church system of the apostolic era or adopt the missional church mode, which results from a review of the growth mode of the mega-churches in the West during the past few decades, stressing kingdom culture and the kingdom of God. There have also been new trials of the "central kitchen" mode, which stems from a dearth of ministers.
For the church to maintain its momentum of sustainable development, it must renew and reform its modes of operation on the foundation of its ongoing basic ministries. Let us always bear in mind the maxim of "new wine in fresh wineskins". We must be in accord with God, coping with the ever-changing world by holding fast to the immutable truth and shouldering the same and singular mission with multiple modes of operation.
- Translated by Luther Li
回顾1979-2009年间的中国基督教会，增长是其显著的特征之一，虽然存在许多问题和青涩，基层教会普遍性的品尝到当时的时代和发展红利，实现人数和规模性的倍数发展。
2009年至今，蓬勃增长期不再，虽然也有一些特殊时期抓住时机实现发展的教会（如疫情期间抓住网络聚会窗口），但普遍性上许多基层教会感受到增长上的乏力和保持活力的艰难，加上其他因素，使得不少牧者对也抱之以“躺平”的态度。笔者曾在走访一教会比较发达的地区时，听当地牧者评估说大约八成牧者或教会呈现出“躺平”的姿态，感到惊讶。这种氛围也加剧了认为教会很难继续保持活力和持续发展的认识。
但事实上，无论在何种时代和环境中，总有教会仿佛当时那地方灵性的灯塔一般，保持着活力和持续发展，薪火传承。今天亦是如此。和几十年前中国教会的形式单调相比，今天正统的新教教会在不同的地区都表现出其在类别和神学立场上都更为多元，按照类别比如有农村教会、城市教会、打工群体教会、职场教会等等，神学立场也包括基要派、灵恩派、福音派、改革宗等等。
可以说，在各种不同的地区、不同的神学立场、教会体制中，都能够寻觅到其中存在着保持着活力继续增长和发展的教会。虽然形态各异、特点不同，但它们都是抓住了教会的基本使命和职责——聚会、牧养、培育、服务和福传，去满足人群和时代的需求。
更详细一些考察这些呈现活力的教会案例，可以总结出七点经验，排序是按照最重要的程度到次重要的。只要踏实地做好2-3点，就能让一间教会恢复活力，实现增长；甚至有的教会可能只是做好其中一点，也使其呈现出吸引力。
以下是有关七点的总结：
1.重视主日敬拜和讲台
2.做好日常晨更和灵修
3.提供丰富的牧养资源
4.着力同工培训与教育
5.探索福传模式的转变
6.社会服务成为新延伸
7.更新管理和发展模式
第一部分讨论了前三个要点，这篇文章阐述其余的要点。
四、着力同工培训与教育
“21世纪最贵的是什么？人才！”这句出自某部电影的流行台词已经成为时代共识。回顾过去几十年来有长足发展的教会都非常重视门训和培养同工，尤其是过去十年间这一趋势尤其突出。
本身中国教会的牧者同工比例就不高，而教会化整为零小组化之后，这一问题更为凸显。山东的陈牧师认为，现在的教会重大而又紧急的任务那就是培养更多的全职同工和义工。北京的一位李牧师说：“中国教会如果想在下一阶段取得长足进步，或者克服可能出现的10到20年的停滞或衰退期，关键因素是拥有最优秀的人才.....”并且这种人才不仅仅只是神学生和牧者，平信徒领袖也是十分需要的。
而人才的培育又是最需要花耐心、时间和精力的。现在市面上有多种多样的门训和同工培训资源、课程、手册等，而在神学教育上，中国教会自上个世纪90年代从灵修班开始探索至今有近30年的时间，发现在传统神学教育和学术系统性的基础上，需要更加强调信仰性、本土化和实践性。
五、探索福传模式的转变
福传是教会2000年前非常重视的使命之一。使命不变，但方式已经改变过多次。中国教会在过去40年间，福传方式也发生了三次重大的转变：从1880-90年代的神迹奇事，到1990-2010年间的福音单张和口传，2010年以来开始愈来愈强调关系和生活见证。
华东沿海一城市教会大约2014就已经开始陆续停止使用福音单张或口传的方式，而关注关系。这间教会的牧师说：福音单张的时代已经结束了。她分析说，因为过去很多人从来没有接触过福音，也没有看过福音单张，人们会觉得很新奇，但是现在情况变得完全不一样了，现在没有人会看福音单张，就算发出去几万张福音单张，最后能够有一两个人到教会然后信主就已经很不错了，“都算是有效果了”，而更多的情况是一个人也没有过来。因此他们重新查看圣经，发现耶稣常常也是使用关系传道的，彼得、安德烈等人都把自己的兄弟、朋友等人带到耶稣面前来，也经常有人得到医治以后给全村人见证耶稣医治了自己，甚至见证耶稣是基督，可见耶稣并不是一直都是给陌生人传道，关系传道也是耶稣经常会使用的一种传福音方式。现在他们的福传方式是这样的：首先想办法跟人建立关系，然后再把福音传给他们。
东北的许牧师和教会同工们找到的方法是关系传道结合生活见证。原因是许牧发现现在的社会人与人之间的信任是非常薄弱的，一个人遇到一个陌生人的搭讪，几乎一定会下意识的防备甚至于排斥，而上世纪70,80年代人们即便是跟陌生人交流都是带着善意和信任的。在这种社会文化的影响下，基督徒直接通过口传的方式跟陌生人分享福音无疑是充满挑战性的。“我们认为，当下最好的方式就是人与人之间通过关系来传福音。而且，还不是用口和话语来传福音，而是用活生生的见证。”
广东一城市教会发现让老信徒直接带领新人参加礼拜是有难度的，而且万一新人听不懂，也会尴尬。因此，他们推崇关系性的方式，通过鼓励会友通过朋友圈的方式来发原生家庭和职场的讲座来吸引新人来参加。
除此之外，看电影、读书会、文化讲座和旅游等都是有人在实践和产生效果的方式。
六、社会服务成为新延伸
浙江一位做了多年社会服务的弟兄观察说，以前是很容易把人带到教会，现在很难了，需要思维转变，教会需要出去到人群之中。他用“新的深水码头”来形容教会做社会服务的潜力。
一位江苏的基督徒撰稿人分析说，由于历史的原因，教会一直是重组织而轻服务的，所以，当下的时代中教会应该以社会组织的方式，去做社会服务的事情，参与社会治理，展现自己的内在价值和社会责任，也向社会展现真正的基督信仰是没有条件，不求回报的信仰；事实上，教会有着悠久的社会服务价值传统。
一位多年来帮助教会参与和孵化社会服务的G弟兄说，而人们在社会服务中过度强调传福音是过于把慈善“窄化”，就像基 “信耶稣上天堂，不信耶稣下地狱”的口号把福音窄化。有
人把使命分解为两部分：福音使命和社会使命；但是分解开，会导致人们偏重一方，就会出现为了尽快看到传福音的果效而选择“短平快”的模式做事情：发一发东西，献一献爱心
，借机口传一下耶稣……但其实上帝的国度很广，有和平、公义、慈爱、良善、圣洁……这些都是我们要脚踏实地地活出来的。
当下，社会人群更为细化和交叉，形成各类社群，需求也更为具体。比如职场妈妈们的孩子放学后放在哪儿的难题、上班族的健身需求、老年人的广场舞的锻炼和社交需求、年轻人想学画画和音乐的文化需求等。发现自己可以发挥两性作用的需求空间，并开展相应或大或小的服务，都是教会走到人群之中新的途径。
七、更新管理和发展模式
任何一个团体的发展都离不开好的管理。中国教会在过去几十年间管理制度也逐渐完善和进化，当下也有许多这方面的书籍和课程资源，不少教会主动积极的进行学习和实践。广东一教会的主任牧师偶然间读到一本名为《教会的管理》的好书，和同工一起学习。这本书是一个牧师和一个美国经济学家写的。他认识到，同工们在服事的当中有的时候会有一些错误的观念，当教会引进外部的一些管理和技能，可以帮助牧者和同工更好的把握和筛选做好教会的事奉工作。
除了具体的管理之外，教会发展模式也是层出不穷，需要结合自身教会的情况进行借鉴和落地。比如，强调门训和小组的双翼养育系统、健康教会（healthy church）评估体系、牧区管理模式等等。近年来，也有教会尝试回归到使徒时代的家教会体系（"homechurches"）、以及引进过去几十年欧美教会对大教会增长模式进行反思后开始的使命教会模式(missional church)、强调天国文化(kingdom culture)和上帝国度、以及因为工人少而开始的“中央厨房”的模式都是新的探索。
教会若保持持续发展的活力，必须在持续不断的基础事工的基础上，进行模式的更新和改变，就像新酒要装在新皮袋的提醒一样我们需要与上帝同心，以不变的真理应变万变的局势，以万变的模式来承接不变的使命。
【角声】观察与分析| 七点：赋能中国基层教会，恢复活力更新发展（下）
When looking back at the churches in China between 1979 and 2009, we can see that growth was one of its most prominent features. Despite numerous challenges and inexperience, grassroots churches generally benefited from the era and developmental dividends, achieving exponential growth in membership and size.
Since 2009, the period of vigorous growth has subsided. While some churches have seized opportunities for development during special times (such as leveraging online gatherings during the pandemic), many grassroots churches generally feel the strain of stagnation and struggle to maintain vitality. Coupled with other factors, this has led many pastors to adopt a laid-back mentality. During a visit to a region with relatively developed churches, I was surprised to hear local pastors estimate that about 80% of pastors or churches show this laid-back attitude, exacerbating the perception that churches are struggling to sustain vitality and continuous development.
However, regardless of the era or environment, there are always churches that serve as spiritual beacons, maintaining vitality and continuous growth, passing on the faith. This holds true today. Compared to the monotonous forms of Chinese churches decades ago, today’s orthodox Protestant churches exhibit greater diversity in terms of categories and theological stances. By category, there are rural churches, urban churches, migrant worker churches, and churches for professionals, etc. Theological stances encompass Fundamentalism, Charismaticism, Evangelicalism, Reformed theology, and others.
Within the diversities of regions, theological positions, and church systems, we can find churches that remain vibrant and sustainable. Although they vary in form and characteristics, they all grasp the fundamental missions and responsibilities of a church – gathering, nurturing, training, serving, and evangelizing – to meet the needs of people and the times.
Upon closer examination of these vibrant cases, seven key principles are concluded, ranked from most to least important. By solidly implementing two or three of these points, a church can regain vitality and achieve growth; some churches may even exhibit attractiveness by excelling in just one of these points.
Below are the seven points:
I. Emphasizing Sunday worship and sermons
II. Fostering daily devotion and spirituality
III. Providing abundant pastoral resources
IV. Focus on training and educating co-workers
V. Exploring the changing strategies of evangelization
VI. Social service as a new extension
VII. Renewing the mode of management and development
While part 1 discusses the first three points, this article articulates the rest points.
IV. Focus on training and educating co-workers
"What is most valuable in the 21st century? Talents!" Originating from the sensational script of a certain movie, this statement has become the consensus of our era. In retrospect, those churches that experienced significant growth during the past few decades attached the greatest importance to training disciples and co-workers. During the past ten years, this trend has become even more prominent.
All along the ratio between pastors and parishioners in churches in China has never been high. Since the churches have been subdivided into smaller congregations or operated through cell groups, this problem has been exacerbated. According to Pastor Chen from Shandong, the urgent and gigantic mission of the church is to train more full-time and voluntary workers. A certain Pastor Li from Beijing said, “If the Church of China wants to make significant progress during the next stage so as to stem the tide of stagnation or degeneration during the next 10-20 years, it must possess the most excellent and exemplary talents --- this is the most crucial factor.” Such talents refer to not only pastors and seminary students but also rank-and-file believers.
The nurturing of talents requires massive patience, time, and energy. Now different types of resources, curricula, and handbooks on co-worker and discipleship training are readily available. Regarding theological education, during the 1990s, the Church of China started exploring courses on daily devotion. By now, three decades have elapsed. Obviously, on the basis of traditional theological education and academic systematization, there needs to be more emphasis on the sinicization and implementation of the Christian faith.
V. Exploring the changing strategies of evangelization.
Right at the beginning, almost 2,000 years ago, evangelization was one of the most important missions of the Church. While the mission remains the same, the strategies have undergone numerous changes. During the past 40 years, there have been three important changes in the strategies of evangelization: miracles and wonders during the 1980s and 1990s, gospel tracts and verbal testimonies during the 1990s and 2010s, and the increasing emphasis on relations and testimonies in daily lives since the year 2010.
In about 2014, a certain city church on the eastern coast ceased distributing gospel tracts and spreading verbal testimonies, focusing instead on building relationships. According to the pastor of this church, the era of gospel tracts is over. She explained, Previously, many people neither heard about the gospel nor read any gospel tract. So they were very curious. But now the situation has totally changed: no one bothers reading gospel tracts anymore. Even if tens of thousands of gospel tracts were distributed, just one or two people would come to church and accept Christ. This would be deemed a ‘satisfactory result’. But even more than usual, no one will come to church because they have received a gospel tract. Thus, they re-examined the Bible and discovered that Jesus spread His ministry through relationships. Peter and Andrew brought their brothers and friends to Jesus. Also, very often someone who got healed by Jesus testified to the other villagers about Jesus’ healing power and even his identity as Christ. All these show that Jesus did not always preach to strangers and Hhe e often spread the gospel through relationships. Now their gospel strategy is as follows: first try various means to build up relationships and then share the gospel.
The strategy adopted by Pastor Xu and his co-workers from northeast China is evangelization through relationship-building and life testimonies. According to Pastor Hui, in our society, mutual trust between people is very fragile. If a person is approached by a stranger, he will subconsciously fortify himself with self-defense and automatic resistance. But during the 1970s and 1980s, people communicated with strangers with more trust and good intentions. Under the present social-cultural influence, Christians telling strangers about the gospel is doubtlessly full of challenges. "In our view, the best strategy for gospel outreach is building relationships. Moreover, it is not proselytizing by verbal preaching but through testimonies in daily life.
A certain city church in Guangdong found that it is hard for old believers to take newcomers to church. Besides, if the newcomer does not understand what is being preached, it could be very embarrassing. Thus, they promote relationship-building, encouraging members to reach out to their friends and relatives by holding seminars for extended families and different professions.
Apart from this, watching movies, organizing tours, reading clubs, and cultural seminars are also being used for gospel outreach, and they do bear fruit.
VI. Social service as a new extension
According to a certain brother from Zhejiang Province who has been ministering through social service for many years, it was previously easier to invite people to church. Now it is much harder. So a change of mentality is necessary --- the church needs to reach out to the masses. He uses the analogy of "a new deep-water pier" to describe the potential of the church in offering social services.
According to the analysis of a Christian writer from Jiangsu Province, owing to historical reasons, the church has all along attached the greatest importance to structure and organization, while neglecting the offering of social services. Thus, the church of our time should embrace a social structure, offering social services, and participating in social management, thereby manifesting its core values and social responsibilities, demonstrating to society that the Christian faith entails unconditional love and does not expect any return or reward. As a matter of fact, the church has a centuries-old tradition of social service value system.
According to Brother G, who has helped churches participate in the gestation of social services for many years, an over-emphasis on evangelization during the offering of social services can backfire and diminish the scope of the gospel. Likewise, the slogan "Believe in Jesus, go up to heaven; reject Jesus, go down to hell" narrows the spectrum of the gospel. Some people subdivide the Christian mission into two facets: the gospel mission and the social mission. But such subdivision can easily lead to overemphasis on one or the other. For example, taking the "short, swift, money-saving" approach so as to see the fruit of the gospel as soon as possible: distributing charity quickly, showing love briefly, and seizing the opportunity to preach about Jesus... But actually, the kingdom of God has a very wide spectrum, consisting of peace, righteousness, love, goodness, and holiness. All these require us to demonstrate them in tangible ways through our daily lives.
Nowadays, society has undergone cellular divisions and intersections, resulting in different types of communities, each with its own specific needs. For example, after-school activities for the children of full-time working mothers, the gymnastic needs of those who spend their days at their offices, the dancing drills of the old folks at public squares and their social needs, and the cultural yearnings of the youth in regard to music and painting. In response to the above needs, the church can commence relevant major and minor social services, thereby opening up new channels to reach out to and merge with the masses.
VII. Renewing the mode of management and development
Good management is part and parcel of the development of all organizations. During the past few decades, the management system of the Church of China has undergone evolution and improvement. Many books, courses, and resources on church management are readily available and many churches are taking initiatives in learning and implementation. In Guangdong, the senior pastor of a church came across a good book entitled The Church Management and studied it with his co-workers. The co-authors of the book are a pastor and an economist. The senior pastor then realized that his co-workers sometimes had misconceptions about their ministries. Once the church adopts certain external management skills, the pastor and his co-workers can set their priorities and further perfect their ministries.
Besides practical management, the mode of church development also experiences ongoing changes. It is thus necessary to be practical and adopt models in the specific context of the local church, e.g., focusing on the dual nurturing system of emphasizing cell groups and discipleship training, the evaluation system of a healthy church, and the management mode of pastoral parishes. In recent years, there have been churches trying to revive the home church system of the apostolic era or adopt the missional church mode, which results from a review of the growth mode of the mega-churches in the West during the past few decades, stressing kingdom culture and the kingdom of God. There have also been new trials of the "central kitchen" mode, which stems from a dearth of ministers.
For the church to maintain its momentum of sustainable development, it must renew and reform its modes of operation on the foundation of its ongoing basic ministries. Let us always bear in mind the maxim of "new wine in fresh wineskins". We must be in accord with God, coping with the ever-changing world by holding fast to the immutable truth and shouldering the same and singular mission with multiple modes of operation.
- Translated by Luther Li
Voice: Seven Key Points Empower Grassroots Churches in China to Restore Vitality, Part 2
