Foundational Paradigm for Ministry - Essay Example

s In compliance with the philosophical paradigms utilized to formulate thesis and anti-thesis, the discipline of theology and religion also uses the same techniques. Thus, in order to understand the complex patterns and values inherent in religion, constructing a foundational paradigm for Ministry is crucial. Furthermore, in order to accurately determine the foundational paradigm for ministry, certain aspects of religion need to be studied in context to biblical findings and pastoral system. This would in turn involve an understanding of the Church & attached values, the operative functions of the Church, the priorities to be undertaken by the Church, its direction along with the specific duties which must be performed by the bishop, and also the critical foundations which would help differentiate true essence of Christianity from the false version. This implies that various sources must be analyzed to converge the paradigm which must reflect true teachings of Christ. An analysis of the aforementioned perspectives will lead to an emergence of a foundational paradigm for the ministry which may be useful to understand the religious values in context, also it would help in the identification of one`s own personal afflictions towards religion. Purpose of the Ministry In order to understand the Church, the purpose for which the ministry of Church has been established would have to be discussed in detail. Various scriptures and analysis of the holy Bible suggest that the people of God are those who are alive merely for spiritual wellbeing, those who believe in the royal priesthood, people of God and those who serve others. These references imply that there is more to life for people of God than they can ever imagine, i.e. they must be indulged in building the spiritual tower, they must offer their spiritual rituals and sacrifices for worship (Branick 2009). Furthermore, an analysis of the Pastoral Letters suggest that people of God must abstain from the lust and darkness of the world, and ensure that their way of life is in compliance with the testimony of excellence offered by the religion. In addition, these letters draw attention towards what the true nature of the Church must be as opposed to a version which has been polluted. Furthermore, the foundations of the Church may be identified by virtue of Timothy and Titus which stress on the doctrines of humility, righteousness and hospitality on part of those running the institution (Manning 1871). Therefore, the people of God may thus be referred to as God`s Children, where those undertaking the task of church duties would be the adopted sons of God, servants, priests, bond-slaves and sometimes even partners of Christ. According to an estimate, there may be around eighty such analogies associated with church and its people. Thus, the Pastoral letters clearly remark that the concept and nature of Church are essentially too broad to be compiled under one category, and thus one aspect must not be magnified in any circumstance. In this context, a question arises regarding the purpose behind such a variety in descriptions and ascriptions of the institution of Church. As a response, it can be assumed that such variety in images reflect that though there is unison in the symbolic meaning of the Church, yet overcoming the evil encompasses various acts. These images, which have been referred in various sources, contribute towards describing the conduct and the character of Church holistically. Also, God himself has mentioned such references in the scripture in order to instigate action and motivation in the humans. Thus, these scriptures and references point directly towards the vision of who God`s people are and what is their purpose of being in this world. To be precise, they are the representatives of God in the alien world. Also, this vision further encompasses knitting together children of god from various races and backgrounds into the united umbrella of Christianity.(Denver & Alexander 2005). Therefore, following the biblical model helps in leading a ministering Church in its true essence where the concept is related to the organisms running the institution and not merely to the organization. Furthermore, the believers would be the Disciples of Christ, and the sole involvement would be contributed by the ministers as the participants, the head of the ministry being Jesus Christ and the authority resting solely in God. The form of government practiced in the ministry must be that determined by theology, and the leadership would be selected by the wish of God, i.e. whoever he deems capable and spiritual enough. The ministry would thus be aimed at meeting needs of the people and the sole concern of the ministry must be God`s glory. The great commission of the ministry must be to multiply the disciples and purpose must be to stimulate God`s love and enthusiasm for good deeds. The resources to be utilized must be words, prayer, God`s wishes, and spiritual gifts, while the salaries would be determined via biblical principles. Thus, following the model ascribed by the scriptures themselves, a suitable yet relevant model for the ministry may be determined. The inspiration can however be drawn right from Paul who receives the crown of righteousness owing to his services as suggested by the Pastoral letters, who reflects of good conduct over how to run the institution. Operation of the Church The second part of the model relates to the operation of the church i.e. the vocation of the church. It must be understood here that the purpose behind the church is to praise the god`s glory which is possible only when people come and accept the image of Christ. This would also involve indulging the disciples into the divine essence of the glory of god or in other words spreading the message of God. Therefore, the primary purpose of the church is to bring people close to Christ so that they see a transformed image and praise the god`s glory themselves. The role of the Church may be understood by studying how Paul receives vision and travels from West to Macedonia to preach God`s message. Paul preached the message to the philosophers who in turn multiplied the message of God; and in the process Jerusalem determined a specific place (institution) to fulfill the function of spreading God`s message. The preaching of that time and the operations of the ministry during that era may be taken as a case study for present day ministry. The church, as manifested by the institutions which existed at the time of Paul, functions in two variant forms. The first one involves gathering edification, instruction, fellowship and worship; all of these involving propagation of scriptures of God in a systematic manner in such a manner that the message reaches the masses in clear form and mode (Denver & Alexander 2005). The second form seems to be scattered through various phases aimed at evangelism and establishment of the norms of ministry; implying that the disciples must appeal the masses via demonstrating over how norms of ministry may build individual character. Thus, the church must evaluate the programs to see if the objectives and goals are being met or has the institutional norms rather corrupted the objectives altogether. In the view of the current discussion, it also becomes critical to evaluate and determine the tools which would be used via institution to achieve goals. The first tool would be preaching, which implies that that the responsibility lies on the minister to ensure that the word of God is faithfully being preached, and the standards are being met inductivity, exegetically and expositionaly. The second tool would be teaching, and thus the God`s word must be taught in small groups or even in large settings. A questioning answering session may also compliment the teaching where the discussion can later be transformed into a dialogue aimed at initiating a global response. The third tool is that of training, which involves instilling practicality in terms of biblical values, i.e. norms of praying, witnessing, and walking in power along with other similar rituals and routine tasks. Also, these people must also be encouraged to train others in the process. The last tool is that of exhorting which implies that the disciples must be encouraged to take positive decisions for the sake of glorifying the Christ in such a way that promotion of Christian value becomes a priority. In addition to the tools mentioned above, certain other elements must also be incorporated into the model. For instance the disciples and believers must be taught how to praise others and show gratitude while sharing the God`s riches. Denver and Alexander (2005) propose a reasonable model of how the vitality of church maybe restored. For instance, the church must offer an opportunity for expression in adoration of God and his beings. In addition, the essence of the church lies in melodies and so, musical compositions must also be encouraged in an effort to unite hearts and harmonize spirits. Baptizing is yet another component and thus as a public demonstration for one`s faith, it must also be a component of the rituals of ministry. The service of communion must also be practiced since it deals with soul searching, some serious reflections and also, evaluations to observe and witness what God means to his believers. Via service of communion, a re-declaration to the testimony of faith is achieved which is one of the most crucial paradigms of ministry. (Denver & Alexander 2005) Also, it must be complimented with the remembrance via acts of worship and developing a relationship amongst people and God, since the church is symbol of remembrance and worship. In addition, a few more institutional essentials need to be incorporated in the model. The disciples and the believers must be given space to confess their sins to God, also a platform where they may communicate with God in an effort to develop an effective ministry. Also, the principal of adoration needs to be incorporated in such a way that God gets instilled into every act of life of the believers and doesn’t just stay restricted to the Sunday worship rituals. Petition and intercession are also effectual tools for prayer which are crucial for the ministry. Thus, incorporating all such ideals portray a holistic picture of how the model may function. Direction & Organization of Ministry The next phase of the model deals essentially with the direction and organization of the ministry. In this context, in reference to the roll of the flock and the pastor, it must be realized that there is confusion since the cultural values dictate norms which may be contradictory to the biblical revelations. At this point, it may be relevant to go back towards the Pastoral letters where references help us identify how the true essence of ministry may be differentiated from a falsified version. The leaders who must come forward must be the elders and the pastor or the teacher of the church must be able to effectively teach. The Pastoral letters also at a few points hints that the teachers are more of equippers with set agenda, time allotment, priorities and duties who function on the order of God and not by how culture demands them to function. Furthermore, the people of the ministry are referred to as the minister who is trained to change lives and make reforms for the benefit of the society. They are gifted with a skill set which God has bestowed upon them to lead their fellow priests. In this context, it must be highlighted that the testament requires the ministry to be led by those who lead the life of servants and thus, their motives are pure. Also, in terms of organization and autonomy, each local church is run as separate entity and the God chosen leaders are directly answerable to Christ. Furthermore, the administration must be sound and certain principals need to be focused upon, i.e. the problems must be deals with skillfully and realistically, and the scripture must be taken as a reference point (Wood 2009). Also, concrete solutions to issues must be developed by careful analysis of the bible. Also, most importantly responsibility must be delegated efficiently to people most qualified for the job. The principal of the establishment of priorities is also touched in the scripture where it says that people must be delegated responsibility on the basis of their ability. Furthermore, the priorities while resolving problems must also be set based on the biblical agendas, i.e. over how God would want them to function. Similarly, resolution of problems must be done in accordance with the Holy Spirit and creativity must be ascertained from God`s will. Furthermore, four principals of organization have been touched upon often in the scriptures while referring to the foundation of the ministry. Firstly, the New Testament Principles must be incorporated to accomplish the aims, and thus, structures of the church need to be transformed accordingly. Also, the biblical standards must be revised based on the needs of the time for which the New Testament may prove to be handy. In addition, the organization of the ministry must always be kept simple, i.e. the structure must be serving the goals determined and serving those who must be served. Lastly, the organization must also be kept flexible and leaders must not be locked to keep the process growing. Thus, preferences while organization must be given to biblical annotations and instructions. Critical Foundation of Ministry Lastly, the model must rely on the critical foundations which would be the focus of this section. The prophet himself narrated, ‘I know, O Lord, that a man`s way is not in himself; nor is it in a man who walks to direct his steps’. Thus, by all means, the authority of the church rests on the Word of God over whom all of the foundational values lie. Thus, no contradiction from the scripture must be expected. Here, it must be mentioned that the vision is a very significant aspect which the people of God may never neglect. This vision allows clarity in the views of the followers, where it is determined where the believers are headed to. In absence of this vision, the church would merely be a maintenance program. Thus, the greatness of Christ needs to be adored and the vision must be instilled into every member of the ministry and also what the ministry means in its true biblical terms (Denver & Alexander 2005). This critical foundational analysis as a part of the model seeks to explain how individual are self centered, consumer oriented and self indulgent in their perspectives, and thus, rather than pleasing the God, they please themselves. That is, believers may seek what the Church may do for them and how they may benefit from the church. They are expecting that once rituals of worship would be performed, a good feeling would follow. Thus, the ministry must focus that these signals may never be thrown out by the church and instead a positive message is sent which says that God is the priority and every ritual and organizational details would be decided merely on how God expects and what the scripture suggests. Thus, the ministry would flourish once the priorities are set straight, and the vision plays a crucial part in this context. Conclusively, the philosophical paradigms utilized to formulate thesis and anti-thesis, the discipline of theology and religion also uses the same techniques. Thus, in order to understand the complicated patterns and values inherent in religion, constructing a foundational paradigm for Ministry is crucial. Furthermore, in order to accurately determine the foundational paradigm for ministry, certain aspects of religion need to be studied in context to biblical findings and pastoral system. This would in turn involve an understanding of the Church & attached values, the operative functions of the Church, the priorities to be undertaken by the Church, its direction along with the organization patterns, and also the critical foundations over which the Church is standing (Denver & Alexander 2005). An analysis of the aforementioned paradigms will lead to an emergence of a foundational paradigm for the ministry which may be useful to understand the religious values in context, also it would help in the identification of one`s own personal afflictions towards religion. The first aspect of the model narrates that the ministry would thus be aimed at meeting needs of the people and the sole concern of the ministry must be God`s glory. The great commission of the ministry must be to multiply the disciples and purpose must be to stimulate God`s love and enthusiasm for good deeds. Secondly, the tools used to preach and teach the values of the ministry must be pre-determined and involves various worship rituals and public demonstration of faith along with other routine discussions. Thirdly, the model gives a sense of direction to how the ministry may flourish, i.e. resolution of problems must be done in accordance with the Holy Spirit and creativity must be ascertained from God`s will Fourthly, a critical foundational analysis on the model suggests that the vision is most important since it explain how God must be the priority of the ministry. Thus, a holistic view of the four phases gives an account of how the foundation may function. Works Cited: Branick, V. P. (2009). Understanding Paul and his letters. New York: Paulist Press. Dever, M., & Alexander, P. (2005). The deliberate church: Building your ministry on the gospel. Wheaton, Ill: Crossway Books. Manning, H. E. (1871). The Vatican council and its definitions: A pastoral letter to the clergy. New York: D. & J. Sadlier. Wood, R. C. (2009). Preaching and professing: Sermons by a teacher seeking to proclaim the Gospel. Grand Rapids, Mich: William B. Eerdmans Pub. WIERSBE, W. W. (1999). On being a servant of God. Grand Rapids, Mich, Baker Books. Read More