!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!REACHING MORE PEOPLE THROUGH AN INTENTIONAL APOSTOLIC ROLE OF

PASTORAL LEADERSHIP IN THE ADVENTIST CHURCH !!!!!Chris Donavan !!!!!!! !!!! !!!

RELP 532 Post session paper

OCT. 2013

�1

Picture a group of people suited up in protective gear, storming behind enemy lines on a

well orchestrated, rescue mission to save tortured prisoners of war from the bowels of a deep,

dark dungeon. Jesus said “...I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail

against it.” (Matt. 16:18 KJV).  Jesus revealed that His church would be on the offensive while 1

engaging in a war with eternal consequences. His church has rescuing capabilities and

conquering possibilities. Unfortunately, at present in the United States, it seems like the church

is retreating, instead of storming the gates of hell and rescuing lost souls. The Christian church in

the West is reaching far fewer people then in years past. This also includes the Adventist church

in North America as well. As a result, millions in the United States are going to their grave

without a saving relationship with Jesus. While there are many factors that contribute to decline

in growth, one in particular stands out - pastoral placement over the local church. In order to

revitalize Kingdom growth, the Adventist church must make substantial changes that will re-

organize the pastoral work force back to its early history when it utilized a more Biblical

Apostolic approach to ministry. If we don’t, the decline of growth in the United States will cause

the statement by Beckworth and Kidder to become a reality. “The church will become a

shrinking part of the population, making it increasingly more difficult to fulfill its mission.”  2

A brief history of the Adventist church reveals that pastors spent the majority of their

ministry reaching people in new communities in order to start new churches. Operating in a

similar fashion as the Apostles, they would spend a few months, or a few years in a community

that had no Adventist church. They would engage in ministry for the people, share the

! � Unless Otherwise Indicated All Bible References In This Paper Are To The, New King James 1

Version Bible (NKJV) (Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1996)

! � David Beckworth , S. Joseph Kidder, “Reflections on the future of the Seventh-day Adventist 2

Church in North America: Trends and challenges part 1 of 2,” Ministry Magazine (Dec. 2010): 21.

�2

everlasting gospel with them, make disciples, and raise up a new congregation. Then, after

empowering a capable member (or members) to lead these new church plants, they would go to a

new community and repeat the process, continually advancing and growing the Kingdom of God

with significant success. The Adventist church grew at a rate of almost 9% using this kind of

Apostolic model for ministry. Unfortunately in recent years, church growth rate has hung around

only 2% growth in the United States. Back in 2011 the Seventh-day Adventist church was in the

news with headlines that read “Adventists' back-to-basics faith is fastest growing U.S. church”  3

This USA TODAY article could have been cause to rejoicing, since our denomination not only

made headline news, but it also declared the Adventist church to be the fastest growing

denomination in North America. The article revealed however, that only a meager 2.5% rate of

growth held the church in its first place position. While it is commendable to be on top, this rate

isn’t much to rejoice in when we consider this doesn’t even keep pace with population growth.

Unfortunately, Beckworth and Kidder found it to be much worse than that when conversion

growth was measured, “however, from 1975 to 2005 the population grew by 1.09 percent, but the

church grew by 0.06 percent.”  It’s clear when we look at the actual growth of the church, it has 4

reached a critical state in the North American Division (NAD), and something must change if we

are going to be faithful to the command of Christ as outlined in the great commission.

If the Adventist church in the NAD was willing to make some changes, we could

recapture our evangelistic effectiveness from the early years and begin truly growing God’s

Kingdom again in a way that brings more honor to God and saves more people from eternal

! � G. Jeffrey MacDonald, “Adventists' back-to-basics faith is fastest growing U.S. church,” USA 3

Today, March 19, 2011.

! � David Beckworth , S. Joseph Kidder, “Reflections on the future of the Seventh-day Adventist 4

Church in North America: Trends and challenges part 1 of 2,” Ministry Magazine (Dec. 2010): 21.

�3

destruction.  This change would require a significant percentage of our full time pastoral team to 5

transition into a similar model utilized by the Apostolic church and the ministers from the first

five or six decades of the Adventist church. When the pastoral leadership in the Adventist

church functions in this type of leadership role, the NAD will become more missional, impacting

and reaching more people in today’s culture. This will result in more church plants, and greater

Kingdom growth.  This model must also empower Spirit filled lay people to serve in pastoral 6

roles as well.  Doing so will help the church develop a model of pastoral ministry that facilitates 7

greater effectiveness of our mission, and will help reverse the ? trend. This paper will explore at

least one model that could provide a more evangelistic structure of pastoral ministry. First, it

will cover some background of how the apostles and early church functioned as they fulfilled the

great commission, as well as an overview the early Adventist church. Second, we will look at a

proposed option of implementing this model in the Georgia Cumberland Conference. And third,

we will explore some benefits and potential challenges associated with such a model.

The Apostles and Early Adventist Ministry

The disciples formed the early church through aggressive Spirit-filled missionary efforts.

Jesus was the ultimate disciple maker. He began His public ministry by calling together twelve

men who followed Him and participated in every aspect of ministry Jesus was engaged in. From

the beginning, these men were given spiritual power to proclaim and heal, accomplishing great

things as they worked with Jesus to help reconcile people back to God (Matt. 10:1).

! � Robert E. Coleman, The Master Plan Of Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Baker House Company, 5

1998), 31.

! � Ed Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches (Nashville: B&H publishing Group, 2006), 19-20.6

! � Russell Burrill, Waking The Dead (Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 2004), 76.7

�4

Jesus re-iterated their calling at different times, and especially confirmed their purpose

when He left, as He gave them their final mandate we refer to as the great commission. “And

Jesus came and spoke to them, saying, ‘All authority has been given to Me in heaven and on

earth. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the

Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have

commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.’” (Matt. 28:18-20).

Inherent in this command from Jesus is a process that He outlined for reaching the whole world

with the gospel. A process that isn’t linear or compartmentalized, but holistic and more organic

in nature. This process starts by going to people who need God’s love and truth, which is

revealed in the context of caring relationships. Because His plan was more about relationships

then mechanics, it facilitated the necessary elements for multiplication of the Kingdom, as

opposed to growing a human enterprise through addition. These disciples engaged with people

in their daily lives, just as Jesus came down to earth to be with us (Mark 6:10, Matt. 1:23), and

they showed God’s love in practical ways (Jer. 31:3, Matt. 14:19). This helped people see the

benefit of having a saving relationship with Jesus (John 3:16, Romans 5:8). This provided

people with an opportunity to make a commitment in baptism and become members of His

family (Matt 16:24, Eph. 2:19). The new disciples continued to learn how to live by the

commands of Jesus (Eph 5:1, Acts 2:42), which in turn increased their love to God and man

(Luke 10:27). This became the driving force of their relationships, and as they followed Christ

they develop a stronger love for what He loves (Luke 19:10). This resulted in a partnership with

God to seek and save the lost (1 Cor. 3:9). When the promise of the outpouring of the Holy

Spirit was realized (Acts 1:8), the early church grew rapidly as thousands received salvation

�5

(Acts 2:41), and people were joining the church on a daily basis (Acts 2:47). Later, after

persecution drove the new believers from Jerusalem, the apostles and other disciples went forth

into new places continually making more disciples and raising up churches, fulfilling Acts 1:8.

We find this repetitive process was at the heart of their mission work, and was very effective at

growing God’s Kingdom.

The disciples would stay in a town or city for a number of months (or a few short years)

making disciples and raising up a church. After the church was established, they would go to

another place and share the gospel, repeating the process again and again. This is evident by

some of the time frames they spent reaching out in specific places (see Acts 11:26; 18:11;

19:8-10; 20:3, 31; Gal. 1:8). Before leaving, they would appoint elders to oversee and lead the

local church (Acts 14:23) . This model was also taught to the next generation of apostolic

leaders, as evident by Paul’s instructions to Timothy: “And the things that you have heard from

me among many witnesses, commit these to faithful men who will be able to teach others

also.” (2 Tim. 2:2). This process facilitated exponential growth, and the early church grew so

quickly, that Paul later declares in Colossians 1:23, “if indeed you continue in the faith, grounded

and steadfast, and are not moved away from the hope of the gospel which you heard, which was

preached to every creature under heaven, of which I, Paul, became a minister”. Obviously this

was a very effective evangelistic strategy, and we find that a similar process and structure was

used by the Seventh-day Adventist church when it first started.

Adventist Church Ministry and Growth

Looking back into the history of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, we find a humble

and seemingly insignificant small band of believers. This group of Advent believers only

�6

numbered in the hundreds when they started, and it didn’t appear they would amount to much

either. However, God worked through these dedicated people, and they began to see more and

more people embrace the everlasting gospel and join this grass-roots Bible following movement

of people. As an increasing number of people hungered to embrace the “whole counsel of

God” (Acts 20:17) and fulfill the great commission, they labored with Jesus to touch hearts and

share the truths they found in God’s word with others. With a desire for doctrinal purity and a

passion to see God’s Kingdom advance, the group desired to only remain a movement of

Christians doing God’s work. Schwarz makes this observation in his book on the history of the

Adventist Church: “part of the sabbatarian Adventists’ Millerite heritage was a determination not

to create another denomination.”  However, their evangelistic effectiveness began to wane as 8

difficulties began to mount. Publications were inconsistent, travel was difficult, and leaders in

the movement had to work at paying jobs or practically starve doing ministry full-time. The

burning desire to see God’s word shared with as many people as possible, forced the early

leaders to realize that it was necessary to formally organize. After much prayer, study, and

discussion, they worked to design the organization in order for it to function in ways that were

essential to effectively carry out the mission as the remnant of Bible prophecy. One significant

objective was to have ministers focus primarily on reaching new people. Russell Burrill writes

For the first sixty to seventy years of its existence the Seventh-day Adventist Church had an itinerant clergy. Their main function was to raise up churches and give oversight to many local congregations, who primarily cared for themselves. There were no settled pastors who were the chief care givers for the local church. In this sense the structure was very similar to that of the first century church. When a church was organized, local lay elders were appointed to oversee the congregation, and the clergy went on to start new congregations. Since the

! � R. W. Schwarz, Light Bearers To The Remnant (Nampa: Pacific Press, 1979), 86.8

�7

churches were small and the believers scattered, it was unnecessary to appoint clergy over an individual church.  9

!Utilizing this model, the Adventist church grew quickly. Bull and Lockhart mention that “during

the 1870’s membership nearly trebled, and by 1880 it stood at 15,570.”  So those humble 10

beginnings with only a few hundred people, swelled into a vibrant growing denomination as the

ministers used a similar method of church planting that the Apostolic church utilized. The

growth rate during this time was impressive. Between 1863 and 1900, the Adventist church in

North America grew at an annual rate of 8.9 percent.  The methods had a direct impact on the 11

successful growth realized by the Seventh-day Adventist denomination during its infancy.

Unfortunately, the growth started declining after those early years, and has continued a

downward trend until leveling off in recent years to around the 2.5 percent range. This

represents a huge decrease in soul winning effectiveness. There are many factors that contribute

to this sort of decline. One that most likely contributed was the change in pastoral function. A

change occurred as the pastoral role shifted. Where before it had been primarily evangelistic in

nature, focusing on reaching new communities; ministers eventually took on a more nurturing

role as they focused on caring for the churches they were assigned to.

A Change in Pastoral Leadership Function

The tragic decrease in effectiveness definitely started after pastors were assigned to

specific churches. This resulted in fewer churches being formed, and church planting simply

! � Russell Burrill, Recovering An Adventist Approach To The Life And Mission Of The Local Church 9

(Fallbrook: Hart Research Center, 1998) 162-163.

! � Malcolm Bull and Keith Lockhart, Seeking A Sanctuary: Seventh-day Adventism And The 10

American Dream (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2007) 138.

! � Lonnie L. Wibberding, Fire Your Pastor: The Hope Of A Lost World (Telfold: Big Fish Publishing, 11

2009), 7.

�8

became a byproduct of the denominations evangelistic efforts. There were several elements or

issues that contributed to this shift. One of which had to do with people joining the Adventist

church from other denominations. These new members were used to having a minister care for

their local church. Burrill points out “evidently, early in the twentieth century some were calling

for the Adventist Church to move to ‘settled pastors’ over the churches.”  Burrill also indicates, 12

“the church moved toward settled pastorates and the growth rate is only one-third of what it was

when the church operated without settled pastors.”  This shift of pastoral function in the NAD 13

contributed to the decline in evangelistic and soul winning effectiveness. The early 1900’s the

growth rate was around 4 percent, then in the mid 1900’s, it dropped in the 3 percentile range.

From about 1980 to our present day, growth has hung in the 2 percent range.  Removing 14

pastoral leadership from their primary work of raising up new congregations, had a direct impact

on growth. Another factor that may have contributed to the decline in growth is the aging cycle

of an established church.

Every church reaches a growth plateau, and if not dealt with properly can eventually

result in negative growth. Win Arn, a church growth expert, says “today, of the approximately

350,000 churches in America, four out of five are either plateaued or declining”  Gladden 15

reveals these startling figures in his book Plant The Future; “The average size of a five year old

Southern Baptist church is 145 members. The average size of a 100 year old Southern Baptist

! � Russell Burrill, Recovering An Adventist Approach To The Life And Mission Of The Local 12

Church (Fallbrook: Hart Research Center, 1998) 181.

! � Ibid., 188.13

! � Lonnie L. Wibberding, Fire Your Pastor: The Hope Of A Lost World (Telfold: Big Fish Publishing, 14

2009), 10.

! � E. Norman, A Strategy for Reaching Secular People. (Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2007), 19515

�9

church is 155 members.”  In general churches experience significant growth in their infancy. 16

Over time its redemptive potential wains, growth slows down, and eventually after twenty years

or so, very little growth occurs. In the book, Waking The Dead by Russell Burrell, shares some

research on the Adventist church conducted by Roger Dudley which “…revealed that churches

under 11 years of age averaged 9.5 baptisms for every 100 resident members, whereas churches

more than 41 years of age averaged only 3.7 baptisms.”  Starting new churches is far more 17

effective at reaching new people then relying upon existing churches, and the shift away from

pastors planting new churches certainly contributed to the decline of Kingdom growth within the

Adventist church.

Renewal of Church Planting

In 1996 the President of North American Division, Alfred McClure, became the driving

force behind an initiative to renew church planting efforts as an intentional evangelistic effort in

the NAD. During the ten years following, the NAD added roughly 500 churches. The growth

rate increased substantially in 1999, but then tapered off again after that (info can be obtained

from adventiststatistics.org). Even with this renewal in church planting, the trend toward decline

wasn’t abated. There are many factors as pointed out in recent research by Kidder, such as

internal factors, cultural factors, and methodological factors.  There isn’t time to research it in 18

this paper, but it would be good to have a few additional questions answered. Such as, what

models have been primarily used for church planting and what impact has that had on the success

! � Ron Gladden, Plant the future: So many churches! Why plant more? (Nampa: Pacific Press, 16

2000) 28.

! � Russell Burrill, Waking The Dead (Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 2004), 34.17

! � S. Joseph Kidder, “Reflections on the future of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North 18

America: The Long View of Church Growth part 2 of 2,” Ministry Magazine (Feb. 2011): 13.

�10

of a modern approach? For instance, if it turns out that an attractional model was the primary

model for church planting in recent history, then that would have certain implications for

sustainability and growth, which should be studied further to determine the best models for

Spirit-filled Adventist leaders to utilize. The other aspect that may have impacted the lack of

Kingdom growth, was how pastoral leadership has been provided in these new plants. In my

limited connections with church planters in the NAD, I have observed that in most cases, church

planting pastors also remained the pastor of the congregation they had been leading previous to

starting the new church. This meant the church plant was an added responsibility, and an

increase in work load for pastor. This form of operation would definitely have an impact on the

success of the church plant and its overall contribution to conversion growth in the NAD. There

have been a few Conferences in the North American Division over the years that have dedicated

funds to hire a few FTE’s who’s sole responsibility was to plant a new church. I am certain this

has contributed to the success of a church plant. Unfortunately, this isn’t a sustainable model for

church planting, since most conferences aren’t able to dedicate funds for the sole purpose of

church planting salaries. Even conferences that provide funding to hire a church planter, seem to

do so on a limited basis. Again, more questions need to be looked into to arrive at conclusions

that will help us make the best decisions to support the mission. And while we praise God for the

individual success of church plants that have occurred since the 1990’s, the numbers declare that

it hasn’t resulted in significantly increasing the membership, nor has it reversed the growth trend

within the NAD. The reason there may not be enough funds could be due to the decrease in

productivity, using up all available resources for the results we are currently achieving. Not only

does it take roughly 30 members to produce a single convert in a year (as opposed to only 15

�11

between 1913-1980); it also costs more to produce each of these converts. Kidder again states,

“In terms of economic productivity, the Seventh-day Adventist Church in the NAD was spending

about $41,000 in 2005 per convert while in 1913 it took about $5,500 (2005 US$) to do the

same.”  Productivity is in decline and the cost of evangelism continues to rise. This is an 19

alarming trend as more and more people in the United States aren’t being reached with the

everlasting gospel. How many? According to a 2007 report, George Barna determined the lost

in this country would be “the twelfth most populated nation on earth.”  It’s clear that we must 20

get back to our church planting roots and revive apostolic pastoral leadership in order to reverse

the trend and redeem more of the lost, before Jesus comes.

The Revival and Reformation of Church Planting

The local church is where front line ministry takes place, and the younger the church is,

the greater its potential for reaching new people. The local church is critical to accomplishing

our mission. One church growth expert puts it this way, “The church therefore is the best

possible avenue for effective disciple making. Reaching secular-unchurched people will require

the body of Christ working together.”  Obviously the early Adventist church leaders recognized 21

this, and functioned in a way that facilitated a cooperative expansion of God’s Kingdom. This

was the experience of the early Adventist ministers, as they trained and empowered local church

leaders to take the responsibility of caring for the flock so the pastor could leave and raise up

another church in a different place. Ellen White, one of the founding leaders in the Adventist

! � David Beckworth , S. Joseph Kidder, “Reflections on the future of the Seventh-day Adventist 19

Church in North America: Trends and challenges part 1 of 2,” Ministry Magazine (Dec. 2010): 22.

! � George Barna,”Unchurch Population Reaches near 100 Million in the US” Barna Group, March 20

19, 2007, Accessed October 11, 2013, https://www.barna.org/barna-update/faith-spirituality/107-unchurched-population-nears-100-million-in-the-us#.Ulg-ShYjxlI

! � E. Norman, A Strategy for Reaching Secular People. (Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2007), 17821

�12

church, supported pastors operating within this type of Apostolic method for evangelism. She

instructed pastors to “look for places in out-of-the-way districts and work in new places,” which

was just as important as going overseas to do missionary work.  As stated earlier, the first fifty 22

plus years of the Adventist church grew at almost an alarming rate compared to the current

growth. What is needed today is to revitalize church planting by embracing the root function of

ministry as it was carried out within the early Adventist movement when they incorporated

principles and methods of the apostolic church.

Proposed Model for Pastoral Ministry

Using similar methods of the early Apostolic church, as well as the beginning years of the

Adventist church, the following is a proposed model that could be implemented by conferences

within the NAD, especially the Georgia Cumberland Conference (GCC). The goal for

developing and implementing a new model must be effective mission accomplishment. The

responsibility of employed pastors must change in order to function in a way that provides for

existing churches, and especially facilitates planting new churches. Ellen White says that “The

places in which the truth has never been proclaimed are the best places in which to work.”  23

Strategic structure and efforts must be developed in order to maximize the potential of ministers

and members working together to advance the Kingdom. One way to do this, is to structure

pastoral ministry responsibility differently.

Since the most Adventist churches are small to medium in size, and a majority are already

organized into districts, individual congregations could transition leadership to function in a way

that facilitates more effective mission efforts. The term Missional Pastor District (MPD) will be

! � Ellen G. White, Evangelism (Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 1973), 47.22

! � Ellen G. White, 21.23

�13

used to identify the proposed model for pastoral leadership. The term missional is used to help

the leader, each local church, and the district as a whole formulate an orientation of purpose and

function, to be and do mission. In his book Planting Missional Churches, Ed Stetzer defines

being a missional church as “…a church that’s part of the culture you’re seeking to reach.”  24

Others articulate is a little different. While at Exponential church plantain conference in April of

2013, Alan Hirsch said something to the effect that the church doesn’t have a mission, the

mission has a church. This concept from mission being part of the church, that it’s just one of

the many things the church does, to the church being subject and subordinate to the mission takes

a radical reorientation of what church is about. It’s more about Jesus, the One in charge of the

His church, the group He has enlisted to join Him as we storm the gates of hell together and

rescue perishing souls. His mission then is the central purpose of life, and having that

description to help identify what this new form of church district entails, will help all involved

stay oriented to that calling.

For the sake of developing a new model, a Missional Pastor District (MPD) would be

identified by having two or more lay-led churches that help form a district. Each MPD would

have a denominationally employed pastor (FTE) assigned as the district pastor. The district

pastor’s primary responsibility would be to train, coach, and support the lay pastors within the

district. The lay pastors (called Missional Pastor, or MP) would work as volunteers, and provide

all the pastoral care (accept for marriages, and ordaining lay leaders) for the local church they are

assigned to. The role of the FTE changing from pastoring the whole congregation in each

! � Ed Stetzer, Planting Missional Churches (Nashville: B&H publishing Group, 2006), 1, & 24

161-162.

�14

church, to providing oversight for the district, and being the pastor for just the lay missional

pastors, has tremendous implications for growing the Kingdom.

This model would provide the opportunity for the district pastor to focus more time and

effort reaching people in new communities where this is no Adventist church. Having the time to

plant a new church is critical to its health and its long term success. It also takes time and effort

to disciple a new MP to take over the leadership of that newly formed church. By establishing a

lay leader over every additional church plant, the responsibility is then left to that MP, which

ultimately frees up the drastic pastor to start another church, since during that time he/she is back

to focusing for a time on simply providing leadership for the MP’s in the district. In this model,

the district pastor only has responsibility for a whole church when it is being formed. After

leadership is transferred to an MP, the district pastor ultimately has only added one additional

person he/she is ministering to. This allows time for rest and shoring up what may have been

neglected during the church planting phase. Then as God leads, and the timing is right, the cycle

can be repeated as the district pastor works on the next church plant. With leadership of each

new church being carried out by lay-pastors the district can continue to expand until its necessary

to multiply and reorganize the district. Functioning on this level allows the process to repeat

over and over again, during the lifetime of an FTE. Again, since the primary responsibility of

each local congregation is provided for by the MP’s, the district pastor can spend most of his/her

energy planting a church, and supporting each MP.

In some instances a new church plant could be started by an MP. When God provides a

Spirit filled lay-leader, that person could be empowered to plant the next church. This option

may be preferable in some cases, since the church plant will eventually be led by an MP anyway,

�15

and there would be no need for a transition of leadership to occur. As you can see the MPD

model is an expandable church district that helps produce an aggressive mission orientation that

could be reproduced by other FTE pastors throughout a conference. This could potentially

revolutionize gospel ministry, as each minister functions in a more apostolic role, souls could be

won to Christ more rapidly as ministers and lay people work together to reap the harvest.

Another benefit of forming MPD’s in a conference, is in some cases as existing churches

are combined, an FTE would be freed from having any churches assigned to them. When this

occurs, that FTE could then be assigned to concentrate on a specific church planting endeavor.

There are situations in every conference across the NAD, where a full time church planter would

be needed (like in Atlanta) to start church. It’s important to realize too that during this whole

process of raising the effectiveness of our Kingdom impact, not a single additional salary would

be added. It is critical to the mission we are called to as a denomination. We must find ways to

be more efficient with the resources God provides. When we lower the cost to win souls, it will

help make even more disciples. As these new members engage in mission along side their new

brothers and sisters by contributing their time, talents, and money to the mission, God is glorified

even more. Being part of a MPD facilitates each church participating in a tangible mission effort

that is greater then focusing on just growing the local church. Even with a mission focus, some

local churches develop a selfish focus when growing their church, which at times creates a sense

of competition and angst between churches. This could be minimized in an MPD, since the

collective mission helps create a culture of support instead of competition as the churches work

together to expand the Kingdom. This “working together” is a powerful component of the MPD

model. Not only will the churches have to work together through the process of organizing

�16

under a new structure, they will be able to work together along with the FTE pastor to plant the

next church and grow not only the local church, but also the district. This collective participation

of congregations, may help those involved have a greater connection to the world work of the

church, since there is a larger focus than their local church.

This type of model is a significant shift in pastoral leadership, and will require lots of

prayer and some effort to implement. However, it can be accomplished if there is a commitment

to intentionally work through the process with grace, flexibility, and determination to honor God.

Almost every conference has experience with a few healthy churches that have had a lay pastor

providing ministry for a congregation. Some conferences have even been intentional about

empowering lay-pastor led churches. Florida, for example, has over eighty lay-pastors with

proven success in transitioning existing churches and, in some cases, planting new ones. One

reason existing churches appreciate having a lay person lead them, has to do with the leader not

having a divided focus. The lay pastor is able to concentrate and be engaged in ministry solely

with that congregation, which brings a level of stability and mission focus. It has been our

experience in GCC, that a greater percentage of membership become engaged and involved in a

lay-led church, since the members recognize the lay pastor is already working full-time and

needs help to accomplish everything involved with church life. While it may be difficult on

some levels to transition churches to be lay-led, it has been demonstrated in several conference

that it can be accomplished. In GCC for example, during a four year time from (2003-2006)

there were nine to fifteen lay-led churches with oversight by one FTE pastor. This group of

churches had a combined attendance of around 400, averaging about ten baptisms a year, and

over $300,000 annual tithe on average. Georgia Cumberland Conference in 2010 officially

�17

organized a program to empower lay pastors, called the Missional Pastor program. Since that

time, six to ten groups per year were involved, representing over 400 in membership, averaging

about 11 baptisms a year, and tithe last year was over $650,000, all without a dedicated FTE

salary. Obviously the development of a Missional Pastor District model will be much easier to

implement in a conference that has proven success with lay pastors. As a result, the Georgia

Cumberland Conference is uniquely positioned to incorporate this kind of model due to its

current success, and a support system already in place. In addition to these, the GCC also

currently has several ordained pastors on staff that have extensive experience working with lay-

led churches. And still there is an additional reason why GCC is poised to develop and

implement a Missional Pastor District model.

A Paradigm for Successful Evangelism

The Georgia Cumberland Conference already has something in place that is helping to

transform the lives of members while also helping the local church become a healthy, vibrant,

growing church as they recapture their God given purpose in Christ. It’s also helping church

plants establish a healthy DNA as they get started, so they can build on a foundation that helps

them faithfully fulfill the great commission. This paradigm of evangelism is called, Growing

Disciples Through Shared Leadership (GDTSL), and is being used by a dozen or so pastors in

GCC. This paradigm is simply a modern way of articulating and carrying out a Biblically based

process of evangelism. It incorporates essential principles of mission, and can be utilized by

both the individual follower of Christ, as well as the local church as a whole. It is a discipleship

process that helps every member become a prayerful, Spirit-filled disciple making follower of

�18

Christ. This also guides the local church as whole to function in a way that assists in dynamic

mission accomplishment.

There are four progressing aspects of this cycle identified by the terms, Love, Learn,

Live, and Lead. Taken from the foundation of the life and mission of Jesus, and the example of

the apostles, it embraces the relational and incarnational realities of the New Testament church.

The process begins as followers of Christ start intentionally reaching out into the world and

revealing God’s love to people who aren’t acquainted with the everlasting gospel (Matt.

22:38-40). Then these disciples help those who are interested learn how to have a saving

relationship with Jesus (John 3:16, Romans 5:8). As some of these new believers come to love

and serve Jesus, they join God’s family in the Adventist church through baptism (Matt 16:24,

Eph. 2:19). The discipleship process continues as a member helps the new church member live

for Jesus, grow into the likeness of Jesus, and engage in active ministry (Acts 2:42). Then, these

maturing disciples become leaders who are sent forth to seek and save the lost, making disciples

as Jesus commanded (Matt. 28:18-20; 2 Cor. 5:18-20). This cycle of evangelism can facilitate

exponential growth, as each new disciple repeats the process with people year after year until

Jesus comes. This paradigm is very similar to the life and ministry of Jesus, as well as the early

Apostolic church (see pages 4,5 of this document). Ellen White articulated this process in the

Ministry of Healing, “Christ’s method alone will give true success in reaching the people. The

Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good. He showed His sympathy for them,

ministered to their needs, and won their confidence. Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’”  It is 25

essential when carrying out the mission of Christ, we do what Jesus did. He is the One who

! � Ellen G. White, Ministry Of Healing (Nampa: Pacific Press, 2003), 143.25

�19

knows best how to open hearts and draw people into a saving relationship with Himself. Jesus

demonstrated what is known as an incarnational approach to ministry. He left all of heaven to

come down to this earth and live as a human, walk among us, eat, play, work, and minister in

flesh and bone - “God with us” (Matthew 1:23). This is done through the power of the Holy

Spirit as ordinary people become workers together with God to save souls and start churches.

Neil Cole identifies the contrast between the way we approach evangelism, and a more Biblical

approach. “…Christians today are trying to figure out how to bring lost people to Jesus. The key

to starting churches that reproduce spontaneously is to bring Jesus to lost people”.   So not only 26

is GDTSL a model for individual ministry, it provides a Biblical framework for leaders to

structure the church in a way that helps grow members spiritually, and assists in unleashing

members into fruitful Kingdom growth ministry.

Whether its transforming an existing church, or starting a new one, the FTE pastor of a

MPD is going to need leaders capable of guiding and caring for the flock after he or she leaves.

As a result, much of the success of handing off pastoral leadership to a lay person depends on the

willingness of the FTE pastor to operate primarily as a trainer and equipper. This way, the

church members are doing the majority of the ministry with and for each other, as opposed to the

Pastor doing the ministry for the church (Acts 4:11). Ellen White gave specific counsel

regarding this in the book, Ministry of Healing.

Every church should be a training school for Christian workers. Its members should be taught how to give Bible readings, how to conduct and teach Sabbath school classes, how best to help the poor and to care for the sick, how to work for the unconverted. There should be schools of health, cooking schools, and classes in various lines of Christian help work. There should not only be teaching, but

! � Neil Cole, Organic church: Growing faith where life happens. (San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 26

2005), 24

�20

actual work under experienced instructors. Let the teachers lead the way in working among the people and others, uniting with them, will learn from their example. One example is worth more than many precepts.  27

!The FTE pastor must not only be able to delegate ministry responsibilities to gifted volunteers,

they must empower a lay leader to function as the pastor of a local church in the MPD. The

growing disciples through shared leadership paradigm will go a long way in helping provide a

healthy missional DNA for the church. It will also provide a framework for organizing ministry

for continued growth once the pastoral transition takes place. Since the lay MP will, in most

cases, be working a full time job while also leading a church, they will need as much

participation as possible from the membership.

The GDTSL paradigm will also assist with this, since it is a simple, yet effective way to

communicate how to be a faithful disciple and a missional church. This will help maintain a

strong culture of evangelism which is necessary for growth. Russell Burrill says, “A culture of

evangelism exists when reaching the lost permeates the entire fabric of the local church.”  The 28

GDTSL paradigm helps this culture flourish as members engage in the discipling process with

people on a personal and relational basis. The paradigm also supports the corporate function of

the church by providing a framework to operate within in order to remain missional. With this

simple principle based, holistic discipleship process in place, each church can develop their own

structure of leadership and ministry based on the gifts of the members. The church can be

organized so that every member is cared for, discipled into a deeper loving relationship with

Jesus, and then supported while being released into meaningful ministry that helps accomplish

! � Ellen G. White, Ministry Of Healing (Nampa: Pacific Press, 2003), 148-9.27

! � Russell Burrill, How to Grow an Adventist Church (Fallbrook: Hart Research Center, 2009), 19.28

�21

the mission of the local church. With more members engaged in ministry, the lay missional

pastor, will have much more support to carry out their role in the church while holding down a

full time job that pays their bills. With the necessary support from the participating members, it’s

less likely that an MP will end up experiencing burnout. Also when each local church in a MPD

has a high level of participation, the church functions with far fewer internal issues, which also

supports the mission of the district as a whole. The most recent and extensive research that

Kidder identified in growing Adventist churches, indicates four factors that are present in

congregations that are growing through conversion growth.  GDTSL helps facilitate both 29

“empowering servant leadership” and “committed and active laity.” However, the other two

factors of “passionate spirituality” and “God-exalting worship” would have to be addressed

more intentionally, so that each local church could achieve its highest potential in Christ. With

all these elements working together, the district can be strong, healthy, and growing as they work

together with the FTE pastor to continue reaching new people, and raising up new churches.

This model has tremendous possibilities, since it facilitates the expansion of God’s work

in a way that currently isn’t being achieved. It may seem like a new thing, however it seems like

the church would simply be aligning with this counsel in the book Gospel Workers.

Instead of laboring among the churches, God designs that our ministers should spread abroad, and our missionary labor be extended over as much ground as we can possibly occupy to advantage, going in every direction to raise up new companies. We should ever leave upon the minds of new disciples an impression of the importance of our mission. As able men are converted to the truth, they should not require laborers to keep their flagging faith alive; but these men should be impressed with the necessity of laboring in the vineyard. As long as churches rely upon laborers from abroad to strengthen and encourage their faith, they will not become strong in themselves. They should be instructed that their strength

! � S. Joseph Kidder, The Big Four: Secrets to a Thriving Church Family, (Hagerstown: Review 29

and Herald, 2011), 13,14.

�22

will increase in proportion to their personal efforts. The more closely the New Testament plan is followed in missionary labor, the more successful will be the efforts put forth.  30

!Clearly the design of the early Adventist church was significant. Not only was there a desire to

follow the truths in His word, but there was also an effort by the church, under the direction of

the Holy Spirit, to incorporate similar methods that the Apostles used. The result was

tremendous Kingdom growth, as more and more people embraced the everlasting gospel. The

Adventist church in our day has a structure and support system for clergy that rivals most

mainline denominations. It wouldn’t be that difficult to develop a secondary job description for

a district pastor position. Empower pastors who are willing to embrace a new (old) structural

design, and then let them start intentionally transitioning some existing churches. It would seem

that one of the best conferences to implement this type of model would be the Georgia

Cumberland Conference. It has some essential elements already in place that would provide a

good foundation to build the MPD model on. Some people may think this couldn’t be done.

There will be objections, and some may be like the following.

One argument against this type of structure and function would be that the local church

would be “without a real pastor.” Some are skeptical at first about having a lay person pastor the

local church. However, in many cases, after seeing what takes place in the life of a leader who

accepts this role, it is amazing how God fills them with His Spirit and enables them to do great

things with God. We shouldn’t under estimate the power of a surrendered life. The disciples

where discounted because some thought they were uneducated fishermen, but God proved He

could use them in mighty ways. We also have to understand the importance of providing

! � Ellen G. White, Testimonies to the Church Vol.3 (Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 1875), 210.30

�23

support. Since an FTE disciples, coaches, and supports each MP, they are going to grow in their

leadership along with the congregation, and vice versa. One evidence of a secure leader is that

they recognize they aren’t good at everything and aren’t intimidated by others who can do

ministry in a certain area better then they can. Also the type of leader that is needed isn’t a super

human, they need to have heart for God and people, and God can continue growing them as

needed by the congregation.

Another objection might be that this might allow people into power who would abuse that

power. There is always the possibility that the motive of the natural heart would tend toward

desiring to obtain control over people or a whole congregation. While we should have some

clear guidelines for leadership and criteria for the character and heart of an MP, no one really

knows the heart. Which means that unless they prove otherwise, we need to trust lay leaders

with responsibility. Jesus for example bore long with Judas and sought to reach his heart at

every step of their journey together. Jesus said we would know people by their fruits (Matt.

7:16). All we can really do is provide leaders with increasing responsibilities and then let them

function in the role of pastor until they demonstrate they can’t lead in a way that brings people

closer to Jesus and supports the mission of the church and district in this case. We must not

operate on fear of what might happen and trust God to be God in His work on this earth. As long

as we allow the Holy Spirit to help us in the process, the possibilities are endless for what God

can do.

There will also be some challenges along the way as well. For instance it will be

necessary to have a plan in place when there isn’t a lay leader to take the pastoral role in the new

church plant. The other challenge will be when an MP vacates their position while the FTE

�24

pastor is working to plant a church. Another challenge might be what if the new church plants

don’t work out and the district pastor runs out of places to plant a church, and the MPD is too

small to justify having lay people doing all the work. There are numerous other known

challenges that could be listed, and there will be challenges unforeseen along the way. In spite of

it all, this is God’s church, and He promises that He will build it (Matt. 16:18). Because of His

love and faithfulness, we can trust Him to help us overcome every circumstance we face. Jesus

is highly interested in the success of His people as we partner with Him to seek and save the lost.

Let’s not limit ourselves to meager accomplishments because we are afraid of the extra burdens

or problems that may come if we do things differently than what we are used to. We must allow

Him to expand our vision to embrace the expanse of God’s capabilities. The book Evangelism

gives us a positive challenge on page 46, “We are altogether too narrow in our plans. We need to

be broader minded. God wanted us to carry out in our work for Him the principles of truth and

righteousness. His work is to go forward in cities and towns and villages… we must get away

from our smallness and make larger plans. There must be a wider reaching forth to work for

those who are night and those who are afar off.”  31

Conclusion

The mission of the Seventh-day Adventist church in the NAD is the same as the Apostles

had when they first started the church some 2000 years ago. The burning desire of early

Adventist leaders was to reach as many people as possible with the everlasting gospel in the

context of the three angels messages of Revelation 14, and prepare them to go home with Jesus

when He returns. The Adventist church began with dedicated leaders and followers who for

� Ellen G. White, Evangelism (Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 1973), 46.31

�25

several decades operated like the early apostolic church, and went forth to conquer enemy

territory by winning lost souls to Jesus. Pastors continued advancing into new communities and

raising up churches which helped achieve Kingdom growth at almost nine percent annual rate.

Later, after pastors began being assigned to specific churches, conversion growth declined and

the last decade it has remained under three percent annual growth. Thousands upon thousands in

the United States are going to their graves without a saving relationship with Jesus. The church

still has a desire to reach these people. Unfortunately, the church is spending more and more

money. Reaching fewer and fewer people as the years pass by. The signs that Jesus is coming

soon, continue to increase with each passing year. Time is of the essence.

The church must organize in a way that allows pastoral leadership to be more apostolic in

nature, so they can reach lost souls and start new churches in communities where people

desperately need the love and hope of Jesus. Lay members can team up as a group of leaders to

form a Missional Pastor District that can facilitate continued growth and be reproduced. This

group will be working with the pastor in a way that will increase the Kingdom productivity of

each local church. It will bring joy to the heart of God as they work to conduct ministry in a

Biblical framework, and align with the counsel He has recently given to His people through the

Spirit of Prophecy. Empowering lay pastors to serve mission oriented churches will have the

added benefit in Georgia Cumberland Conference to build off of proven success. The elements

in place within GCC will also help facilitate success as this model is developed and utilized.

There will be no need to hire more FTE’s for some time, since more and more pastors will desire

to establish their own elite squads of MPD’s, and continue to go out on rescue missions to save

many more lives.

�26

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Barna, George. ”Unchurch Population Reaches near 100 Million in the US” Barna Group, March 19, 2007, Accessed October 11, 2013, https://www.barna.org/barna-update/faith-spirituality/107-unchurched-population-nears-100-million-in-the-us#.Ulg-ShYjxlI !

Beckworth, David. and Kidder, S. Joseph, “Reflections on the future of the Seventh-day Adventist Church in North America: Trends and challenges part 1 of 2,” Ministry Magazine, Dec. 2010. !

Bible, New King James Version Bible (NKJV), Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 1996. !Bull, M. & Lockhart, K. Seeking a Sanctuary (2nd ed.). Bloomington: Indiana University Press,

2007. !Burrill, Russell. Waking the Dead, Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 2004. !Burrill, Russell. Recovering an Adventist approach to the life and mission of the local church.

Fallbrook: Hart Research Center, 1998. !Burrill, Russell. How to Grow an Adventist Church, Fallbrook: Hart Research Center, 2009. !Cole, N. (2005). Organic church: Growing faith where life happens. San Francisco, CA. Jossey-

Bass. !Coleman, Robert E. The Master Plan Of Discipleship, Grand Rapids: Baker House Company,

1998. !Gladden, Ron. Plant the future: So many churches! Why plant more?, Nampa, ID: Pacific Press

Publishing Association, 2000. !Kidder, S. Joseph. The Big Four: Secrets to a Thriving Church Family, Hagerstown: Review and

Herald, 2011. !MacDonald, Jeffrey. “Adventists' back-to-basics faith is fastest growing U.S. church,” USA

Today, March 19, 2011. !Norman, E. A strategy for reaching secular people. Bloomington: AuthorHouse, 2007. !Schwarz, R. W. Light Bearers To The Remnant, Nampa: Pacific Press, 1979. !Stetzer Ed, Planting Missional Churches (Nashville: B&H publishing Group, 2006), 19-20. !

�27

White, Ellen. Evangelism, Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 1973. !White, Ellen. Ministry Of Healing (Nampa: Pacific Press, 2003), 143. !White, Ellen. Testimonies to the Church Vol.3, Hagerstown: Review and Herald, 1875. !Wibberding, Lonnie. Fire Your Pastor: The Hope Of A Lost World, Telfold: Big Fish Publishing,

2009. !