The Equipping Church: Somewhere Between Fundamentalism and Fluff

By Ronnie W. Rogers

The New Testament model for the church is neither pragmatic fluff nor sterile traditionalism, but rather biblically driven, which places her somewhere between the traditional and contemporary church models.

Seasoned by decades of pastoral experience, Ronnie Rogers makes a compelling, biblical-theological case that an equipping church fulfills Gods plan for the bride of Christ.

Adam Harwood, Ph.D.

Associate Professor of Theology, McFarland Chair of Theology New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary

This book gives the reader a robust ecclesiology, a biblical philosophy of ministry, and a host of practical exhortations that will lead to biblical reformation among Gods people.

Josh Wagner, M.A. Biblical Languages

Pastor, Berry Road Baptist Church Norman, OK

On rare occasions I read a book that I simply cant put down until the last page. This is such a bookFrom his fertile mind, gifted pen, and more than thirty years of pastoral experience, comes a work that everyone in Christian ministry must read. Rogers cuts through the murk of all the discussions and debates about traditional and contemporary ministry approaches.

David L. Allen, Ph.D.

Dean of the School of Theology

Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

• Language: English
• Publisher: WestBow Press
• Release date: Mar 30, 2016
• ISBN: 9781512736793

Ronnie W. Rogers

Ronnie W. Rogers is pastor of Trinity Baptist Church, Norman, Oklahoma. He holds a BA in Biblical Studies and an MS in Counseling. He is a member of the Oxford Round Table and author of four other books. He has served as president at Arkansas Baptist State Convention; chairman of the Board of Trustees, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary; and chairman of the nominating committee of the Southern Baptist Convention. He is married with two married daughters and five grandsons.

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Copyright © 2016 Ronnie W. Rogers

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the author except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Cover photo by Arnold C Buchanan-Hermit and cover design by Sommer Buss with Olive Bird Creative

Scripture quotations taken from the New American Standard Bible®,

Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973,

1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation

Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

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ISBN: 978-1-4908-8900-9 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4908-8901-6 (hc)

ISBN: 978-1-5127-3679-3 (e)

WestBow Press rev. date: 03/30/2016

CONTENTS

Dedication

Foreword

Acknowledgements

Introduction

I The Decision

Which Church Model to Employ?

II Some Positive Attributes And Contributions

Of the Contemporary Church Model

III Some Liabilities Of The Contemporary Model

New Is Not Always Better

IV Some Positive Attributes And Contributions

Of the Traditional Church Model

V Some Liabilities of the Traditional Model

Old Is Not Always Better

VI The Right Mind, Model, Motive, and Methods

Essential Ingredients

VII Secularizing the Sacred

Scripture, Science, and Statistics

VIII Will the Real Church Please Stand?

What Is the Church?

IX Building The Temple Of God

Be Careful How You Build! 1 Corinthians 3:1-23

X The Church At Risk

Christ's Model of the Church for Carrying Out His Mandate to the Church Ephesians 4:11-16

Glossary of Authorial Terms

Notes

Dedication

I dedicate this book to my two long anticipated grandsons, Hewitt Winston Heinrich and Harrington Winston Heinrich. I will always treasure that you bear the name of your grandfather and me. We prayed to our God incalculable times concerning you and this long before you even existed. God's timing of your arrival was to prepare us for you. If God uses you as much in our lives as you grow up as He did prior to your arrival, we will all be extraordinarily blessed. I love you Hew and Harry!

Foreword

On rare occasions I read a book that I simply can't put down until the last page. This is such a book. The more I read of Ronnie Roger's The Equipping Church, I kept thinking to myself: Of course! That's right! Why didn't I make that connection?

From his fertile mind, gifted pen, and more than thirty years of pastoral experience, comes a work that everyone in Christian ministry must read. Rogers cuts through the murk of all the discussions and debates about traditional and contemporary ministry approaches . . . and finds them both to be wrong on some points . . . and right on some points. He cogently demonstrates that both ultimately fall short of a thoroughgoing biblical model of ministry. For too long many have secularized the sacred and vulgarized the church. The question, Rogers says, is not whether a church is traditive or contemporary, but is it equipping in a biblically driven sense?

But more than that, Rogers penetrates beyond superficial levels of analysis and takes us deeper into what lies behind both models. As he says, a major emphasis in the book is education. Rogers brilliantly demonstrates that 125 years of American progressive education theory lies behind much of both the traditional and the contemporary models of ministry, effectively rendering both inert in many cases.

Rogers attempts to demonstrate that our lack of awareness of our dependence upon progressive educational ideals and methodology blinds us to the fact that we are not doing ministry biblically in many cases. Of special interest to me as a preacher and teacher of preachers is his claim that much 21st century preaching is not biblically driven and is, in fact, actually undermining of genuine biblical preaching. Week by week, any number of curiosities, mediocrities, and atrocities, cascade from American pulpits. Rogers helps us to understand why this is so and how we can return to a more biblical model.

In the attempt to steer a middle course between the Scylla of traditionalism and the Charybdis of the contemporary model, this book accurately catalogues and analyzes the strengths and weakness of both, and provides us safe biblical passage forward. Neither time-honored traditions nor pragmatic success make for the way church ought to be done. Only Scripture can dictate that. Through careful exposition of key texts such as Ephesians 4:11-16 and 1 Corinthians 3:1-23, coupled with serious theological engagement and practical suggestions, Rogers serves up a nutritious and satisfying alternative to much modern evangelical ecclesiology.

David L. Allen, Ph.D.

Dean of the School of Theology

Professor of Preaching

Director of the Southwestern Center for Expository Preaching

George W. Truett Chair of Ministry

Acknowledgements

The longer I live, the greater my awareness of how few if any owe me anything, and how immense the list is of those whom I owe. This, in some way or another, includes all whom God has intersected our paths. The thanks I owe can never be adequately given, nor the debt to others ever paid (Romans 13:8). This book is the product of many years of shepherding the flock of God, being taught by other's books, lives and reflecting upon Scripture and the teachings of the Great Shepherd.

I would like to thank all who had a part in the preparation of this book: first and foremost, I want to thank Gina, my wife of thirty-nine years, who is the love of my life and my dearest friend and partner in following Christ and ministry. More than anyone, she has sacrificially supported and encouraged me in my studies and book writing. She has never wavered in her walk with me through the joyful, demanding, and at times extraordinarily strange and painfully lonely pathway of the shepherd and his mate. Without her by my side, I could not have prepared for nor risen to the challenge of living the life of a shepherd much less compose this book on the church.

I also want to thank Larry Toothaker and Billy Wolfe who have blessed me by, unhesitatingly and with sincerest dedication, taking on the Augean task of proofing my manuscript; Anita Charlson for her assiduous and pertinacious oversight and editing of the manuscript, without which the project would have been too daunting to even consider; Sommer Buss for her superb work on the cover creation; the elders for their unwavering support of my commitment to study and untiring encouragement to equip the saints and write; and my brothers and sisters at Trinity Baptist Church whom I have been blessed beyond measure to serve for over fifteen years. They have loved me without measure and provided me the greatest opportunity for spiritual growth. My longevity as their pastor is a testimony of their gracious and generously forbearing love towards me.

I will always be indebted to all of you for your love and support.

Introduction

I write this book from the perspective of one who has pastored for over thirty years. I have witnessed and been part of the intense and voluminous exchange between those who favor the traditional approach to church ministry and those who favor a contemporary approach. As I have sought to lead the churches that I have pastored to grow in biblical fidelity, I have availed myself to the teachings of both the traditionalists and the culturati and have benefited from doing so. I have learned much from each. However, my determination to be biblically driven has led me to view both models as being insufficiently biblically based and biblically driven to fully satisfy the New Testament teaching about the local church.

I use three terms throughout the book to distinguish the various genres of churches today. I use traditional to refer to an array of church models that, for various reasons and in varying degrees, commonly consider certain traditional practices as biblically superior to more contemporary approaches. Contemporary is used to encompass various models that include a common commitment to contemporize church ministry without compromising the message of the gospel.¹ Each of these genres includes styles that are more or less consistent with the biblical model. Equipping is the term that I use to describe the biblical model that is based on Ephesians 4:11-16 and Matthew 28:18-20. Even the equipping model consists of varying styles of churches.

The debate over whether the contemporary, e.g., CAMEO,² model of the church is more biblical and reaches more people than the traditional model has some merit. In addition, the debate over whether the contemporary model has compromised too much with culture and thereby become too voguish may have merit; however, such debates also may miss the biblical point at which all seem to be aiming.

The biblical question is not whether a church is contemporary or traditive, but rather is it an equipping or non-equipping church. This is not mere semantics because there simply is no command or prescribed paradigm in the New Testament that actually commends or condemns contemporary or traditional components or approaches. However, the Bible explicitly presents and prescribes the equipping model of the church in Ephesians 4:11-16, which has sufficient breadth to comprehend all of the New Testament teaching regarding the local church. In addition, this model is portrayed throughout the New Testament in both practice and supporting Scriptures. For that reason, the contemporary vs. traditional debate should be replaced by asking whether or not a church is substantively equipping believers to honor God with their lives and to advance the kingdom by engaging and evangelizing their world as prescribed by the New Testament (Matthew 28:18-20; Ephesians 4:11-16).

I also will seek to set forth the elements necessary to transition a church from stifling, dead traditionalism or the trendy shallowness so often associated with the contemporary model to an equipping church. Therefore, I maintain that the true biblical model for the church, which may at times incorporate some traditional and some contemporary components in seeking to be an equipping church, is to be found in the Scripture and is somewhere between fundamentalism and fluff.

In addition to delineating distinctions between the contemporary and traditional approaches, I also will note some similarities. For example, on the positive side, men who love God and the Scripture, who do what they do because they believe they are honoring God, often lead both types of churches. On the negative side, neither contemporary nor traditional is thoroughly biblical, although some of the components of each are biblical; furthermore, neither is adequate to address the substantive needs of discipleship in the twenty-first century western world. While the equipping model, which is proposed in this book as the biblical model, may become encumbered with unbiblical or extraneous components, it is essentially different than the other two models in that it is biblically based and driven. Moreover, it results in a very different kind of Christian.

I write this book for pastors, staff, and lay people who desire to build New Testament churches that honor God first. I hope that men who are preparing for the pastorate will read it so that they begin with a biblical model and altogether avoid traveling down either the traditional or the trendy path. I pray that it will also be a help to those churches characterized by fundamentalist negatives or those that are traditional for the experiential security of tradition. May God grant churches, which were initially allured into mimicking the pragmatism of the avant-gardist but now see the inadequacies of human wisdom and desire a thoroughly biblical ecclesiology,³ guidance and encouragement in their quest for New Testament authenticity.

To the traditionalist, the present contemporary model appears irreverently trendy and unacceptably shallow, more influenced by culture than influencing culture. To the ecclesiastically avant-garde, often known as the church growth movement, emergent, or just a contemporary approach, traditional methods and ideas seem to be out of touch, purposeless, and anachronistic. They view the traditionalist as being caught in a time warp. Because neither is thoroughly biblical, the danger of the traditional vs. contemporary juxtaposition is that it may cause one to miss a thoroughly New Testament church. The New Testament model for the church is neither pragmatic fluff nor sterile traditionalism, but rather biblically driven, which places her somewhere between traditionalists and culturati. The New Testament model is an equipping, engaging, and evangelistic church.

While it may be somewhat of an overstatement, I can demonstrate the point in the following comparison. The contemporary model emphasizes meeting people where they are, but unfortunately leaves them short of God's spiritual goal for their life, whereas the traditional model seems to expect people to be where they are reaching out, responsive to whatever worked in the past. In stark contrast to both models, the equipping model prepares the church in both depth and breadth in order to train Christians to live authentic Christian lives and to reach people where they are and take them to where God wants them to be.

A major emphasis of this book is education. This is to emphasize the truth that the church is about education. Separating or marginalizing Christianity from education is both unnatural and lethal. For example, evangelism is educating people about their sinfulness and need for a Savior. This is not to say that knowing is believing, but it is to say that knowing is essential to believing. In addition, discipleship is also about educating---equipping---believers to live in obedience to Christ and be involved in the advancement of His kingdom. Thus, Christ commanded the apostles and thereby the church to teach them to observe all that I have commanded (Matthew 28:20). Of course, teaching includes training, mentoring, modeling, etc., but these components cannot be allowed to be a substitute for, or in any way detract from, the clear consistent substantive teaching of the Scripture in the church.

Originally this book and the contents of its companion book, The Vulgarization of Christ's Church were one book. I separated them into two in order to provide more focus on each of the subjects without making the book extraordinarily long. While I do refer to various secular influences in this book, I more thoroughly explore the most ubiquitous and deleterious influence, which is the past one and a quarter century of progressive education, in The Vulgarization of Christ's Church. I am convinced that without an understanding of this immense change in the foundation of public education and modern thinking, one simply cannot grasp the underlying impetus of some of the subtlest and most egregious influences upon evangelical conservative Christianity.

This lack of understanding enhances the allure of the misguided belief that the contemporary approach to ministry and preaching is based upon the progressive revelation of God when it appears to most often be based more upon the foundational ideas of progressive education. Progressive education has been the furtive and foundational mechanism for altering the way we think and, without due diligence, even the ability of Christians to think Christianly and understand why much contemporary preaching is not only not biblically driven but actually undermines Christian preaching and thinking Christianly.

Chapter I

The Decision

Which Church Model to Employ?

As mentioned in the introduction, I use the term traditional to refer to church models, which, for various reasons and in varying degrees, commonly value certain time-honored practices as superior to more contemporary approaches. I utilize contemporary to encompass various models that include a common commitment to modernize church ministry without compromising the message of the gospel. Equipping is the term that I employ to describe the biblical model that is based on Ephesians 4:11-16.

In considering the traditional, contemporary, and equipping models of church ministry, this book will place more emphasis on contrasting the contemporary with the equipping model. I recognize that most churches are a mixture of contemporary, traditional, and equipping, and that each model claims to be the or a biblical model. I also am aware that churches take on certain personalities and exhibit traits found in each of the other models. That is true of the church where I serve. However, similarities in certain areas or dissimilarities in others are not really what determine the model upon which a church is based. The issue is far more substantive than whether a church embraces high-tech or low-tech worship and ministry, uses marketing or research, or whether or not they sing hymns. The issue is simply this: what is the biblical model for carrying out the mandate of Matthew 28:18-20? What is the grid used to make decisions about what is appropriate or not appropriate for local church ministry?

At times, I will refer to the contemporary model with terms that are more specific to a certain genre of the contemporary model like CAMEO,⁴ church growth, or emergent. The contemporary or church growth movement encompasses several components, but I actually use it to refer to the church-contemporizing movement that began in the latter part of the twentieth century and continues in the twenty-first century. This movement seeks to reform the local church primarily by discarding ideas and practices that movement proponents view as anachronistic and therefore a hindrance to growth and outreach. They replace the discarded with ideas and practices that are more conducive to their understanding of health and growth in today's culture. Consequently, at times I refer to church growth and emergent together---even though there are serious distinctions between them---because they both significantly emphasize the need to change the church in order to be more culturally relevant.

I offer the following as some overarching traits⁵ of the contemporary approach: first, men who claim to be either conservative or neo-conservative pastors generally lead them.⁶ Second, they depend on and incorporate the social sciences into their philosophy of ministry and strategy to a larger degree than other approaches. For example, Willow Creek Community Church in Chicago did a self-study, which revealed that what they had been doing for thirty years did not produce mature disciples, this in spite of the fact that they had spent millions of dollars in order to produce mature disciples. The problem is that they started down their chosen path of discipleship based upon studies rather than being biblically driven. Additionally, they discovered their inadequacies through another study rather than biblical research. Then, after admirably and even courageously discovering and acknowledging such a devastating failure, they once again set sail in another misguided direction because they seem to be unwisely more dependent upon studies than Scripture.⁷

Third, they often herald health, and not numerical church growth, as the goal or benchmark of the contemporary approach; however, they usually see health in tandem with or evidenced by numerical growth.⁸ In other words, numerical growth seems to be an inextricable corollary to a healthy church. For example, Rick Warren states, If a church is not growing it is dying and The task of church leadership is to discover and remove growth-restricting diseases and barriers so that natural, normal growth can occur.⁹ Fourth, they basically operate from the position that I call methodological neutralism. I define methodological neutralism as the idea that the most effective method should be employed because methods are neutral and do not affect the message as long as the methods are not patently unbiblical. A method can avoid being unbiblical by not violating direct explicit commands of Scripture such as 'thou shall not steal' or 'thou shall not lie' and being at least marginally or coincidently compatible with Scripture. The method does not have to be biblically driven. The mantra of methodological neutralism is while the message stays the same, methods change. For all practical purposes, this simply means that the essentials required to make a method usable are that they are effective and biblical. Biblical does not necessarily mean biblically driven, but rather that a method is either thoroughly or even at times marginally or coincidentally compatible with the Scripture. Unfortunately and far too often, the effectiveness of a method is, even if unspoken, accepted to be biblical, even if only gauzily so.

Methodological neutralism's virtually unqualified mantra, while the message stays the same, methods change, is constantly offered not only as an encouragement to or as a defense of using various new methods, but also as a central overall philosophy and strategy of the contemporary model. So much so that the movement emphasizes that not only can methods change, they must change and supposedly the change in methods rarely, if ever, adversely affects the message---methodological neutralism. The declaration of this mantra is in such a manner that one leaves many conferences with the impression that the only bad methods are those that do not work. Rick Warren succinctly states, The message must stay the same, but the methods and style of communicating it will vary greatly.¹⁰

Although occasional caveats are given, the perennial message is that methods are essentially separate from the message. Therefore, methods---excluding the most patently egregious biblical or ethical violations---are practically beyond the pale of theological or philosophical evaluation.¹¹ To seek to evaluate methods is proof that one is an agrestic traditionalist. Thus, the modus operandi is that as long as the beliefs are generally compatible with orthodoxy and the message does not contradict orthodox biblical teaching,¹² then Christians should evaluate the method employed based upon its effectiveness in reaching people or accomplishing the goal of the method.

This perspective is at best an overly simplistic view of methods. The idea that methods are neutral is not only wrong; it is dangerous. I recognize that the church growth movement rejects, at least theoretically, methods that are blatantly unbiblical or immoral; however, their indefatigable emphasis on methods change but the message does not implies that as the message must not change because it is eternally true and not to be corrupted---which is true---methods must change with the times because they are merely tools that are practically neutral. Thus, it is implied that church leaders should choose methods based on their effectiveness in reaching the lost and growing the church.

My response to methodological neutralism is that methods are not neutral, and while ethical and effectiveness tests are essential, they are woefully inadequate to evaluate the acceptability of a method. Moreover, while the message cannot be eternally corrupted, 1 Peter 1:23-24, it can be temporally corrupted. The message is not immune to contamination, omission, or alteration from messengers or methods. We should examine and debate methods, whether the results are of God or man, based on more than whether it works---reaches more people---or is ethical because methods will inevitably impact the message either positively or negatively.

In chapter 6, I discuss the four criteria for evaluating whether a method is suitable. I demonstrate how failing to evaluate seriously methods based upon these criteria can have a deleterious impact upon not only what will be preached, but also by significantly increasing what will not be preached. Are the methods suitable in ways that are Moral, Biblical, Effective, and Epistemological? If so, then we are in a position to rightly compare and employ methods that are consistent with the message and the nature of the message.

The church growth movement is a cross-denominational approach to church ministry and evangelism that relies heavily upon contemporary techniques, experts, research, and marketing. Several years ago, Rick Warren wrote a paper that delineated common components of this contemporary approach, which is now updated and available in his better-known books.¹³ Concerning this new philosophy of church ministry he said, Today, there is a great need for contemporary churches that use culturally appropriate forms to reach and minister to baby boomers...[he] calls these churches 'CAMEO' churches because they use a Contemporary Approach to Ministry, Evangelism and Organization.¹⁴ He lists thirty-three common characteristics of CAMEO churches. Of course, the culturally appropriate forms now include reaching out to busters, generation X, millennials, and others as well.

The traditive approach to church ministry and evangelism seeks to maintain a more established and time-honored approach to local church ministry by resisting the changes of the contemporary model. For the traditionalist, many of the avant-garde practices adopted by the church growth movement are too trendy, too worldly, too far from biblical fidelity, or they are outright heresy. They defend the methods and traditions of the past as more biblical, in part, because God blessed them or they worked in the past; although traditionalists eventually adopt many of the new ideas, once they become more established. The traditionalist places significant weight upon the duration of the practice in evaluating whether something is biblical or not. This often blurs the line between what is biblical and what is traditional,¹⁵ and thereby transforms a preference, cultural norm, or a practice (which God may have used in the past) that is well suited to one group or era into a quasi-biblical mandate.

A good example of blurring the line between what is biblical and what is a preference includes much of the discussions regarding the style of music, use of instruments, and worship styles. While there are some biblical principles that apply,¹⁶ much of the discussion regarding worship styles is based on preference or tradition. Even the debate between whether to sing hymns or choruses is actually a debate between whether to sing some choruses and some hymns because one church or denomination often sings hymns or choruses that other churches do not sing. For years, I sang exclusively from the hymnal, and yet there are numerous hymns that I never sang. Being familiar with some of the old hymns and contemporary worship songs, it seems to me that something is lost by ignoring the hymns and something is lost by ignoring the contemporary worship songs as well. They both, it seems to me, have something to offer, which is not a carte blanche endorsement of either genre. Although an oversimplification, the debate between traditional and contemporary is often merely a question of whether to drum or not to drum.

Thus, the traditionalist errs in granting too much authority to past practices in concluding that the contemporary approach is wrong, and the contemporary errs in discounting or disdaining the old because it is not contemporary enough or does not seem to accomplish the desired goals of the day. This is not to say that both views do not have some biblical bases for their positions. Rather, it is to say emphatically that they have moved away from the biblical contrast of whether or not their church is an equipping or non-equipping church to a time-bound contrast of whether something is new or old, or whether it worked, works, or does not work. Consequently, the traditionalist grants disproportionate value to time-honored practices. They usually base this on some biblical teachings and the remembrance of how God blessed the practice in the past. Thus, the reasoning goes, if God blessed something at any time, then it must be of God and therefore biblical. Hence, what is contrary to that is not biblical, e.g., the contemporary model.

In contrast, the contemporary model places undue value upon innovation, (oftentimes highlighting God's creativeness) and therefore strives to be cutting edge, market savvy, high tech, and avant-gardist in almost everything. Their benchmark is, more often than recognized, growth or widespread acceptance of their message. Their reasoning goes, Well, God is blessing. Look how many have been baptized or how much we have grown. Although they often mention the health of the church as paramount, the quintessence of health is most often numerical growth rather than scriptural fidelity. In all fairness, they are not the inventors of elevating numerical growth to be the quintessence of biblical fidelity, nor is it even now their exclusive intellectual property. In addition, the practical emphasis placed upon the value of innovativeness seems, in part, to be fueled by the general truthfulness of the assumption that new is better when dealing with technology; however, what is true with technology is not necessarily true in the arena of ideas, and it is flawed reasoning to think that it is.

The equipping model of the local church is the model that I am presenting as the New Testament model for the local church. This model is based upon Ephesians 4:11-16, which delineates the means for carrying out the mandate of Matthew 28:18-20. This model may adopt new components along the way, as well as maintain old components. What constitutes the fundamental difference in this model and the other two is that what determines whether something is maintained or discarded is whether it emanates from and is consistent with the Ephesians model for carrying out the Great Commission, not whether it is culturally relevant, traditional, new, old, or seems to work well or not.

Both traditionalists and culturati seek to base their philosophy of ministry on the Scripture and desire and seek to be faithful to the mandate of our Lord. They err in placing unexamined and undue emphasis upon the style of evangelism, worship, growth, purity, or another component of the church instead of the biblical criteria of the New Testament model that includes equipping, worship, evangelism, and engaging our culture. Nothing less than the honor of our Lord, biblical fidelity, and the present and future viability of the church is at stake.

The difference between the equipping model and the other models will become quite pronounced as it is developed and contrasted with the others in the following chapters. Again, this is not to say that neither the traditional nor the contemporary offer some equipping of the saints, or that the equipping model