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Church Growth for Small Church (03)
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Paul Jang
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2008-03-24 15:30:01, hit : 3,018 |
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Church Growth for Small Church (03)
Meanwhile the word clergy derived from kleros in Greek did not referred not to a separate group of persons in the church but at first to the people who had knowledge and trained to have a behavioral power and then to all who had received the inheritance of God's redemption (Arn ed. 1979, trans. by Lim 1985, 57; Acts 26:18; Col. 1:11, 12). In view of such etymological approaches, there must never be difference between the clergy and laity as the people of God in the church (Arn. ed. 1979. trans. by Lim 1985, 57).
Secondly, it can be approached from the Great Commission committed by Jesus Christ (Matt. 28:19-20).
As a matter of fact, the vital factor of power for church growth must be the power of people. Pastor alone can never promote the growth of church by himself (Chung 1988, 12). It needs the effort united between pastor and laypeople (Arn, ed. 1979, trans. by Lim 1985, 55). James W. Holsinger, Jr. and Evelyn Laycock, the laypeople belonging to the United Methodist Church emphasized the laypeople's involvement in the church activities for church growth as follows:
The leadership of the United Methodist laypeople must be awakened. The clergy of our denomination must be prepared to be involved in the development of lay leadership at every level of our connectional system. No longer can our church be a clergy dominated organization. Our laypeople must be accepted by the clergy as full partners in the mission and ministry of The United Methodist Church. In fact, the clergy need the leadership of the laity in order to function at their most effective level of ministry (Holsinger, Jr. and Laycock 1989, 118).
Thus, laity's involvement has been felt keenly necessity not only by the pastors who want their churches to grow but also the laypeople who have been greatly interested in the growth of their churches. Donald A. McGavran called father of church growth movement asserted that it is very important to involve the laypeople if the church accepts earnestly the Great Commission committed by Jesus Christ, and he also emphasized that the growth of every church absolutely depends upon its layoeople involvement (McGavran with Arn 1977, trans. by Oh 1988, 129).
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Introduction
Ch Growth 