We Share the Work

And churches can very easily drift into this same pattern.

We can begin imagining that ministry is what happens when professionals do Christian things while everybody else watches.

There's only one problem with that model.

The New Testament simply doesn't recognize that picture of church at all.

Or put another way, church isn't an event you go to, it's a family you belong to.

And in families, we all have a part to play.

Now, the Apostle Paul's favorite picture of the church is the body.

The Apostle Peter's picture is a flock.

But elsewhere, the church is called a temple, a priesthood, a family, and a household.

And every one of those metaphors assumes at least three things.

Relationship, responsibility, and participation.

I think you would agree a body can't function if 80% of its members are merely spectators.

A household can't flourish when just a few people carry every responsibility.

A flock needs shepherds, of course, but shepherding exists for the health of the sheep.

So the question beneath this whole message is one that hopefully is much more hopeful than Stengel's.

The question is this, what happens when everybody in the household understands both who is responsible to lead and how all of us have been called to participate? If you're just joining us, we're in week two of our series, The Household of God.

And our conviction first and foremost is that the church belongs to Jesus.

We at the bridge are a people centered on him, grounded in scripture, shepherded by faithful leaders, formed into a generous family, and sent together for the sake of the world.

Last week we began where we should always begin, and that's with Jesus.

Colossians 1 says that he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Paul says this of Jesus in chapter one.

He says he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

And he is the head of the body, the church.

He's the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

That means everything that I'm about to say today about leadership sits under something foundational.

And churches can very easily drift into this same pattern.

We can begin imagining that ministry is what happens when professionals do Christian things while everybody else watches.

There's only one problem with that model.

The New Testament simply doesn't recognize that picture of church at all.

Or put another way, church isn't an event you go to, it's a family you belong to.

And in families, we all have a part to play.

Now, the Apostle Paul's favorite picture of the church is the body.

The Apostle Peter's picture is a flock.

But elsewhere, the church is called a temple, a priesthood, a family, and a household.

And every one of those metaphors assumes at least three things.

Relationship, responsibility, and participation.

I think you would agree a body can't function if 80% of its members are merely spectators.

A household can't flourish when just a few people carry every responsibility.

A flock needs shepherds, of course, but shepherding exists for the health of the sheep.

So the question beneath this whole message is one that hopefully is much more hopeful than Stengel's.

The question is this, what happens when everybody in the household understands both who is responsible to lead and how all of us have been called to participate? If you're just joining us, we're in week two of our series, The Household of God.

And our conviction first and foremost is that the church belongs to Jesus.

We at the bridge are a people centered on him, grounded in scripture, shepherded by faithful leaders, formed into a generous family, and sent together for the sake of the world.

Last week we began where we should always begin, and that's with Jesus.

Colossians 1 says that he is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.

Paul says this of Jesus in chapter one.

He says he is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

And he is the head of the body, the church.

He's the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead so that in everything he might have the supremacy.

That means everything that I'm about to say today about leadership sits under something foundational.