VOICES FROM THE FRONT

LINES OF URBAN MISSION

A BIBLICAL FRAMEWORK FOR URBAN

MISSION

MODELTHE EPHESUS

JEFFREY McAULIFFE AND ROBERT McAULIFFE

MODELTHE EPHESUS

A BIBLICAL FRAMEWORKFOR URBAN MISSION

Jeffrey McAuliffe and Robert McAuliffe

© 2017 by the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Printed in United States of America. All rights reserved.

Published by Global Mission Centers, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Global Mission Series Editors: Rick McEdward and Homer Trecartin

Cover and Interior Text Design: Ellen Musselman

To obtain more copies of this book, contact: The Global Mission Urban Center, General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists, 12501 Old Columbia Pike, Silver Spring, MD 20904

https://urban.globalmissioncenters.org/contact

Unless otherwise marked, Bible quotations are taken from the King James Version.

Bible quotations marked NKJV are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

ISBN 978-1-943507-11-5

OTHER BOOKS IN THEGLOBAL MISSION SERIES:

Ministering to Mourners: Funeral Rituals and Christian Witness in East Asian ContextsEdited by Gregory and Amy Whitsett

It’s Time: Voices from the Front Lines of Urban Mission

Edited by Bettina Krause

God’s Mission to the Nations: An Old Testament Study Applied in the Hindu Context

Andrew Tompkins

New York City: A SymbolJohn Luppens

Winning Hearts:Leading Buddhists to Faith in GodEdited by Greg and Amy Whitsett

Narrative, Meaning, and Truth: Fulfilling the Mission in Relativistic Contexts

Edited by Bruce A. Bauer and Kleber D. Goncalves

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We would like to thank two editors, Bill Weber and Kayla McAuliffe,

for their help with this book.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

PREFACE ........................................................................................................................................9

CHAPTER 1: The Road to Ephesus ...................................................................................13

CHAPTER 2: The Advance Placement Team .............................................................. 23

CHAPTER 3: The Leadership Team .................................................................................31

CHAPTER 4: Discipleship and Mentoring .................................................................. 39

CHAPTER 5: Urban Centers of Influence .....................................................................51

CHAPTER 6: Starting a New Church .............................................................................59

CHAPTER 7: Instruments of the Vision ....................................................................... 67

CHAPTER 8: The Gospel Ministry .................................................................................. 73

CHAPTER 9: Literature Evangelism ................................................................................81

CHAPTER 10: Medical Missionaries ............................................................................... 87

CHAPTER 11: Searching for a City Ministry Model ...............................................95

CHAPTER 12: The Devil Doesn’t Sleep ........................................................................ 105

CHAPTER 13: Sustaining the Movement .................................................................... 113

CHAPTER 14: Getting Practical ........................................................................................119

APPENDIX ................................................................................................................................ 135

BIBLIOGRAPHY ..................................................................................................................... 139

INDEX .......................................................................................................................................... 143

9

PREFACE

When we think of the imperative to share the gospel in the cities, Al-lentown, Pennsylvania, is typical of the challenges that face today’s Christian disciples. Allentown is Pennsylvania’s third most populous

city, following Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. At the time of publication, it is the 224th largest city in the United States. With about 120,000 people, it is the fast-est growing city in Pennsylvania. It is part of a larger metropolitan area known as the Lehigh Valley, which has a population of about 820,000 residents.

How will all the people living in such cities ever get to hear the good news of Jesus Christ? How do we reach them, and what approach is most effective for Christ? These questions occurred to us recently as we drove through Allentown. Even in this relatively small urban community, we were struck by the enormity of the task of reaching every soul with the gospel.

Have you ever had a similar thought? Maybe you were at a baseball game or walking down a busy street, and in the midst of all the noise and commotion God quietly spoke, reminding you that He loves every person in that crowd. We have heard that voice from Above while surrounded by the sea of humanity and pondered two questions. First, what is God going to do? How is He going to re-veal Himself to the masses? Second, why was He impressing us with this thought? After all, what could two people do in the midst of so many?

The considerable challenges of urban evangelism are amplified when we think of even larger cities like Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and others outside of Penn-sylvania. At least 223 cities in the United States have a larger population than Allentown, yet that city is a microcosm of the phenomenon of urbanization that has occurred across the United States and around the world.

People are moving into already crowded cities more rapidly than ever before. Some of them move in the hope of employment or a better career.

10

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Others seek better opportunities for housing and transportation. Some want to be in the heart of activity and entertainment. While a few of these reasons for migrating to the cities are reasonable, others are based upon hopes not necessarily met by urban realities. There simply aren’t enough jobs for all who migrate to the cities, nor is there sufficient housing. Yet the rate of urbaniza-tion continues to increase.

The United Nations reports that more people are living in urban areas than in rural areas (World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision). About 54 percent of the world’s population resides in cities, and projections suggest that by 2050, 66 percent of the population will be urbanized. This urbanization effect is most notable in regions like North America, where 82 percent of the population is already settled in urban areas.

Simply put, the world’s cities are growing exponentially. The question then begs to be repeated: How can we make an impact for Christ in these densely pop-ulated places? We are so few, and the urban world so vast. Is it really possible for us to effect change on so large a scale?

Traditionally, Seventh-day Adventists have built church communities in suburban or rural settings for many practical and sociological reasons. But this pattern creates a challenge for us in fulfilling the gospel commission. If we are to reach all the people of the world with the gospel and the majority of them are living in cities, how will we accomplish our commission? If most of the un-reached live in the cities, and most of the assets of the church are concentrated in suburban and rural settings, how will we connect our resources—including our buildings, funds, pastors, Bible workers, and, most important, members who are equipped with gifts of the Spirit—to these populations? Can we change our current course to meet this growing need? And if we do change course, what would a plan of action look like? How do we reach the urban millions with the message of the gospel?

The disciples of Jesus must have had similar questions when He commis-sioned them, saying, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations” (Matthew 28:19). No doubt this loomed as a seemingly insurmountable task before them. Yet God provided an opportunity at Pentecost for thousands from all over the world to be converted, and those new believers later returned to their homes to share with others what they had received.

Today, the task of reaching even one city with the gospel may seem similarly impossible, but impossibility is God’s specialty. Our job is to join with Him. Usually, when we attempt a service for the Lord, we act from the perspective of our personal expertise, taking into account what we think can be accomplished

11

PREFACE

with the resources at hand. In other words, we try to do what we think we can do. We analyze the situation, take inventory of resources available, and then make our decision whether or not to move forward.

In most cases, this business-model approach to decision making allows for a higher degree of success than without it. But in the spiritual realm, God often asks us to do what seems impossible. Put your foot in the Jordan River, and dry ground will appear before you. Dunk yourself seven times in the Jordan River, and your leprosy will disappear. Get up, pick up your bed, and walk. Move in faith regard-ing what seems hopeless, and God will show you that with Him, all things are possible. How incredibly exciting! God desperately desires for us to move forward with the expectation of His blessing as His chosen vessels for finishing what Jesus started when He walked the earth.

We recently conducted a Bible study of Christ’s and Paul’s ministries to look for patterns and methods to effectively reach the cities. We have titled our discov-eries the Ephesus Model. We believe the Ephesus Model provides an exceptional blueprint for reaching today’s cities. This model was affirmed and contemporized in the writings and ministry of Ellen White and emerged through the experiences of the early Seventh-day Adventist city ministries.

The Ephesus Model is simply the apostle Paul’s approach to urban ministry and its application during his time in the city of Ephesus. While many of the strategies he used there were drawn from his previous experiences in other cities, we have focused our model on Paul’s time in Ephesus because it was there that the complete method came together in a lengthy campaign to advance the kingdom of God and reveal the gospel of Jesus.

The city of Ephesus in Paul’s time is surprisingly representative of the ministry challenges we face in today’s cities. In Ephesus, almost no Christian influence was at work in the dynamics of the city. It was, in effect, pre-Christian in its culture, lacking the moral compass found only in a true knowledge of God. Consequently, hearts of selfish ambition and carnal desire guided the lives of the people there. Today’s cities are no different, except that instead of suffering from a pre-Christian lack of a true knowledge of God, they are becoming increasingly post-Christian in nature, rejecting the very idea of God. The result is that God’s presence can be just as difficult to find in today’s cities as it was in Ephesus. This makes Paul’s specific methodology, which effectively evangelized large populations ignorant of the truth about God, appropriate for today’s world.

In this book we hope to put the components of Paul’s method together for you in a way that provides guidance and an effective blueprint to reach today’s cities with the gospel. We will share some of the victories and mistakes God has revealed

12

THE EPHESUS MODEL

as we and our team have tried intentionally to implement the Ephesus Model in Allentown, Pennsylvania, through an urban center of influence called Simplicity.

Anyone who has attempted urban ministry understands that it provides no easy pathway to success. Trial, failure, and, yes, miracles are often part and parcel of the experience on the road to victory. Whenever we have encountered a road-block, we have retreated into the Word of God to search for solutions, which inevitably we have found there. This model, then, is a tried and proven method for establishing a planned approach to proclaiming the gospel invitation. It was proven in Paul’s work and proven in other early church attempts; and we see it working in Allentown now. We pray that Jesus will impress you with how essential it is to conduct city ministry in the time we now live, and that you will act upon His call. Millions upon millions of people are waiting for us to act.

Dr. Jeffrey McAuliffeDr. Robert McAuliffe

13

CHAPTER 1

THE ROAD TO EPHESUS Now when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia.—Acts 16:6, NKJV

During the time of Paul’s ministry, Asia was a Roman province in the western part of what is now the country of Turkey, and Ephesus was the most prominent city of the province. That the Holy Spirit would

“forbid” the preaching of the Word in that city seems odd, but He did. Paul would likely have traveled to the city of Ephesus sooner than he ended up doing, but he was “forbidden by the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia.” No doubt God had a number of reasons for turning Paul away from entering this territory at a particular time, but one reason seems obvious: he wasn’t ready yet.

After this encounter with the Holy Spirit, Paul and his companions had many learning experiences in other places that would shape the ministry methodology he would eventually employ in Ephesus. The lessons they learned in the crucible of experience were no doubt part of God’s training. After that training was com-plete, Paul was allowed to go to Ephesus.

Before we consider Paul’s time in Ephesus, it is instructive to examine his journey up to that point. The trials and obstacles Paul encountered over the years before his time in Ephesus were instrumental in shaping his strategy for ministry. To fully understand Paul’s learning journey, we must follow three story lines—two that converge and one that proceeds from that point of convergence. The first is Paul’s life experiences that led to active ministry, and the second is the development of the church at Antioch, a church-planting story. These two stories happened simultaneously and were even causative, unfolding partially because

14

THE EPHESUS MODEL

each one prompted the other. When they converged, a new story began—the first missionary journey that Paul would embark upon.

In these stories, many historically observable facts will highlight Paul’s pro-gression. We will be conducting a critical analysis to help us understand how Paul’s method of city ministry matured up to the point that he arrived at Ephesus.

For our purposes, Paul’s spiritual journey begins with his participation in the stoning of the righteous man Stephen. (We will use the name Paul throughout the narrative, even though we are cognizant of his name change.) The Bible says that Paul, who was then called Saul, was “consenting unto his [Stephen’s] death” (Acts 8:1) and he followed up that tragedy with making “havoc of the church, entering every house, and dragging off men and women, committing them to prison” (v. 3, NKJV). Ironically, he worked in city after city, participating in Satan-inspired per-secution of the fledgling Christian church.

On one such excursion, on his way to the city of Damascus, Paul’s life and plans changed forever. As he approached the city, a burst of light suddenly ap-peared, blinding him and causing him to fall to the ground (9:3, 4). At that mo-ment, Jesus spoke to him, and a transformation began. Because of the blindness, Paul had to be helped to Damascus, where his repentance led to his being healed and becoming a Christian (vv. 4–18). What a change!

And God’s plan was even bigger than that. Jesus said that the persecutor was to become “a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel” (v. 15). From that time forward, Paul would be a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Remember that we are tracking two converging stories—the development of the apostle Paul and the planting of the Christian church in Antioch. From the time of his conversion at Damascus, a sequence of events prepared Paul for the calling that Jesus had issued:

• He fled persecution in Damascus (9:20–25).• He remained some time in Arabia, where he was personally taught by

Jesus (Galatians 1:11, 12, 15–18).• He returned to Damascus (Galatians 1:17).• He then traveled to Jerusalem, where he stayed several weeks (Acts 9:26,

Galatians 1:18, 19).

In Jerusalem, Paul developed an important and influential relationship. The Bible describes his desire to join the disciples in Jerusalem, but they “were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple” (Acts 9:26). However, one man was

15

THE ROAD TO EPHESUS

not afraid. His name was Barnabas, and he “took him, and brought him to the apos-tles” (v. 27). This would be a ministry-mentoring partnership that not only helped to develop Paul but also opened the way for many new churches to be planted.

Unfortunately, shortly after his arrival, Paul’s preaching angered some Jews to the point that they plotted to kill him (v. 29), so church brethren sent him to Caesarea, and then he went back home to Tarsus (v. 30).

The second story is the development of the Antioch church plant. It began with the very persecution that Paul had led. Because of that persecution, the church members in Jerusalem scattered. Some believers moved hundreds of miles away, as far as Phoenicia, Cyprus, and Antioch (11:19, 20). Those faithful Chris-tians settled in new places and began to teach and preach the good news of Jesus and the truth about God. Initially they tended to preach only to the Jews in their new city, but God made it clear to the disciples through Peter’s experience with Cornelius (Acts 10) that they were not to be exclusionary in sharing the gospel. The good news is for all people. The believers in the city of Antioch followed this directive and began to preach to the Greeks as well as the Jews.

The Lord blessed these disciples’ efforts with fruit. Over time “a great number believed and turned to the Lord” (11:21, NKJV). That wonderful news made its way back to the church leaders in Jerusalem, who responded by sending faithful Barnabas to encourage the growing church plant in Antioch. When Barnabas ar-rived, he saw the grace of God at work and admonished the believers to continue “with purpose of heart” for the Lord. “And a great many people were added to the Lord” (v. 24, NKJV).

This is the moment that the two stories converge. Barnabas, always the encourager, traveled to Tarsus to find his friend Paul. Scripture tells us that he brought Paul back to Antioch, where “for a whole year they assembled with the church and taught a great many people” (v. 26, NKJV).

In this story, Barnabas acted upon two wonderful ministry imperatives. First, he recognized the importance of mentoring to grow disciples. The “how to” of min-istry requires more than just instruction in knowledge and theory. Jesus was the greatest practitioner of this. His disciples learned about ministry through listening and observation. And that is how it was with Paul and Barnabas. Paul had the priv-ilege of working side by side with a mentor who shared his experience and ideas.

The second imperative is that Barnabas connected Paul to a vibrant, healthy church body. Antioch is a notable example of a successful church plant in the Bible. Because of that success, Paul could observe the function and practices of the church, which would influence how he planted new churches for years to come. What were some of those functions and practices?

16

THE EPHESUS MODEL

First, the church shared the gospel with Jews and Gentiles. In doing this, the members were acting on the idea that Jesus was the Savior of the whole world, not just the Jews. We can draw two important lessons from this historical devel-opment that still resonate today.

The first lesson is that we should model the disciples’ deliberate inclusiveness. The Antioch church was moving away from the excessive exclusivity of Judaism toward an intentional “unity amidst diversity,” placing equal value on all believ-ers. Something had changed dramatically on the level of conscious acceptance and love for others. The members’ hearts had been converted from identifying with the separatist culture of Israel to embracing the transcendent culture of the kingdom of heaven, which is wide open to all who believe. Today we should be mindful of not allowing cultural prejudice to separate us from others or prevent us from sharing the good news with anyone.

The second lesson is spiritual in nature. The spiritual condition of the Jews and Gentiles in Paul’s time parallels today’s nominal Christians and non-believers in many ways. Both groups are living without the full truth about God and the power of the gospel. We face the challenge of finding ways to share with both.

Additionally, we observe that the Antioch church plant identified with Chris-tians in other places. Scripture reveals that upon hearing about a famine in Judea, they sent relief to the brethren there. They were self-sacrificing and generous, “each according to his ability,” in support of the larger body of Christ (v. 29). We would do well to mimic this behavior among the brethren today, demonstrating our corporate solidarity with and support for God’s church.

Equally impressive was Antioch’s track record for sending out missionaries from their midst. The church was growing, and the gifts of the Spirit were being manifested. There were “prophets and teachers” among them, and “as they min-istered to the Lord and fasted,” the Holy Spirit had instructed them to send Paul and Barnabas to do a specific work to which they were called (13:2, NKJV). They laid hands on Paul and Barnabas in blessing and sent them on their way.

Can you imagine a church making the sacrifice to send away men of such talent for the advancement of the work? Barnabas, the encourager, “was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit and of faith” (11:24), and Paul had an unparalleled reputation as a teacher of the gospel. Yet when they were chosen by the Spirit to advance the work, the church willingly added its blessing to His choice. What would happen today if our churches followed this example? Imagine if we sent our most talented and faith-filled pastors off to start work in new places, instead of having them hover over established congregations. What could be accomplished if they were free to go into cities with millions of unreached people and share the gospel of Jesus?

17

THE ROAD TO EPHESUS

With that pairing of Paul and Barnabas, we can consider the third story, Paul’s first missionary journey. We will look primarily at the events, his crucible of experiences, that prepared him for what he would ultimately face in Ephesus.

The journey began on the island of Cyprus, fewer than a hundred miles off the coast from Antioch. Here the two apostles encountered satanic opposition in the form of a Jewish sorcerer named Bar-Jesus. The Holy Spirit blinded this man, and the opposition ceased.

From Cyprus, they moved on to Antioch in the province of Pisidia (a differ-ent Antioch than their home church). There they established a ministry pattern that they repeated in their missionary journey in many cities. First, they would go to the synagogue and preach the gospel. The brief sermon Paul used, found in Acts 13, is a logical account showing that Jesus was the promised Messiah.

We might assume that the people who were looking for the coming Messiah would be most receptive to Paul’s appeal. However, even though some Jews be-lieved and were converted, a larger contingent was offended. They became some of Paul’s most bitter enemies, conspiring to have him and Barnabas expelled from their region. Following the instruction that Jesus gave to His disciples, Paul and Barnabas shook the dust of the town off their feet and moved on.

In the city of Iconium the pattern was repeated, only this time their lives were threatened and they had to flee. Paul and Barnabas traveled next to Lystra. Here, a very important development took place. During his sermon, Paul spotted a crippled man in the crowd and, under inspiration, healed the man through the power of the Holy Spirit (Acts 18:8–10). This was Paul’s first recorded act as a medical missionary. The effect was so profound that the people mistook Paul and Barnabas for gods and wanted to offer sacrifices to them (Acts 14:11–18). But when Paul’s enemies—the unbelieving Jews from Antioch and Iconium—showed up, they turned the crowd against the apos-tles, and Paul and Barnabas were again forced to move on.

In Derbe they met with a measure of success, and then they backtracked through the cities they had previously visited to encourage the bands of new be-lievers. Finally they returned to their home church in Antioch. This completed their first missionary journey.

The lessons gained on that first missionary journey would directly influence Paul as he set out on a second journey, the one that would eventually take him to Ephesus. He had learned that he would encounter opposition on many levels, and some of his strongest critics would be those who professed to believe in the same God he did. He had learned that his safety would be at risk. But he also learned that no obstacle was too great for his God.

18

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Those realities were reinforced as Paul and his new partner, Silas, were barred from going into the Roman province of Asia and instead received the Spirit’s call to a new field—Europe. In Philippi, Paul and Silas were beaten and imprisoned for freeing a slave girl of demonic possession, another medical missionary act. In Thessalonica, Jewish opposition arose again, forcing them to leave. A group of Jews from Thessalonica followed the missionaries to Berea, where the gospel had been initially well received, and incited the crowd against Paul and Silas. Fearing violence, the believers in Berea sent Paul away by ship to Athens.

Paul learned his most important lesson in Athens. But before we look at his experience there, it is important to note that even though he and his companions met much opposition, they succeeded in sharing the gospel in each city they visited. They planted small groups of believers that developed into churches. However, because he was forced to leave many of these places as opposition arose to his preaching, he needed a change in approach in order to be more effective. Some of Paul’s most profound conclusions about ministry methodology came from the period he spent in the two cities where he worked before his time in Ephesus—Athens and Corinth.

The Athenians were known for their love of philosophy. Socrates, Plato, Aris-totle, and a host of other famous thinkers developed their philosophies as citizens of that city. Rome may have been the political capital of Paul’s world, but Athens was the capital of ideas. Paul’s fertile mind was a good fit for this arena. At the great meeting place for debate, the Areopagus, “[he] met logic with logic, science with science, philosophy with philosophy. The wisest of his hearers were astonished and silenced. His words could not be controverted” (The Ministry of Healing, 214).

Paul was good at this kind of conversation. His intelligent, educated mind was capable of constructing irrefutable arguments that silenced his opponents. But a well-crafted argument does not necessarily win a heart. Losing an argument generally makes people angry or resentful. Though Paul could hold his own in Athens, “the effort bore little fruit. Few were led to accept the gospel. So Paul ad-opted a different manner of labor. He avoided elaborate arguments and discussion of theories and in simplicity pointed men and women to Christ as the Saviour of sinners” (The Ministry of Healing, 214).

Sometimes we confuse apologetics with the gospel. We get caught up in de-bating those in opposition to our message with logic, science, or philosophy and lose sight of our primary goal of sharing the good news. We should never argue a point simply out of a sense of spiritual pride. These types of debates are rarely ef-fective or fruitful in creating conviction in a person’s heart. They tend to generate much more heat than light. This is the big lesson Paul learned in Athens, and it is

19

THE ROAD TO EPHESUS

no doubt the lesson God intended for him to learn. If Paul was going to make a bigger impact on a city, he would have to adjust his methods.

Paul then traveled from Athens to Corinth, where two more important shifts occurred in his mission strategy. First, he adjusted his approach to sharing the gos-pel by transitioning to the method we earlier introduced as Simplicity. Second, Paul’s target group came into focus. He would take his message to the Gentiles.

Reflecting on his time in Athens, Paul wrote to the Corinthians, “I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (1 Corinthians 2:1, 2). Here we can see the first shift in Paul’s strategy that was the result of his experience in Athens. Paul was so concerned about people hearing the gospel that he determined from that point forward, instead of using argument and debate, to simply lift up Jesus, to focus on the cross: “Not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.”

Paul had come to realize that the cross is the most sublime illustration of God’s love for us. It is not only our assurance of salvation but also a reminder of the incredible lengths to which God was willing to go to restore fallen humanity and reunite us with our Maker. The cross shows us a God of infinite love who desires desperately to be with His children. It is that love which changes hearts, and not arguments.

This is a wonderful lesson for us to take to heart in today’s post-Christian world, especially as we, too, are attempting to reach those who live in unbelief. People urgently need to hear the truth about God and His love for them. We can no longer assume that they know who Jesus is or what He has accomplished on behalf of both the world and each of them as an individual. Also we can no longer conclude that because a person goes to church, they have heard or under-stood the gospel. False gospels that circulate in the world of Christianity today are not really good news at all.

We would do well to follow Paul’s example of simplicity: he simply told the story of Jesus, the Savior of the world. His hope was that in doing so, he would see a greater number of people take hold of that wonderful, life-changing truth.

The second shift in Paul’s ministry in Corinth was that his target group came into focus. During his first missionary journey, part of his strategy was to teach in the synagogues where Jews and believing Greeks often met, although he understood the challenge his message would present to these two groups. As he wrote to the Corinthian church, “We preach Christ crucified, unto the Jews a stumbling block, and unto the Greeks foolishness” (1:23). Some of the Jews strongly opposed his

20

THE EPHESUS MODEL

teachings. In Corinth, the resistance became so forceful that Paul was compelled by the Spirit to make this astounding statement: “ ‘Your blood be upon your own heads; I am clean. From now on I will go to the Gentiles’ ” (Acts 18:6, NKJV).

That was, in fact, Paul’s commission from the beginning, at his conversion—to be a teacher among the Gentiles, “to open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins, and inheritance among them which are sanctified by faith that is in me” (26:18). Even while he was in the city of Antioch, earlier in his ministry, he understood that Jesus had directed him “to be a light of the Gentiles” (13:47). The result was that when “the Gentiles heard this, they were glad, and glorified the word of the Lord: and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed” (v. 48).

We can find application today in Paul’s second lesson in Corinth. Though he was interested in reaching all people, he concentrated his ministry on the Gen-tiles. In today’s terms, this means seeking out those who have not heard of Jesus or those in a state of unbelief, rather than concentrating on converting people from other denominations. Paul’s intent was not to exclude anyone. He simply decided to focus on those who had not yet heard the gospel truth.

These two powerful shifts in Paul’s evangelistic approach—his transition to simplicity and his concentration on a target group—would characterize his work for the rest of his life and the lives of his companions in ministry. He would preach the gospel solely and set his attention on the Gentiles.

Paul stayed in Corinth another year and a half, teaching the gospel and rais-ing a new church plant. It takes time to win trust and develop relationships. Patience and persistence are critical to the process. By the time Paul moved on to Ephesus, the newly planted church in Corinth had been well established and a light secured in the midst of darkness.

Before we begin to look at Paul’s time in Ephesus, let’s review the principles of ministry he had learned through his experiences up to that point. In Antioch, Paul learned the following principles:

• Reproduction, or church planting, is important.• Encouragement and mentorship are important functions of leadership.• The gospel is inclusive.• It’s important to send out missionaries in pairs.• The body must commit resources.

Paul’s own experience shows that he

21

THE ROAD TO EPHESUS

• worked within a team or company model,• preached the gospel—Christ and Him crucified,• preached to all but prioritized the Gentiles, and• stayed in unreached areas for extended periods until a church was established.

These ideas would form the building blocks of Paul’s gospel work. Over the next few chapters we will uncover how the apostle integrated these principles into a working model for urban ministry in the city of Ephesus. Paul’s example in Ephesus provides us with the research and development of a working ministry model, which we can confidently follow. We can have successful urban ministries by applying the very same Spirit-driven principles that Paul did.

In the following chapters, we will begin to present the Ephesus Model by exam-ining the urban mission structures that were put in place to make ministry happen effectively. These mission structures are not merely organizational blueprints; they are dynamic ministry pillars that actively support the mission of seeking and saving the lost in the cities. They are also the foundational elements out of which the min-istry grows and develops.

In the Ephesus Model we will consider five essential mission structures for city ministries: the Advance Placement Team; the Leadership Team; Discipleship and Mentoring; Urban Centers of Influence; and planting New Churches.

23

CHAPTER 2

THE ADVANCE PLACEMENT TEAM

The Advance Placement (AP) Team is the first mission structure of the Ephesus Model. The purpose of the AP Team is to go in advance to do preliminary investigative work in the community and to spark an interest

in Jesus and His kingdom among community members. We will look at two biblical examples of an AP Team in order to answer two questions: Who should be members of the AP Team? And what should their work be? Additionally, we will apply the answers to those questions to the model of today’s urban mission work.

Paul traveled to Ephesus with Aquila and Priscilla, a Christian couple who had become part of his team in Corinth. Like Paul, the couple made their living as tentmakers. When Paul arrived in Corinth, Aquila and Priscilla opened their home to him. They worked together, lived together, and became ministers of the gospel together. Their partnership with Paul would have influence in Ephesus and beyond.

When Paul and his companions arrived in Ephesus, he knew that he could not stay long because of a commitment he had made to return to Jerusalem. Still, Paul’s first impulse was to see if there was any receptivity to the gospel in Ephesus, and so before he left, he “entered into the synagogue, and reasoned with the Jews” (Acts 18:19). The Holy Spirit had worked on hearts before his arrival, and many in Ephesus responded to the truth.

With this evidence of the potential for fruitful ministry, Paul realized that the work should begin in Ephesus immediately, and he left his ministry partners Aquila and Priscilla there to proceed with the work until he could return. He po-sitioned them to prepare the field before he returned to evangelize the area with the gospel. Aquila and Priscilla were his AP Team.

24

THE EPHESUS MODEL

When we first began to study Paul’s strategies in Ephesus as a ministry model, the question arose in our minds as to whether or not Priscilla and Aquila’s work as an AP Team for Paul was intentional. Was this a strategic application that Paul employed, or was it just happenstance? The answer is yes to both questions. The circumstances did dictate the action, yet God is not subject to chance. He had in-spired Aquila and Priscilla to join Paul at Ephesus and was impressing upon them the usefulness of this model of ministry.

It’s important to note that the AP Team was a method Jesus employed in His work. At a particular point, He sent His disciples on a missionary assignment: “After these things the Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself would come” (Luke 10:1). Notice that Jesus first sent His disciples in pairs—His AP teams—to do a specific work in every city or town that He would later visit.

It is essential that the AP Team be well-grounded in the gospel and capable of sharing it with others. Jesus trained His disciples for some time before He sent them out to do missionary work. Likewise, Aquila and Priscilla were well equipped to share the gospel message, which can be demonstrated through their interaction with Apollos, a man they encountered in the synagogue of Ephesus: “And a certain Jew named Apollos, born at Alexandria, an eloquent man, and mighty in the Scriptures, came to Ephesus. This man was instructed in the way of the Lord; and being fervent in the spirit, he spake and taught diligently the things of the Lord, knowing only the baptism of John. And he began to speak boldly in the synagogue: whom when Aquila and Priscilla had heard, they took him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly” (Acts 18:24–26). After listening to Apollos speak, Aquila and Priscilla realized that his understand-ing of the gospel was incomplete, and so they instructed him in the truth. Apollos listened, believed, and was driven by the Spirit to preach his new convictions.

We can see that the AP Team functions best as a pair and that they need to be individuals well-grounded in the truth about Jesus. But what should the work of the AP Team be?

When Jesus sent out His disciples, He gave very specific instructions as to how they should conduct their work:

Therefore said he unto them, The harvest truly is great, but the labourers are few: pray ye therefore the Lord of the harvest, that he would send forth labourers into his harvest. Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves. Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way. And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say,

25

THE ADVANCE PLACEMENT TEAM

Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you: And heal the sick that are therein, and say unto them, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you. But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you (Luke 10:2–11).

We will find it helpful to examine these verses in order to learn Christ’s in-structions about beginning a mission work. We start with the wonderful assur-ance that “the harvest is great.” Christ’s disciples moved by faith into His work, and we must do the same. Only then can we observe the Spirit going out before us in advance of our efforts. In order to appreciate the potential of the harvest, we have to move forward by faith into the work of reaching the unreached in the cities, putting our toes into the Jordan so the way will open for our advance. It is then that we will realize how God has been working ahead of us, and that the workload is significantly larger than we could ever accomplish on our own. In other words, the opportunities will be so great that we will cry out for God to send us more laborers.

We also find a warning from Jesus in this text: “Go your ways: behold, I send you forth as lambs among wolves” (v. 3). We can draw two important lessons from this verse. The first is that we are to be lambs just as Christ was the Lamb—we are to be like Jesus as we move forward in our mission. The second is that we will find wolves in the places where God sends us. We should expect to meet with op-position. Satan has allies, both demons and people, in place to stifle God’s work. As lambs, we cannot protect ourselves against wolves. Instead we go forward fully trusting in the protection of the Good Shepherd.

Next in Jesus’ list of instructions is this: “Carry neither purse, nor scrip, nor shoes: and salute no man by the way” (v. 4).

Here Jesus is addressing some of the usual excuses people give with respect to why they are unable to get involved in the gospel commission. We say: “I have no money” or “There isn’t money in the budget.” Jesus says, “Go!” We say: “Without money, how will I eat?” Jesus says, “Go!” We worry how we will function in the world without transportation, computers, phones—things we think we need but

26

THE EPHESUS MODEL

don’t have. But Jesus says “Go!” Like Moses, we say: “I’m not a good speaker” or “I’m too shy” or “I’m afraid I’ll say the wrong things.” To all of this, Jesus says, “Go! ” He counsels us to go without delay, wasting no time talking to others along the way. However valid our concerns may be, clearly Jesus is most interested in us moving forward in spite of them. His desire is for us to depend wholly upon Him for the task.

Next He said, “And into whatsoever house ye enter, first say, Peace be to this house. And if the son of peace be there, your peace shall rest upon it: if not, it shall turn to you again. And in the same house remain, eating and drinking such things as they give: for the labourer is worthy of his hire. Go not from house to house. And into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you, eat such things as are set before you” (vv. 5–8). We may not all be called to go as missionaries, but it is evident that we are all asked to participate in God’s work in some capacity. Some brethren are charged with supporting those who answer the call to go. They will open their homes, share their food and drink, and provide whatever other support might be needed for ministry. God promises to pour out blessings on individuals and churches that follow His plan so that they, in turn, can continue to bless the work.

Jesus gave surprising counsel regarding those places that don’t want to receive the good news. “But into whatsoever city ye enter, and they receive you not, go your ways out into the streets of the same, and say, Even the very dust of your city, which cleaveth on us, we do wipe off against you: notwithstanding be ye sure of this, that the kingdom of God is come nigh unto you” (vv. 10, 11).

Millions of people need to be reached, and we have a short time in which to do it. When the way is closed to the work, after we have given God’s warning, we are to move on to more fertile ground.

We can find further insight into the work of the AP Team from the example of Aquila and Priscilla in Ephesus. Clearly they were endowed with the spiritual gift of hospitality, with a willingness to open their home to others. When Paul was writing to the Corinthians from Ephesus, he extended a greeting from “the church that is in their house” (1 Corinthians 16:19). Aquila and Priscilla began a home church plant in Ephesus, gathering believers who shared their convictions. This was a pattern of ministry that they later repeated in Rome (Romans 16:3–5). When they moved to a new place, they began their work by offering their house as a place to gather for worship.

Aquila and Priscilla were also intentional about interacting with the commu-nity. As we saw in Acts 18, they went to the synagogue to mingle with the people of Ephesus, where they met Apollos. The story of their interaction with Apollos is

27

THE ADVANCE PLACEMENT TEAM

an example of the couple finding new interests and sharing the truth about Jesus with those individuals.

We can see that Jesus and Paul sent an AP Team ahead of them. We under-stand that the AP Team should be a pair well versed in the gospel truth and that the nature of their work is to prepare a place for a ministry to follow. How can we apply this strategy to today’s work of city ministry?

In Allentown, we came to see the value of beginning work with an AP Team. Unfortunately, we did not start out with a true AP Team. We began the work with a larger group that, during the first year, ended up doing the work of an AP Team because we found it to be both necessary and foundational.

Today’s cities are complex, and many entities—government and nonprofit agencies, as well as other churches—are trying to accomplish some of the same goals that we are. Knowing where these agencies are located and what services they offer is critical to the decision of where to establish a mission base. Also, taking into consideration what these agencies are already providing can help to ensure that the ministries you offer are not redundant. It is good to spend time and develop friendships with groups that are already trying to solve some identi-fied problems, because it may open doors to your witness. These people know of the varied and extensive needs of the city populace and often are happy to have others help to fill those needs. A significant problem for many people who live in cities is not knowing what is available to them or how to gain access to services. One of our purposes is to join the effort to solve that problem.

We also found it important to take time to listen to the people who live in the area we hope to reach. Attending public forums provides opportunities to hear the people voice their concerns and what they need. There is also great value in going door to door and hearing firsthand the circumstances of people in the surrounding neighborhoods. Both Paul and Jesus employed this method.

Starting a house church or a similar church plant in advance of the mission as Aquila and Priscilla did enhances your ability to invite others to worship with you as the work progresses. Inviting like-minded brethren to come alongside you in the same joy and sacrifice will help to build a team to advance the work.

As part of our first-year efforts, a team of short-term missionaries came to work with us in Allentown. We had already begun missionary work in several capacities. However, in nine hours of door-to-door work, the visiting missionaries discovered 192 Bible study interests. We had to stop them for fear of not being able to follow up on those interests effectively at that time! Additional laborers came from local churches that had been energized by the fulfillment of the promise of God.

Incredibly, two of the people (we call them “interests”) who responded to this

28

THE EPHESUS MODEL

missionary work asked to be part of the field team and remain as disciples. So, the workers truly are in the harvest! We need to pray, as we are working, for Jesus to send us more laborers—and He will.

The following list summarizes the things an Advance Placement Team might accomplish ahead of the larger ministry group in establishing the work:

• Identify and connect with other charitable organizations operating in the city area where you plan to work.

• Conduct needs assessment surveys to determine the distinct needs of the community.

• Evaluate available resources to determine who can help meet the identi-fied needs.

• Begin the process of building a leadership team.• Work with other organizations in caring for the needy.• Gather information by going to city meetings, town halls, and other pub-

lic forums.• Interview city officials and leaders, letting them know what you have to

offer.• Look at zoning laws and begin to search for a potential mission site.• Begin door-to-door work, looking for potential Bible study interests.• Identify an area to minister to (such as a five-block radius).• Inform the local churches regarding the plan and invite them to join the

work.• Begin to find the resources in the body for the larger team (housing,

food, transportation).• Identify what type of center might have the most influence.• Speak to leaders of other churches in the city and find out how they are

ministering.• Ask the representatives of other churches for ideas and assistance to

establish your mission.• Look for charitable businesspeople and engage them in your planning.• Identify the prayer needs and concerns of your neighborhood, to help

take a “spiritual pulse” of the city.

At the end of Paul’s ministry in Ephesus, he continued with the application of this mission structure. He intended to go back to Macedonia and Corinth, and so, the Bible tells us, “He sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timotheus and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season” (Acts 19:22).

29

THE ADVANCE PLACEMENT TEAM

The AP Team ultimately becomes part of a larger Leadership Team, the sec-ond functional structure of the Ephesus Model, which we will examine in the next chapter.

31

CHAPTER 3

THE LEADERSHIP TEAM

Wherever Paul traveled, he went with a faithful party of co-laborers who worked alongside him: his Leadership Team. The Leadership Team is the second mission structure of the Ephesus Model. In this

chapter we will consider the members of Paul’s Leadership Team in Ephesus in or-der to determine the qualities and ministry gifts that are needed for such a team to be effective. We will also consider the nature of the work of the Leadership Team.

The Bible identifies a group of individuals who ministered with Paul in Ephesus. We have already considered Aquila and Priscilla, two of Paul’s traveling companions and his Advance Placement Team in Ephesus. His Leadership Team included Tim-othy and Erastus (Act 19:22); Gaius and Aristarchus, two Macedonians who were Paul’s “companions in travel” (v. 29); and Sosthenes (1 Corinthians 1:1). These in-dividuals were Paul’s co-workers and supporters of the ministry campaign. Typically, when Paul moved to a new location, some member of his Leadership Team would stay behind to continue the work, while some (in this case, Timothy and Erastus) would go ahead as an AP Team to prepare the next field. The team members might change from place to place, but the tactic was consistent—preaching the gospel for the expansion of the kingdom through the work of an organized and unified body, and intentionally making believers into disciples to do the same.

By examining the members of Paul’s Leadership Team in Ephesus, we can begin to get a picture of the spiritual gift profile of an effective Leadership Team. We will begin by profiling each member of Paul’s team to determine their specific ministry and experience. Every team member was skilled in some capacity to share the gospel message with both Jews and Gentiles, and it is helpful to see how each member might have contributed to the ministry in their own unique capacity.

32

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Aquila and Priscilla, as we saw previously, were a Jewish couple who had lived in Rome. Supporting themselves as tentmakers, they were Paul’s AP Team in Ephesus and became members of his Leadership Team. As an AP Team, they proved to be competent teachers of the gospel, as demonstrated in their experi-ence with Apollos (Acts 18:26). We also know that they were gifted church plant-ers, first in Ephesus and later in Rome (1 Corinthians 16:19; Romans 16:3–5).

In summary, their ministry gifts, qualities, or experiences:

• Advance placement work• Teachers• Church planters• Self-supporting

Timothy was a half-Greek, half-Jewish young man (1 Timothy 4:12; Acts 16:1). Paul commissioned him to teach others what he had taught him (2 Tim-othy 2:2). He was a preacher, evangelist, and church administrator (4:2). In Corinth, he did AP work with Erastus (Acts 19:22). “Timothy was commanded to go from church to church, as one who should do this kind of work, and build up the churches in the most holy faith. He was to do the work of an evangelist, and this is an even more important work than that of the ministers. He was to preach the word, but he was not to be settled over one church” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Sept. 28, 1897).

Timothy was to train up others to succeed him in the ministry of the gospel. He was not to think that his work was done in merely teaching the truth to unbelievers; he was to impart the knowledge he had received, to repeat the precious instruction he had heard from the lips of Paul, and to record the things which he himself had witnessed, that the light of truth might be passed along to others who were faithful, and who should be ordained to the ministry. These, in their turn, were to realize their re-sponsibility, and teach others also, and thus the sacred truth of the gospel would be communicated from one to another throughout the ages (Signs of the Times, April 7, 1890).

Timothy’s ministry gifts, qualities, or experiences:

• Advance placement work• Preacher, teacher, and evangelist

33

THE LEADERSHIP TEAM

• Literature evangelist—delivered Paul’s messages to the churches• Administrative work

Erastus “ministered unto” Paul as a companion (Acts 19:22). Paul asked him to go to Macedonia with Timothy, where he made his home in Corinth (2 Tim-othy 4:20). The Bible refers to him as “the chamberlain of the city” in Corinth (Romans 16:23). Today’s equivalent to this position would be a director of public works or a city treasurer.

Erastus’s ministry gifts, qualities, or experiences:

• Advance placement work• Administrative work• Business and financial abilities

Aristarchus was “a Macedonian of Thessalonica” (Acts 27:2). He was one of Paul’s companions seized by the mob at Ephesus and taken into the theater (19:29). Aristarchus is described as Paul’s “fellow prisoner” and fellow laborer (Co-lossians 4:10; Philemon 1:24). “One circumstance greatly lightened the hardship of [Paul’s] lot—he was permitted the companionship of Luke and Aristarchus. In his letter to the Colossians he afterward referred to the latter as his ‘fellow prisoner’ (Colossians 4:10); but it was from choice that Aristarchus shared Paul’s bondage, that he might minister to him in his afflictions” (The Acts of the Apostles, 439, emphasis supplied).

Aristarchus’s ministry gifts, qualities, or experiences:

• Medical missionary• Multicultural life experience• Apostolic: left home and family for ministry

Gaius was a traveling companion of Paul’s. He was a Macedonian who also endured the wrath of the Ephesian mob (Acts 19:29).

Gaius’s ministry gifts, qualities, or experiences:

• Multicultural life experience• Apostolic: left home and family for ministry

Sosthenes is identified as “our brother” to the Corinthian church (1 Cor-inthians 1:1) and therefore must have been well known to that congregation.

34

THE EPHESUS MODEL

The manner of his introduction in 1 Corinthians indicates that he was likely Paul’s scribe.

Sosthenes’s ministry gifts, qualities, or experiences:

• Literature evangelist: writer• Apostolic: left home and family for ministry

Remember that Paul was assembling his Leadership Teams for the specific pur-pose of reaching new fields with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It was a designed meth-od. By profiling each member of his team, we can see what ministry gifts he thought were necessary for the team as a whole to possess in order to be effective and suc-cessful in their work. In other words, we can see the corporate gift profile of Paul’s Leadership Team. The profile of the team in Ephesus would include the following:

• Gospel delivery—both teaching and preaching/evangelism• Medical missionary work—healing the sick, helping the poor, and so on• Literature distribution (writing and delivery—Paul, Timothy, Sosthenes)• Administration of the mission and vision• Church planting ability• Business and money acumen • Self-supporting when possible• Advance placement work • Apostolic ability, a willingness to go

Another extremely important attribute of Paul’s Leadership Team in Ephesus is its diversity. Within its few members, we can see a wide-ranging representation of gen-der, ethnicity, age, and even socio-economic status. This example of inclusion is one we would do well to follow as we build our own Leadership Teams in today’s diverse world. In addition, team members must be willing to embrace the apostolic call to go.

Now that we understand the qualities and mission gifts necessary to build a Leadership Team, the next question is: What should the work of the team be? Having a complete Leadership Team model is important for many practical rea-sons, from sharing the day-to-day workload to providing needed balance and insight in decision-making processes. The primary goal of Paul’s Leadership Team, however, was to reproduce itself. In other words, the leaders were looking for dis-ciples to mentor and train as new leaders.

Like the Advance Placement Team, this leadership method of Paul’s was drawn from Jesus’ example. In Luke, we see that Jesus “called unto him his disciples: and

35

THE LEADERSHIP TEAM

of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles” (Luke 6:13). This text makes clear that more than twelve individuals were disciples of Christ at this time. Undoubtedly He had a far larger group of disciples. In Luke 10, the Bible speaks of the seventy that Jesus sent out two by two. Later at Pentecost, 120 were in the upper room (Acts 1:15). Paul gives an account of “above five hundred brethren at once” (1 Corinthians 15:6) as witnesses to Christ after His resurrection. While we cannot be certain of the exact number of disciples early in the ministry of Jesus, we can be sure that the number was greater than twelve. From that larger group, Jesus chose twelve to be apostles, or His Leadership Team, upon whom the kingdom of heaven on this earth, or His church, would be built (Eph. 2:19, 20). “These men He purposed to train and educate as the leaders of His church. They in turn were to educate others and send them out with the gospel message. That they might have success in their work they were to be given the power of the Holy Spirit. Not by human might or human wisdom was the gospel to be proclaimed, but by the power of God” (The Acts of the Apostles, 17).

Jesus developed His Leadership Team by using the following sequence: (1) He found and taught disciples; (2) out of that larger group of disciples, He selected twelve to be apostles; (3) He trained and educated those twelve to be leaders of the church; (4) He commissioned them by the power of the Holy Spirit to proclaim the gospel; (5) and these members of the Leadership Team were then encouraged to enlist other disciples and repeat the process.

This same progression occurred in Ephesus. Paul found twelve disciples, he and his Leadership Team trained them (Acts 19:1–6), and they were afterward “qualified to labor as missionaries in Ephesus and its vicinity and also to go forth to proclaim the gospel in Asia Minor” (The Acts of the Apostles, 283). Notice the recurring theme in this passage: some of the new leaders stayed in Ephesus and its vicinity, while others went to new fields to repeat the process. Through this two-pronged approach, the work of spreading the gospel was both maintained locally and spread regionally.

If the work of a Leadership Team is to reproduce itself by developing new leaders from a group of disciples, important questions to ask are, How do we determine who among the disciples to train for leadership? and, What qualities should be sought after? Jesus Christ has millions of disciples in the world today, many of whom have the leadership qualities and ministry gifts required for city ministry. What character traits should be taken into account when assembling Leadership Teams from this large body of people? We have found several qualities to be vital in the members of the Leadership Team: a spirit of humility; a spirit of unity; and the ability to take a position and work at it wholeheartedly.

36

THE EPHESUS MODEL

We can see in the Bible that God determined humility to be an important character trait for true leadership. When He sought a leader to deliver His people from captivity, He chose Moses, who was “patient, reverent, and humble, ‘very meek, above all the men which were upon the face of the earth’ (Numbers 12:3), yet strong in faith in the mighty God of Jacob” (Conflict and Courage, 86).

When Paul writes about his experience in Ephesus, he says he was “serving the Lord with all humility of mind, and with many tears, and temptations, which befell me” (Acts 20:19). Every aspect of his life and work was subject to humility. An attitude of humility manifests itself in actions, including an appreciation of the value of other people and the practice of self-sacrifice. These qualities are at the heart level of Christian leadership.

Paul underscores the importance of humility by writing that we should es-teem others as “better” than ourselves (Philippians 2:3). This practice helps us to replace the human tendency to compete with others with a genuine appreciation for them and their work. Humility is antithetical to our natural ambition to be first in everything; it’s a fruit of the Spirit and requires constant nurturing. Jesus’ twelve apostles had to learn this lesson when they argued amongst themselves concerning who would be first in the kingdom of heaven. If we fail to develop a spirit of humility, we risk losing the blessings of being co-workers with one anoth-er and ultimately with Jesus. Christian leaders therefore need to constantly seek after a humble, Christ-like heart of service for others.

Heaven itself teaches us how the members of the Leadership Team should possess a spirit of unity. Paul wrote while in Ephesus, “There are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all” (1 Corinthians 12:4–6, NKJV).

Each person of the Godhead is working in harmony with humanity and with one another to reveal the gospel truth of the kingdom. Each may work in differ-ent capacities, but They work with the same intent. The Spirit is the deliverer of heaven’s gifts. He “works all these things, distributing to each one individually as He wills” (v. 11, NKJV), and by the Spirit “we were all baptized into one body” (v. 13, NKJV). The Father sets “the members, each one of them, in the body just as He pleased” (v. 18, NKJV) and, in that action, composes “the body, having given greater honor to that part which lacks it” (v. 24, NKJV). And Jesus, Paul would later say, “is the head of the body, the church” (Colossians 1:18).

This is by no means a complete list of the work each member of the Godhead performs, but it shows how they work harmoniously, yet in different capacities, toward the same objective. We can find another example of this

37

THE LEADERSHIP TEAM

same harmony in the act of Creation. “God said, let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Genesis 1:26). The Hebrew plural form for God (Elohim) is used in this verse, as well as the plural pronouns us and our. In order for the Godhead to be in perfect harmony in decision-making and action-taking, they first reasoned communally. Similarly, when more than one person is involved in a decision or action, reasoning together is required before the decision or action takes place.

Jesus expressed His desire that the church exhibit the same harmonious spirit of working together when He prayed, “That they may be one, as we are” (John 17:11), and again, “That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me” (v. 21).

Just as heaven leads by example, so should an urban mission Leadership Team. Humility and a spirit of unity should be the earmarks of God’s church, and especially its leaders. When the world sees a humble, unified body of believers at work, it will pause and take notice. The gospel not only saves us from sin’s penalty, but also it saves us from its tyranny: sin no longer rules over us. Through Jesus we can be restored to the image of God, as He originally intended, and the church can become a witness to the world of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ. How exciting would it be to be part of a team determined to make the kingdom of heaven visible in its community. There would be nothing like it in the world!

Our challenge, then, is to apply all the principles we have learned about an ef-fective Leadership Team to today’s work of city mission. Based on our experience in Allentown and analysis of counsel, we consider the following to be descriptive of an ideal profile of a Leadership Team for city ministry:

1. Advance Placement Team: a two-person disciple team (a husband-and-wife team is ideal but not critical) who act as both mentors and mission directors

2. Administrator: responsible for maintaining and overseeing the big picture 3. Community relations/conference liaison: interfaces with other support-

ive organizations and the media 4. Gospel ministry director: may be a local pastor or Bible worker who en-

sures the gospel is part of every activity 5. Medical missionary director: oversees health and welfare branches 6. Financial director: sets budget parameters (a local businessperson is ideal)7. Literature evangelism director: oversees literature evangelism/modern de-

livery of truth

38

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Because all of these elements are necessary for success, each area should have a different manager. At a ministry’s inception, one individual may be managing two, three, or more of these positions simultaneously until other Leadership Team members are either developed or found who can relieve the burden of multi-tasking.

In Allentown, we have not yet had the benefit of a full, seven-person Leader-ship Team. Much of the work is doubled and even tripled for the few leaders we have, which slows progress. There is no doubt that this has been one of the biggest obstacles we have faced to date. Hence, we are always thankful for leadership relief. When a qualified ministry partner joins the Leadership Team, the work is more evenly distributed and better served.

We have learned through experience that each potential Leadership Team member needs to be thoroughly vetted. It’s important to know that team members are ready to lead in the capacity they are called to serve. As we have discovered, not all disciples are meant for leadership roles, and if you gather a team of disci-ples who are not true leaders, the work will be slowed until you have mentored leaders from among them. As a result, you may spend time and energy mentoring individuals who do not eventually become leaders. Part of our own challenge in Allentown comes from the fact that we ourselves never had the privilege of being mentored in this kind of work.

It is important to note, however, that leadership is not the only spiritual gift essential to the success of God’s plan. Many other disciples are needed to comple-ment and support the whole, as we will discover.

Additionally, previous training specific to a particular ministry position does not necessarily make a person a true leader. For example, someone might be edu-cated in the field of Bible work but have no practical experience in discipleship or mentoring. As we have noted, a primary goal of the Leadership Team should be to reproduce itself, which means that discipleship and mentoring are vital skills each member of the Leadership Team should possess. In the next chapter we will see that discipleship and mentoring were absolutely critical to the work of Paul and his Leadership Team in Ephesus.

39

CHAPTER 4

DISCIPLESHIP AND MENTORING

Through Paul’s example in Ephesus, we have begun to identify a sequence for successfully establishing a city ministry. To start, the Advance Place-ment Team works in the community to identify its needs, with the ulti-

mate purpose of establishing a new group of believers, and then the Leadership Team follows. One of the first works of that team is to find and develop a Disci-pleship Group in the new mission field. In this chapter, we will discuss how the Leadership Team should identify individuals within the Discipleship Group who have leadership gifts to be mentored and trained as new leaders. We will call this group the Leadership Trainees. This is the process by which the Leadership Team reproduces itself. We will look at the particulars of how this is accomplished—through the Discipleship Group as a whole and, more specifically, through the Leadership Trainees.

The Discipleship Group is made up of two sets of individuals we can expect to encounter in gospel ministry. The first are those who, having been prepared by the Holy Spirit, are waiting for someone to share the gospel with them. Usu-ally these individuals already believe in God, and their lives reflect their level of knowledge about Him. While their understanding of the gospel may be incom-plete, these truth-seeking believers are open and receptive to a deeper understand-ing of the things of God. They quickly believe and act upon truth when they hear it. In Paul’s vernacular, these are people ready for some “meat.”

The second group we can expect to encounter is first-time engagers, those who are making their first response to the gospel’s call. First-time engagers are moving

40

THE EPHESUS MODEL

from a position of ignorance or unbelief to one of belief, a much bigger transition than that of truth-seeking believers. Their lives may reflect their lack of knowledge of kingdom truths, and often it will take time for them to adopt new principles of living as their own. They are babes in their spiritual journey and need “milk.”

Truth-seeking believers and first-time engagers together comprise the Dis-cipleship Group. Whether truth-seeking believers or first-time engagers, all dis-ciples can and, in many instances, should be quickly engaged in ministry. It’s important to remember that no one is without a gift. Not everyone is called to leadership, but everyone brings value and is important to the body as a whole. All members of the Discipleship Group should be mentored and encouraged to use their gifts to the glory of God within the church or the Urban Center of Influ-ence (discussed in the next chapter). These two venues provide a place where all disciples can be trained and developed as they grow to become effective workers for Jesus. Here is counsel for us:

There should be connected with our missions, training schools for those who are about to enter the field as laborers. They should feel that they must become as apprentices to learn the trade of laboring for the conver-sion of souls. The labor in these schools should be varied. The study of the Bible should be made of primary importance, and at the same time there should be a systematic training of the mind and manners, that they may learn to approach people in the best possible way. All should learn how to labor with tact and with courtesy, and with the Spirit of Christ (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 14, 1887).

From within this larger Discipleship Group, the Leadership Team should be-gin to identify individuals to become Leadership Trainees. In the previous chap-ter, we discussed the ministry gifts required within a Leadership Team and how each potential leader should exemplify several qualities: humility, the desire for unity, and the ability to take a position and work at it wholeheartedly. Paul coun-sels that, in addition, a leader should not be “a novice,” or new believer (1 Timo-thy 3:6). When Paul was looking for disciples in Ephesus to become Leadership Trainees, he focused on truth-seeking believers, those whose relationship with God was more stable and mature.

As we have seen before with many of Paul’s methods in Ephesus, it’s import-ant to note that Paul was following the example of Christ by selecting a group of Leadership Trainees. Jesus came to earth with an objective: to reveal the truth about His Father and to establish His everlasting kingdom. Central to the establishment

41

DISCIPLESHIP AND MENTORING

of that kingdom is revealing the gospel of salvation to all of humanity. We use the word revealing because the gospel is meant to be both heard and seen by the whole world. In other words, the gospel is not just the transmission of information but also a demonstration of the power of God to change hearts and lives. Jesus chose His disciples, His Leadership Trainees, not only to speak words of truth and salvation but also to be living examples of the effect the gospel has in the life of a believer.

This was always God’s plan. Long before the disciples, the Jewish nation had been chosen for the same purpose: “I the Lord have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles” (Isaiah 42:6). God called Israel to be a nation of disciples to the rest of the world. They, however, rejected not only their calling but also the Messiah, Jesus Himself. So Jesus mentored and trained twelve disciples to do the work that Israel, His church at the time, had failed to do.

These men were not qualified through education or refinement, but they were humble and willing, and, most important, they believed in Jesus. Because of that belief and the hope it instilled in their hearts, they left their old lives behind to follow Him. They watched as their Master ministered to individuals from every walk of life. Each day, Jesus was teaching the disciples His method of ministry, occasionally sitting them down to explain His actions to them. More important, their training went beyond theory. They witnessed firsthand the joy of children He lifted into His arms. They saw His healing touch extended to the outcasts of society. They heard His words of encouragement and gentle rebuke, and they contemplated the meaning of His parables and sermons. Through this daily inter-action, Jesus trained and equipped His disciples to become leaders of His church.

Paul realized that this was a pattern to be repeated in his gospel ministry. When he came to Ephesus to begin a new gospel campaign, he and his Leadership Team quickly found twelve new disciples to equip and train:

And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples, he said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost. And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John’s baptism. Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus. When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus. And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy

42

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied. And all the men were about twelve (Acts 19:1–7).

Paul’s team now consisted of some who were seasoned (his Leadership Team) and a group of inexperienced disciples under their training (his Leadership Train-ees). After they were trained and mentored, some of the Leadership Trainees would stay to take up the mantle of local leadership, while others would go, like the apostles, to new fields of opportunity, where they would repeat the process.

How did Paul mentor and equip his Leadership Trainees to prepare them to take up the mantle of leadership, and what did he model his method of mentorship after? Certainly Paul was familiar with Jesus’ work with His twelve disciples. But in addition, he too had been mentored as a Leadership Trainee, and he learned this methodology of ministry by trial and observation in that mentoring relationship.

Paul’s mentor was Barnabas, as we have already mentioned. Their ministry relationship began when Paul, shortly after his conversion, came to Jerusalem to meet with the disciples of Jesus. “But they were all afraid of him, and believed not that he was a disciple” (9:26). It was Barnabas who “took him, and brought him to the apostles, and declared unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and that he had spoken to him, and how he [Paul] had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus” (v. 27).

Remember that before this happened, Paul, according to his own words, had “beyond measure . . . persecuted the church of God, and wasted it” (Galatians 1:13). It is no wonder that the church leaders were afraid and doubted his story. Yet Barnabas believed him and brought him to the disciples, offering three first-hand pieces of evidence that indicated to him that Paul was a changed man.

The first evidence came as Barnabas listened to “how he [Paul] had seen the Lord in the way” (Acts 9:27). In other words, Barnabas heard Paul tell his conver-sion story. Next, he declared “that he had spoken to him.” Barnabas interviewed Paul, listened to his testimony, and discovered what Paul believed. He was there-fore able to vouch for Paul on the basis of his personal knowledge, after spending time with him and seeing the truth working in his life. Finally, Barnabas observed “how he [Paul] had preached boldly at Damascus in the name of Jesus.” This was the third evidence that Paul’s conversion was genuine: he was proclaiming Jesus.

Mentoring a Leadership Trainee should begin with this kind of interview process, from which we would seek to hear these three things:

1. Conversion story: How did you come to know Jesus in your life?2. Life testimony: How has knowing Jesus changed your life?

43

DISCIPLESHIP AND MENTORING

3. Ministerial work history (after conversion): What have you done with your knowledge of Jesus?

Paul’s mentorship as a Leadership Trainee continued after Barnabas inter-viewed him and brought him before the disciples: “He [Paul] was with them [the disciples] coming in and going out at Jerusalem” and “spake boldly in the name of the Lord Jesus” (vv. 28, 29). In other words, Paul was able to witness the ministry of the disciples, much as the disciples had witnessed the ministry of Jesus, and he also preached. When persecution arose in Jerusalem from some of the Jews, the disciples sent Paul to Caesarea, and then to Tarsus (v. 30). Notice how the experi-enced Leadership Team (the disciples) guided Paul’s early movements.

While Paul was in Tarsus, the church leaders sent Barnabas to Antioch. With his addition to the ministry in Antioch, “much people was added unto the Lord” (11:24). Encouraged by that result, Barnabas decided to reengage Paul as a minis-try partner. He “[departed] to Tarsus, for to seek [Paul]: and when he had found him, he brought him unto Antioch” (vv. 25, 26). Together they successfully min-istered in Antioch, and many accepted the gospel. Barnabas continued to mentor Paul over the course of their years in Antioch, and Paul was able to observe and engage in multiple phases of ministry. They interacted with new believers and assembled with the church (v. 26). They worked with church leaders to take an offering back to Jerusalem (v. 29). They selected a new disciple, John Mark, to mentor (12:25), and they set out on a missionary journey together, preaching the gospel to Jews and Gentiles.

What Paul learned from this personal mentoring experience with Barnabas is reflected in how he mentored his own Leadership Trainees in Ephesus. He began by selecting Leadership Trainees from among the Disciple Group in Ephesus and interviewing them about their experience with God (19:1, 2). Next, Paul began to prepare and equip his Leadership Trainees by teaching them the truth about Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. In other words, Paul shared the gospel with them:

He told them of Christ’s life on this earth and of His cruel death of shame. He told them how the Lord of life had broken the barriers of the tomb and risen triumphant over death. He repeated the Saviour’s commission to His disciples: “All power is given unto Me in heaven and in earth. Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Matthew 28:18, 19. He told them also of Christ’s promise to send the Comforter, through whose power mighty signs and wonders would be wrought, and

44

THE EPHESUS MODEL

he described how gloriously this promise had been fulfilled on the Day of Pentecost” (The Acts of the Apostles, 282).

Sharing the gospel is the fundamental first step in mentorship. In Allentown, we’ve encountered many willing workers who had an incomplete understanding of the gospel. Often, God’s people are divided about what the gospel truth really is, which leads to dysfunction and division in ministry work. Because of that reality, we have made it a priority to repeat the gospel basics over and over again in team worships in order to establish a unified and consistent revelation of that truth in the work we do. This emphasis on the gospel empowers us to stay the course and seek to save the lost.

The next step, after the Leadership Trainees in Ephesus received the gospel and were baptized “in the name of the Lord Jesus,” was that Paul laid hands on them for ministry (19:6). The new disciples then received two specific gifts of the Spirit: speaking in tongues and prophecy (v. 6). The question arises: Why these two gifts?

We can read the account in the Bible of disciples receiving the gift of tongues. The Jews received the gift of tongues along with the outpouring of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, and the Gentiles received this same gift at the house of Cornelius. God bestowed the gift on both Jews and Gentiles so that no question would arise as to whether God favored one group over the other. Interestingly, in Ephesus the gift of prophecy was added to the gift of tongues. Paul explains God’s reason for adding this gift in Ephesus when he writes, “Tongues are for a sign, not to them that believe, but to them that believe not: but prophesying serveth not for them that believe not, but for them which believe” (1 Corinthians 14:22). By bestowing the gifts of tongues and prophecy, the Holy Spirit equipped the Leadership Train-ees in Ephesus for ministry to both believers and non-believers. They continued under the tutelage of Paul, watching and listening to him as he worked among the people. In time, they would be ready to begin their own missionary endeavors and repeat the process.

If we consider them side by side (see table below), we can see that Paul’s men-torship of the Leadership Trainees in Ephesus is a mirror image of his experience as a trainee under Barnabas. We can see clearly the outline for the mentorship and training of Leadership Trainees in these parallel experiences. Paul further breaks down the phases of mentorship in his letter to the Ephesian church: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:11, 12).

45

DISCIPLESHIP AND MENTORING

Barnabas and Paul Paul in Ephesus

Barnabas finds Paul (Acts 9:27) Paul finds Leadership Trainees (Acts 19:1)

Barnabas interviews Paul about his experience (Acts 9:27)

Paul interviews Leadership Trainees about their experiences (Acts 19:2)

Paul receives the gospel (Galatians 1:12)

Paul teaches the gospel to Leadership Trainees (Acts 19:4)

The church lays hands on Paul for ministry (Acts 13:2, 3)

Paul lays hands on the Leadership Trainees for ministry (Acts 19:6)

Paul observes and preaches while with the Leadership Team in Jerusalem (Acts 9:28, 29)

Paul preaches to Jews and Gentiles while with the Leadership Trainees in Ephesus (Acts 19:8)

Persecution arises (Acts 9:29) Paul and Leadership Trainees en-counter persecution (Acts 19:9)

Leadership Team moves Paul (Acts 9:30) Paul moves Leadership Trainees to a new place to safely continue their training (Acts 19:9)

Paul experiences daily ministry with Barnabas in Antioch and on their first missionary journey (Acts 13:9–14)

Leadership Trainees experience daily ministry with Paul in Ephesus for several years (Acts 19:10)

In this verse, leadership is defined in terms of spiritual gifts (apostles, proph-ets, evangelists, pastors and teachers) for the purpose of mentoring others. That mentoring process takes place in three phases: (1) the perfecting of the saints; (2) the work of the ministry; and finally (3) the edifying of the body of Christ. To fully under-stand mentorship, it’s helpful to understand what each of these phases involves.

First, Paul writes that leadership is for the perfecting of the saints. This means that God uses the efforts of leadership to mature His disciples in both their knowl-edge of Him and in changing their hearts and lives to better reflect Him. The path of a disciple is constantly ascending, adding grace after grace toward a more com-plete revelation of Jesus in our lives. According to Peter, this path is a promise:

Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; and to

46

THE EPHESUS MODEL

knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; and to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:4–8).

God’s leaders then are not only called to preach the Word of God but also to, at all times, work to mature the followers of Jesus through patient teaching that convinces, rebukes, and encourages (see 2 Timothy 4:2).

Second, Paul writes that leadership’s task is to train God’s people for the work of ministry. This is saying essentially what we have already discussed in both this chapter and the previous chapter: leaders must train others to be leaders. It is best accomplished by example in the field. Disciples must see and hear how ministry is done in real-life circumstances so they can effectively teach others.

Finally, Paul writes that leadership should edify or build up the body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12, Paul explains that the body of Christ (the church) should be the corporate revelation of Jesus to the world. Part of leadership’s responsibility is to participate with God in building the body into a full repre-sentation of Himself. Just as Paul built a Leadership Team with a unique spiri-tual gift profile, leadership must look and pray for the ministry gifts needed for Christ to be corporately revealed to the world.

Why are we discussing the role of leadership in a chapter about disciples? The reason is that this passage about leadership can help us understand what becom-ing a disciple of Jesus actually is—a life committed to the goal of total surrender to the will of God.

Christian discipleship is a call for us to forsake all else, follow Jesus, and share our knowledge of Him with others. When we become true disciples, we say to Jesus, “All that I am is Yours, all that I have is Yours, and all that I say and do is for Your glory.” The foundational principle of Christian discipleship is complete commitment to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. His call, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men,” still resonates from the shores of Galilee to His disciples today. This call is to believe in Him, imitate His ways, and find and mentor others to do the same.

Unfortunately, we often react to Jesus’ commission with excuses that limit our participation to our comfort level. We have children to raise, careers to develop, bills to pay, and so on. We all have responsibilities that make demands on our time and resources. But our responsibilities should not prevent us from following the principles of discipleship.

47

DISCIPLESHIP AND MENTORING

Some people may be free to go into new fields as apostles, as did the twelve men Jesus chose from among His larger Discipleship Group. “He called unto him his disciples: and of them he chose twelve, whom also he named apostles” (Luke 6:13). They left their former lives to pursue a work for Jesus on the front line of new mission fields. Others may not be asked to take that role because of the re-sponsibilities and complications in their lives. Yet they are called to the same high standard of discipleship. They are to be involved in some type of ministry as fully as their circumstances allow by both expressing their spiritual gifts in the body of Christ and being supportive of others in the front line of ministry through prayer, encouragement, and donations of funds.

Discipleship goes far beyond weekend church attendance and giving tithes and offerings. It is an immersion into the life of Jesus through the gifts and talents He lends us:

Look at the life of many who claim to be Christians. The Lord has endowed them with capabilities, and power, and influence; He has en-trusted them with money, that they may be co-workers with Him in the great redemption. All His gifts are to be used in blessing humanity, in relieving the suffering and the needy. We are to feed the hungry, to clothe the naked, to care for the widow and the fatherless, to minister to the distressed and downtrodden. God never meant that the widespread misery in the world should exist. He never meant that one man should have an abundance of the luxuries of life, while the children of others should cry for bread. The means over and above the actual necessities of life are entrusted to man to do good, to bless humanity. The Lord says, “Sell that ye have, and give alms.” Luke 12:33. Be “ready to distribute, willing to communicate.” 1 Timothy 6:18. “When thou makest a feast, call the poor, the maimed, the lame, the blind.” Luke 14:13. “Loose the bands of wickedness,” “undo the heavy burdens,” “let the oppressed go free,” “break every yoke.” “Deal thy bread to the hungry,” “bring the poor that are cast out to thy house.” “When thou seest the naked, . . . cover him.” “Satisfy the afflicted soul.” Isa. 58:6, 7, 10. “Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.” Mark 16:15. These are the Lord’s commands. Are the great body of professed Christians doing this work? (Christ’s Object Lessons, 370).

True discipleship is an answer to the question, How much value do I place on what Jesus did on my behalf? We have been called to reach the millions in the

48

THE EPHESUS MODEL

cities of the world with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It will require a unified effort on our part. Many will go, and many will need to support their going.

A story from the life of David can help to illustrate this point. As he neared the end of his life, King David’s desire was to build a temple for the Lord to re-place the sanctuary of Moses destroyed by the Philistines at Shiloh:

As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building: but God said unto me, Thou shalt not build an house for my name, because thou hast been a man of war, and hast shed blood. . . . And of all my sons (for the LORD hath given me many sons) he hath chosen Solomon my son to sit upon the throne of the kingdom of the LORD over Israel. And he said unto me, Solomon thy son, he shall build my house and my courts: for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father (1 Chronicles 28:2–6).

In this passage, we see that the circumstances of David’s life disqualified him from taking on the task his heart desired to do. David had lived a violent life filled with war and bloodshed. Because the temple was to represent the Prince of Peace to the world, God said no to his request.

David is like many modern disciples, whose life circumstances limit their ability to do a particular task—in this case, moving as apostles into the front lines of city ministry. But the story of David reveals how God can use us despite our circumstances to support those who can go and accomplish the task. God wanted a new temple to be built, and He gave the task to David’s son Solomon. Once David understood God’s plan, he was able to support the work his son would do by gathering the supplies and resources Solomon would need to build the temple. It took both David and Solomon to complete the task, each doing his own part: David supplying the resources, and Solomon doing the building.

God has been calling the church to reach the cities with the gospel for more than a hundred years. He is desperate for a generation of Davids to open the way for a generation of Solomons. Both need to begin now. Some disciples will have to literally pick up and go. Other disciples, who are unable to go, will support those who do with all they have. In this way, all members of the Discipleship Group are called to be participants in the work of God to bring the gospel to the cities.

God’s design is for companies of disciples equipped by the Holy Spirit for ministry to be at work in all the cities of the world. These disciples would be guided, trained, and supported by the rest of the body of Christ, who are equal in

49

DISCIPLESHIP AND MENTORING

their passion and commitment to completing God’s commission to His disciples here on earth: “God is calling not only upon ministers, but also upon physicians, nurses, colporteurs, Bible workers, and other consecrated laymen of varied talent who have a knowledge of the Word of God and who know the power of His grace, to consider the needs of the unwarned cities. Time is rapidly passing, and there is much to be done. Every agency must be set in operation, that present opportuni-ties may be wisely improved” (The Acts of the Apostles, 158).

Clearly, it is a top priority to God that all of His disciples be involved in the work He is calling His church to do today, in the way that each is specifically called. As we discussed in this chapter, these disciples need to be trained and equipped to do this work. In the next chapter we will look at the idea of establish-ing contemporary missions, or Urban Centers of Influence, in which to train and equip disciples for the work in the cities and to be a catalyst for kingdom growth.

51

CHAPTER 5

URBAN CENTERS OF INFLUENCE

The fourth mission structure we find in the Ephesus Model is the Urban Center of Influence. As we mentioned in the previous chapter, the Ur-ban Center of Influence is a place where the Discipleship Group and

Leadership Trainees can practice their spiritual gifts while being mentored and equipped for mission work. The Urban Center of Influence should also do exactly what its name suggests: it should influence the surrounding community in a way that brings the gospel into the lives of the people and effects change in them. In this chapter, we will examine Paul’s Urban Center of Influence in Ephesus. We will see how he was able to use this center to bring about change in the communi-ty and how we can apply these principles to city mission work today.

As we saw in chapter 1 in our overview of Paul’s missionary work before he came to Ephesus, the gospel message is often met with opposition. His experience in Ephesus was no exception: “But when some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude, he [Paul] departed from them and with-drew the disciples, reasoning daily in the school of Tyrannus” (Acts 19:9, NKJV).

When opposition arose in the synagogue, Paul wisely found a different place to train his new disciples. He chose a Greek school called the school of Tyrannus. Here, many people from the community likely came to hear Paul teach the gos-pel. The school became the epicenter of Christian influence in Ephesus, Paul’s Urban Center of Influence:

52

THE EPHESUS MODEL

The company of believers who met in the school of Tyrannus were an inhar-monious note in the festive chorus, and ridicule, reproach, and insult were freely heaped upon them. Paul’s labors had given the heathen worship a telling blow, in consequence of which there was a perceptible falling off in the attendance at the national festival and in the enthusiasm of the wor-shipers. The influence of his teachings extended far beyond the actual con-verts to the faith. Many who had not openly accepted the new doctrines became so far enlightened as to lose all confidence in their heathen gods” (The Acts of the Apostles, 292, emphasis supplied).

Paul’s Urban Center of Influence had a profound effect on the Ephesians’ way of life as many began to see the futility of worshiping gods they had constructed with their own hands and decided to follow the gospel truth. His school had become an Urban Center of Influence because the ideas being taught there were coun-tercultural and life changing. The gospel counters the culture of sin by its mere presence and is a catalyst for individual change. This single place and the message it promoted were changing the culture of the whole city of Ephesus.

How was it that the people associated with this school were able to so dra-matically affect the community they lived in? A look at the work going on in Ephesus will help provide an answer. As we know, the goal of Paul and his Leader-ship Team was to teach the gospel of Jesus Christ and Him crucified. Aquila and Priscilla shared the gospel with Apollos, and Paul later shared the good news with the group of twelve who became his Leadership Trainees. Paul and his Leadership Team succeeded because the Holy Spirit had prepared the hearts of those men in advance to hear the true gospel and believe. In both instances, these truth-seeking believers immediately became new field workers.

It’s encouraging to remember that God is working ahead of us in every way, preparing the hearts of people in every city to hear the truth and believe. These truth-seeking believers are the first fruit of a new field of ministry, and often they become the most ardent supporters of the work. In this way, many of the resources needed in city outreach—both people and materials necessary to support the work—become available through the harvest.

Paul used two methods in Ephesus to find those truth-seeking believers who would become workers alongside him in the Urban Center of Influence. The first was through public forums. The Bible says that part of Paul’s work in Ephesus was to publicly proclaim the gospel of Christ in places like the school of Tyrannus, the synagogue, or even in the marketplace. Paul’s second method was to go from door to door. He wrote, “I kept back nothing that was profitable

53

URBAN CENTERS OF INFLUENCE

unto you, but have shewed you, and have taught you publicly, and from house to house” (Acts 20:20).

As always, Paul was mirroring in his work the methods that Jesus Himself employed. Even in the briefest survey of Jesus’ work on earth, we can see Him both proclaiming the gospel in public forums, such as the hillside where He fed the five thousand, and going into the homes of new disciples, such as Zacchaeus and Simon the Pharisee. In both public forums and door-to-door ministry, Jesus’ goal was to reach lost souls. We, like Paul, should imitate Christ’s methods: “In every city that is entered a solid foundation is to be laid for permanent work. The Lord’s methods are to be followed. By doing house-to-house work, by giving Bible readings in families, the worker may gain access to many who are seeking for truth. By opening the Scriptures, by prayer, by exercising faith, he is to teach the people the way of the Lord” (Testimonies for the Church, 7:38).

Since Jesus’ ministry should be the ultimate model for our own gospel ministry, a closer look at what He did during His time on earth can help us mirror His work in our Urban Centers of Influence. Jesus’ method of ministry began with first help-ing people where they were. The Gospels are filled with the acts of Jesus on behalf of those He was trying to reach. John writes, “There are also many other things which Jesus did, the which, if they should be written every one, I suppose that even the world itself could not contain the books that should be written” (John 21:25).

Two questions arise from this text that reflect on what the work of our Urban Centers of Influence should be: What other methods did Jesus use besides simply preaching or teaching the gospel? And why did He use the other methods?

The answers emerge from the context of that verse, beginning with John 20:30, 31: “And many other signs truly did Jesus in the presence of his disciples, which are not written in this book: but these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name.”

The signs John refers to were Jesus’ many miracles, especially healing people of diseases and disabilities. Here is the answer to our first question: these signs are the other methods Jesus used. Why did He use them? According to John, the signs were to lead people to the belief that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God. The influence of Jesus’ miracles was a ripple effect. It reached not just the person receiving the blessing but also those who saw the miracle happen, and extended even further to those who heard about the miracles secondhand. This ripple effect meant that entire populations were confronted with the prospect that Jesus was the Christ simply because of His actions. Seeing or hearing about His miracles, they were prompted to believe or not believe. Here we find the

54

THE EPHESUS MODEL

answer to our second question: Jesus incorporated acts (such as miracles) into His ministry work because they were effective in confronting large groups of people with the truth of who He was.

Now that we understand why Jesus used methods other than preaching and teaching in His ministry, we can examine what specific acts were a part of His method for reaching people:

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 confi-dence. Then He bade them, “Follow Me.”

There is need of coming close to the people by personal effort. If less time were given to sermonizing, and more time were spent in personal ministry, greater results would be seen. The poor are to be relieved, the sick cared for, the sorrowing and the bereaved comforted, the ignorant instructed, the inexperienced counseled. We are to weep with those that weep, and rejoice with those that rejoice. Accompanied by the power of persuasion, the power of prayer, the power of the love of God, this work will not, cannot, be without fruit (The Ministry of Healing, 143, 144, emphasis supplied).

There’s a beauty in the simplicity of Christ’s method. By breaking down each individual part in the quotation, we can see how each played an important role in reaching people with the gospel.

“The Saviour mingled with men as one who desired their good.” This is not just mingling for its own sake. Part of “mingling” is desiring good for others, which is not a natural attribute of sinful humanity. Jesus Himself reminds us that “there is none good but one, that is, God” (Matthew 19:17). It is only through the fact that “God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all suffi-ciency in all things, may abound to every good work” (2 Corinthians 9:8) that we are able to both desire good for others and to do good. We can even, by the grace that God gives us, learn to love our enemies and do good to them that hate us (Luke 6:27). As the apostle John writes, “He that doeth good is of God” (3 John 11).

“He showed His sympathy for them.” The Merriam-Webster online dictionary defines sympathy as “the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another.” People notice when sympathy is directed toward them. Coming close to people, or, in other words, mingling with them, is a prerequisite for sympathy to be shown and felt.

55

URBAN CENTERS OF INFLUENCE

“He ministered to their needs.” Ministering means we are giving service or car-ing for some other person. We are considering their needs and doing something to satisfy them. It is critical to remember that in order to minister to someone’s needs, we need to know what the needs are. We can begin to understand people’s needs both by asking and by friendly observation. As we spend time with people, the Holy Spirit makes their needs evident to us.

“He won their confidence.” Winning confidence is best accomplished with consistent behavior. People will have confidence in us if they see patterns of self-lessness and love.

“Then He bade them, ‘Follow Me.’ ” The timing of this step is crucial. No-tice that it is the last step in Christ’s sequence of ministry but is nonetheless an important part of the sequence. When the Spirit allows and directs, the gospel should be shared and an invitation offered. We have witnessed ministries that become strictly social in nature because they fail to move into directly sharing the gospel. The greatest thing we can give people in this world is the promise of a new life in Jesus. Many organizations are already helping people meet their basic needs and are to be commended for doing so. But Christianity exists to go beyond this, to share with others the selfless agape love of God and to give an invitation to receive the gospel. For the Christian, the true power of good works is found in their marriage to the good news.

The second paragraph in the quote describing Christ’s method is often passed over, and yet it is just as critical as the first. Notice the phrases like “coming close,” “personal effort,” and “personal ministry.” These are directives that cannot be met from a distance. We are asked to get involved in people’s lives, to be friends to the poor, the sick, the sorrowing, the bereaved, the ignorant, the inexperienced, the sorrowful, and those who are rejoicing. When we come alongside people in these conditions and do what we can to relieve their burdens, they see Jesus in our actions, and their hearts will be softened to hear the gospel.

What this shows us is that the fruit of ministry is a result of the actions we take and not just the words we speak. Yes, the world needs to hear about Jesus, but many are not ready to hear until they see. Jesus demonstrated this in His own ministry by mingling and coming close to the people. He was concerned with personal ministry.

This can be one of the greatest challenges for the body of Christ. Often we isolate ourselves from the very people who need our care and influence the most. Our Urban Centers of Influence need to be situated in places where we can get personal and be accessible to those who need to hear the gospel. We need to mingle. Our Urban Centers of Influence must be where the people are—in their neighborhoods. This allows us to develop a true awareness about the lives of

56

THE EPHESUS MODEL

the people we are trying to reach, to understand what their needs are, and how we can get connected and help them. Our Urban Centers of Influence should become the best neighbor the people in that community have ever encountered: “Wherever a church is established, all the members should engage actively in missionary work. They should visit every family in the neighborhood, and know their spiritual condition” (Testimonies for the Church, 6:296).

This counsel for churches applies as well to developing an Urban Center of Influence. Most churches know very little about the people in their neighbor-hood, let alone their spiritual condition. The result is that if the church closed permanently, the community would feel little loss. In contrast, an Urban Center of Influence should have an impact on the community, as Paul’s Urban Center of Influence did in Ephesus.

We can find abundant counsel in the writings of Ellen White regarding the work an Urban Center of Influence should be accomplishing in order for it to in-fluence a community. She writes that “in every city there should be a city mission that would be a training school for workers” (Medical Ministry, 303). As we’ve discussed, there is a need to develop local leadership from the Discipleship Group in order for mission work to be sustained. By establishing an Urban Center of Influence in each new mission field, in each city, local Leadership Trainees have opportunity both to receive training that the mission offers and participate in its ministries.

Ellen White gives counsel as to what this training should include: “Let small missions be established in many places to teach men and women how to use and thus increase their talents” (Testimonies for the Church, 6:432). The Urban Center of Influence should help disciples to discover their spiritual gifts and train them to use those gifts. Both truth-seeking believers and first-time engagers need a place to learn how to be the voice and the hands of Christ. The Urban Center of Influence should be a school where the Discipleship Group can be taught and mentored as they mature into the fullness of Christ.

Ultimately the purpose of an Urban Center of Influence is to foster a connec-tion between God and all of His people: “By the appointment of these centers, God designs to bring human beings into connection with Himself, that humanity may touch humanity; and that men, controlled by the Holy Spirit, may increase in knowledge, strengthening every principle of character according to the divine similitude” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Sept. 27, 1898).

God’s design has a two-fold purpose. First, He desires that through the Urban Center of Influence, people in the community will interact with His disciples and become connected to Him. This is why it is so vital that Jesus can be seen and

57

URBAN CENTERS OF INFLUENCE

heard in the lives of His disciples working there. Second, Jesus desires that His Spirit-filled believers have a place where they can grow in their understanding of Christ and exercise their gifts in practical ways. An Urban Center of Influence should be a place of learning and character development in the life of believers as well as a beacon of hope in the community.

We have tried to apply these principles to our Urban Center of Influence in Allentown, the Simplicity mission. Our Urban Center of Influence has been home to many activities such as cooking schools, exercise groups, and other lifestyle pro-grams. We have an employment counselor and social worker who help connect people to other existing services. We have small groups and Bible studies. We feed children on Sabbaths and have a Sabbath School program. We offer English as a Second Language (ESL) classes and are beginning to develop a tutoring program. Outside of the Center, we have teams helping people in the community with lifestyle management in their homes. We have assisted other ministries in the city, such as the food bank and homeless shelter. We deliver food and supply clothes to our neighbors when these things are needed.

Our Urban Center of Influence is also a place for training. Here, our mission team meets regularly for Bible study and prayer. On occasion we will bring in leaders with unique skills to provide specialty training. Our hope is that eventual-ly some Leadership Trainees will leave to do similar work in other places. Part of training new disciples is to anticipate that some will depart to new mission fields. Rejoice when this happens!

Although we have placed our Urban Center of Influence near the heart of Al-lentown, we have decided to focus our mission on just five blocks in each direction. That is about the limit a person can be motivated to walk for a service. However, it’s important to resist the temptation, when setting up an Urban Center of Influ-ence, to program a constant stream of events, expecting that people will come to us. Programming is only effective if trust has been established through interpersonal engagement. This means that an Urban Center of Influence’s effectiveness for win-ning souls in its community is, without exception, directly related to the personal ministry that emanates from it. An Urban Center of Influence should first and foremost be a base from which we go into the community to minister and, second, a place to invite our neighbors so we can build closer relationships with them. It is the willingness to come close to people that reveals the love of a God who chose to come close to us.

As we saw in Jesus’ own method of ministry, preaching alone is insufficient to reach people for the gospel. We must do more than ask people to come to us to listen. We need to go to them, to seek them out as precious jewels for Jesus’ sake.

58

THE EPHESUS MODEL

We must minister to them at the point of their need. Then, when opportunity arises, we can share the good news to hearts that have been prepared to receive it.

Some would say that this is all too much work. Yet winning even one soul for Christ should be of the highest value to us. One of the children from our Sabbath breakfast asked a very serious question in his Bible study about the forgiveness of Jesus. He asked, “Do you mean that if I ask Jesus to come into my heart that all the bad things I have done are forgiven and I get to live forever?”

The teacher replied, “Yes!” They prayed, and the boy accepted Jesus into his heart. There is no greater re-

ward in this life than playing even a small part in the plan of salvation and seeing it work in someone’s life—especially a child’s.

59

CHAPTER 6

STARTING A NEW CHURCH

We have examined four mission structures of the Ephesus Model: the work of the Advance Placement Team, the formation of a Leadership Team, the development of a Discipleship Group, and the establish-

ment of an Urban Center of Influence. In Ephesus, these structures worked in harmony toward a single goal—the formation of a new church. A church plant, the final functional structure of the Ephesus Model, was Paul’s goal and should be ours as well. In this chapter we will discuss the importance of planting churches specifically in cities, and what those healthy, vibrant church plants should look like based on two biblical examples: the Jerusalem church and the Antioch church.

Developing a new body of believers should always be the end goal of ministry. Jesus Himself gave us the task of spreading the gospel in His final commission to His disciples: “And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature” (Mark 16:15). “And this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the world for a witness unto all nations; and then shall the end come” (Matthew 24:14).

These words of Jesus contain an imperative that the gospel is to be preached to “all the world” and “every creature.” To fulfill this commission, we must be will-ing to go where people are in order to reach them. As we discussed in the preface, much of the world’s population increasingly resides in urban settings. Despite this, today’s cities go largely ignored as a mission field for the gospel. In fact, city ministry is often met with resistance because of one oft-quoted passage from Ellen White: “In harmony with the light given me, I am urging people to come out from the great centers of population. Our cities are increasing in wickedness, and

60

THE EPHESUS MODEL

it is becoming more and more evident that those who remain in them unnecessar-ily do so at the peril of their soul’s salvation” (Manuscript 115, 1907).

However, when considered in context with the other evidence, this piece of counsel is not a warning against city ministry, as it might seem at first glance. First, we should remember that Paul himself, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, went to the cities of his day to minister. Second, we should consider that quota-tion in conjunction with other contemporaneous counsel Ellen White wrote that clearly supports aggressive city ministry:

• “In every city where the truth is proclaimed, churches are to be raised up. In some large cities there must be churches in various parts of the city. In some places, meetinghouses will be offered for sale at reasonable rates, which can be purchased advantageously” (Letter 168, 1909).

• “We all need to be wide-awake, that, as the way opens, we may advance the work in the large cities. We are far behind in following the instruc-tion to enter these cities and erect memorials for God. Step by step we are to lead souls into the full light of truth. We are to continue working until a church is organized, and a humble house of worship built. I am greatly encouraged to believe that many persons not of our faith will help considerably by their means. The light given me is that in many places, especially in the great cities of America, help will be given by such per-sons” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Sept. 30, 1902).

On the surface, this counsel that churches should be raised up in cities may seem contradictory to Ellen White’s previous recommendation that people should come out of the cities. But a closer look at the first quote reveals that the two statements are not contradictory. She counsels that disciples should not “remain in them [cities] unnecessarily.” She is mindful of the fact that not everyone can leave the cities right now. We see the same theme repeated in the following quote: “Much more can be done to save and educate the children of those who at present cannot get away from the cities. This is a matter worthy of our best efforts. Church schools are to be established for the children in the cities, and in connection with these schools provision is to be made for the teaching of higher studies, where these are called for” (Manuscript 129, 1903, emphasis supplied).

There are multiple and complex factors that lead people to live in ever-expanding urban settings. Culture, employment, and access to services and entertainment are just a few of the reasons people choose to live in cities. Extracting oneself from such an environment can be challenging on many levels,

61

STARTING A NEW CHURCH

even if one desires to do so. Ellen White gives clear counsel that we should be actively ministering to these people where they live. While we are encouraged to move away from cities if possible because of their worldly influence, we are also repeatedly reminded that, for some, that option may be difficult to achieve. Additionally, we are counseled that we should not abandon this mission field: “Some must remain in the cities to give the last note of warning, but this will become more and more dangerous to do. Yet the truth for today must come to the world—truth as spoken by the lips of Him who understood the end from the beginning” (Manuscript Releases 10, 261).

The best blending of these ideas is found in the direct counsel that we should build new churches in cities whenever possible, and yet move our homes outside of the cities. “It is God’s design that our people should locate outside the cities, and from these outposts warn the cities, and raise in them memorials for God. There must be a force of influence in the cities, that the message of warning shall be heard” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, April 14, 1903).

Adventists have embraced these concepts in part. Most have moved to the suburbs or rural areas, and we have built most of our churches in the places where we live. Perhaps though, we have forgotten that our outpost centers outside of cities were intended to be staging facilities from which to launch the work of city ministry. Instead, we leave this work in the cities largely unattended.

It seems undeniable, then, that we should be planting churches in our cities. This leads us to define what a church plant should look like. Remember that a church is not a building. A church may need a building, but a building itself does not constitute a church. A church is a committed body of believers functioning in unity to grow the kingdom of heaven by the power of the Spirit. As we’ve said, this is the end goal of all ministry—the development of the body of Christ.

The Bible gives us two wonderful examples of healthy, vibrant new churches: the Jerusalem church and the Antioch church. By examining these two churches, we can begin to see the characteristics that a new church body should have.

According to the book of Acts, the Jerusalem church began to develop after Peter’s sermon at Pentecost:

Then they that gladly received his word were baptized: and the same day there were added unto them about three thousand souls. And they continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship, and in breaking of bread, and in prayers. And fear came upon every soul: and many wonders and signs were done by the apostles. And all that be-lieved were together, and had all things common; and sold their posses-

62

THE EPHESUS MODEL

sions and goods, and parted them to all men, as every man had need. And they, continuing daily with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, did eat their meat with gladness and sin-gleness of heart, praising God, and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved (Acts 2:41–47).

By breaking this text down, we can begin to get a definition of the church by what it does. To begin with, the Jerusalem church is said to have “continued steadfastly” in five specific things: the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, the breaking of bread, prayers, and in praising God (from verse 47). The word steadfast means to be resolute or dutiful, reliable and constant. That the Jerusalem church “continued steadfastly” in these activities means that they were the habits of the early church and its members. These five activities are the ways in which God desires for us to meet with Him and celebrate His goodness.

The apostles’ doctrine is simply the teachings of the apostles, which were also the teachings of Jesus. As we’ve already discussed early in this chapter, the apostles were given a monumental task to bring Christ’s teachings to all nations. Jesus said, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: teaching them to observe all things what-soever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen” (Matthew 28:19, 20).

We have already considered what it might mean to reach “all nations,” but there is a second imperative in this verse: that the gospel should be preached until the “end of the world.” This is a call to perpetual action. The church should be in a continual process of teaching and baptizing. This means that the first order of the church today is to have a conscience to hear and, in turn, teach God’s Word.

The second activity of the Jerusalem church was habitual fellowship. The Bible says they “were together” and that they continued “daily with one accord in the temple” and “breaking bread from house to house” (Acts 2:46). Because the Jerusalem church members had great love for one another, they spent much time together in conversation and study and at each other’s tables. They looked for opportunities to be with each other for encouragement and community. They met in the temple each day in worship, not just on the Sabbath. They were also in “one accord,” preferring unity to individualism and working for its preservation.

Next, we see that the Jerusalem church was habitual in the breaking of bread at each other’s homes. Some might interpret this as a celebration of the Lord’s Supper. After all, the term “breaking of bread” in Acts is the same term used in the

63

STARTING A NEW CHURCH

Gospel of Luke, when Jesus “took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me” (Luke 22:19). However, the breaking of bread was a fellowship meal that had a spiritual significance to the Jerusalem church. It inspired a contemplation of Christ and active fellowship with the resurrected and soon-coming Lord.

Then we see that the Jerusalem church was habitual in prayer. Undoubtedly each one prayed individually, but they also prayed daily in fellowship. So often we neglect to communicate with God through prayer, even though Paul reminds us that we should “pray without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17). Prayer should not just be a morning and evening tribute. It should be our desire to be in continual communion with God. Ellen White puts it this way:

Although Christ had given the promise to His disciples that they should receive the Holy Spirit, this did not remove the necessity of prayer. They prayed all the more earnestly; they continued in prayer with one accord. Those who are now engaged in the solemn work of preparing a people for the coming of the Lord, should also continue in prayer (Gospel Workers, 371).

Finally, the Jerusalem church was habitual in praising God. Often we struggle with this practice. We tend to confuse it with thanking God for what He has done for us, an appropriate response to God’s active intercession and His activity in our lives. But thankfulness and praise are not the same. While thankfulness addresses what God has done for us, praise focuses on who God is.

In the Psalms, David separates praise and thanksgiving into two concepts. For example: “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations” (Psalm 100:4, 5).

In this verse, we see that praise is parallel to blessing God’s name, and David gives us three reasons why we should do so. First, “the Lord is good.” Goodness is who God is, a central attribute of His nature. Second, “His mercy is everlasting.” This describes not only a characteristic of God but also the permanence of that charac-teristic. God is, always has been, and will always be a merciful and loving God. Last, “His truth endureth to all generations.” Again, this is the evidence of the consistency of God’s character toward every person who has ever been or will be.

Praise, then, is a reflection of our understanding and experience of who God is, acknowledging more than what God has done for us personally. It acknowledg-es the great question posed by many in this world: Who or what is God, and why

64

THE EPHESUS MODEL

does He act as He does? When we move into praise, we are proclaiming the truth about God and providing the world with an answer to this question. As a result, the lies of Satan are unveiled.

Taken collectively, these five habits of the Jerusalem church constitute what one might consider worship. Worship in its highest form exceeds the sum of its parts; it becomes emulation of its object. In the case of Christians, that object would be Jesus. We should be a people so fully immersed in Jesus that we will begin to look like Him. In Jerusalem, the practice of worship gave birth to a continual desire to share the joy of being a follower of Christ. The community in which they lived found “favor” with them, and the result was that the church “added to . . . daily such as should be saved” (Acts 2:47).

Barnabas was part of the Jerusalem church and brought that experience with him to Antioch, where the way had opened for an exciting new work. Remember that the church at Antioch resulted from persecution in Jerusalem (7:59–8:1). After the stoning of Stephen, believers scattered from Jerusalem, some settling in Antioch (11:19). Here, Jesus’ commission that the gospel be preached to the Gen-tiles as well as the Jews began to be fulfilled. The believers in Antioch brought the gospel to the Grecians, and “a great number believed, and turned unto the Lord” (v. 21). This truly was a city church plant. Here, believers first became known as Christians as a healthy church developed.

As Barnabas became a leader in the Antioch church, he was able to model the DNA of this church plant after the Jerusalem church. We can safely assume the Antioch church participated in the same five habits of worship: the apostles’ doc-trine, fellowship, the breaking of bread, prayers, and praising God. Because Barn-abas brought Paul alongside him to minister in Antioch, this church DNA spread farther as Paul planted churches in the cities he visited on his missionary journeys. Essentially, the Jerusalem church is the source of the DNA for the Ephesus Model.

We can learn a few more things from the Antioch church about what a healthy church should look like. First, the Bible says the Antioch church was served by teachers, preachers, prophets, and apostles (11:20, 29; 13:1; 14:14). Paul describes those ministries as spiritual gifts (1 Corinthians 12). This means the Antioch church was functioning under the guidance of the Spirit-given gifts it had been blessed with. In addition, the church in Antioch was not isolated in its work. The congre-gation supported the brethren in Judea, an expansion of the early-church practice of selling possessions to support those who had need (Acts 11:29). We see in this action that the work of the church should be cooperative. Finally, under the direc-tion of the Holy Spirit they commissioned Paul and Barnabas to depart and take the gospel to new places in obedience to Jesus’ great commission (13:2).

65

STARTING A NEW CHURCH

As we open new churches in today’s cities, we, like Paul, should seek to adopt the DNA of the Jerusalem church. Remember, a church is not a building. City church plants may take many different forms—they may be house churches or cell churches or even traditionally organized churches. What these churches should have in common are the characteristics of a healthy body of believers. Our churches should be habitual in the apostles’ doctrine, fellowship, breaking break, prayers, and praising God. Like the Antioch church, we should be working to-gether toward unity out of our Spirit-provided gifts, coming to the relief of those in need and supporting the vision of the world church at large. Finally, through discipleship and mentoring, we should be training and equipping our members for the growth of the kingdom.

Now that we’ve discussed the five functional structures of the Ephesus Model, we will turn our attention to the daily life of those who ministered in Ephesus.

67

CHAPTER 7

INSTRUMENTS OF THE VISION

God has clearly issued a call to city ministry. By closely examining the Ephe-sus Model, we’ve seen how Paul and the early disciples responded to God’s call and were blessed by a harvest of new believers. This commission re-

mains the same for us today, and God still promises harvest for our work. In the words of Ellen White, “There is no change in the messages that God has sent in the past. The work in the cities is the essential work for this time. When the cities are worked as God would have them, the result will be the setting in operation of a mighty movement such as we have not yet witnessed” (Medical Ministry, 304).

The reason the Ephesus Model is important—why we need an organized, ef-ficient, repeatable biblical model for evangelizing our cities—is that today’s cities are a massive mission field. To gain an idea of the scope of this mission field, let’s examine the following words of Ellen White: “In every large city there should be corps of organized, well-disciplined workers; not merely one or two, but scores should be set to work. But the perplexing question is yet unsolved, how they will be sustained” (Medical Ministry, 300).

What did she mean by large city? A brief analysis of the cities she refers to as “large” in her writings reveals that some—for example Portland, Maine, and Oakland, California—had a population in the fifty to sixty thousand range. If we use fifty thousand as our population baseline, the US Census Bureau counts about 760 “large” cities in the United States alone (at the time of this publication), and the number increases each year.

Ellen White adds that in each large city, “scores should be set to work.” Score is an old word for twenty, so the plural form in this sentence—scores—represents

68

THE EPHESUS MODEL

forty workers at a minimum. If we were to have forty workers in each of those 760 “large” cities, the call would be for 30,400 organized, well-disciplined workers in the United States alone. This number is a bare minimum that doesn’t take into ac-count the fact that many of today’s largest cities have populations far greater than fifty thousand and that those cities would require many more laborers.

This is an enormous vision when we cast it over the world stage. Yet the enormity of the vision should not prevent us from starting the work. A vision this large drives us back to the notion of total dependence on the workings of God, and we should praise the Lord for that. “We must press our petitions to the Lord and do our best, pressing forward with all the energy possible to make an opening in the large cities. Had we in the past worked after the Lord’s plans, many lights would be shining brightly that are going out” (Medical Ministry, 301, 302). We can move forward knowing He will direct our path. We can, by faith in Him, fully anticipate that the vision will become a reality, just as it did for Paul in Ephesus.

We are to work “after the Lord’s plans,” which is like having a blueprint. God not only asks us to do a work, but He also tells us how to do it. If we are obedient regarding both—we set out to reach the cities, and we do it according to God’s plan—then, Ellen White declares, “the result will be the setting in operation of a mighty movement such as we have not yet witnessed” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, November 17, 1910).

Despite the great efforts of Ellen White to communicate the “essential” work of city ministry, the church slumbered—and perhaps slumbers still. It is import-ant to ask ourselves what bars our way to city ministry, both in a corporate or structural sense and at a personal level.

Corporately, our ability to move forward in city mission work hinges on lead-ership opening the way and removing the stumbling blocks that we have erected in our path. We can see this in the following statements Ellen White made about reaching cities through medical missionary work:

Cannot our conference presidents open the way for the students in our schools to engage in this line of labor? Again and again it has been pre-sented to me that “there should be companies organized and educated most thoroughly to work as nurses, as evangelists, as ministers, as can-vassers, as gospel students, to perfect a character after divine similitude.” There is a grand work to be done in relieving suffering humanity, and through the labors of students who are receiving an education and train-ing to become efficient medical missionaries the people living in many

69

INSTRUMENTS OF THE VISION

cities may become acquainted with the truths of the third angel’s message (Counsels on Health, 541).

In order to be carried forward aright, the medical missionary work needs talent. It requires strong, willing hands, and wise, discriminating man-agement. But can this be while those in responsible places—presidents of conferences and ministers—bar the way?

The Lord says to the presidents of conferences and to other influ-ential brethren: “Remove the stumbling blocks that have been placed before the people” (Testimonies for the Church, 8:71).

It seems clear that Ellen White is calling for a change in methodology. Our cur-rent approaches aren’t working, and if we truly desire to correct them, we need to begin with an honest assessment of why they aren’t working. Fortunately, Ellen White also provides counsel as to what the corporate “stumbling blocks” in the way of city ministry may be: “I have been shown that in our labor for the enlight-enment of the people in the large cities the work has not been as well organized or the methods of labor as efficient as in other churches that have not the great light we regard as so essential. Why is this? Because so many of our laborers have been those who love to preach (and many who were not thoroughly qualified to preach were set at work), and a large share of the labor has been put forth in preaching” (Medical Ministry, 301).

The first step toward opening the way to city ministry is having an organized and efficient plan that is connected to a clear global vision for city ministry. Too often our individual church programming seems autonomous and disconnected from a global vision. Without a uniting vision, these programs become unfocused and either fade in their early phases or die altogether.

Another problem clarified in this counsel is that we emphasize some spiritual gifts over others. As we have attempted to demonstrate through our overview of Paul’s approach to city ministry, it is important to incorporate a wide variety of spiritual gifts and talents into the gospel work. However, our tendency is to place too much empha-sis on preaching and consequently neglect other important spiritual gifts.

Ultimately, these two stumbling blocks lead to inefficient methods and a nar-row approach toward city ministry. God clearly does not desire that one aspect of missionary work be overemphasized at the expense of others. In fact, Ellen White outlines a three-pronged approach to mission work in general. Three types of ministries that should work together in concert always: gospel ministry, medical missionary ministry, and publication ministry. She advises, “God works by means

70

THE EPHESUS MODEL

of instruments, or second causes. He uses the gospel ministry, medical missionary work, and the publications containing present truth to impress hearts. All are made effectual by means of faith. As the truth is heard or read, the Holy Spirit sends it home to those who hear and read with an earnest desire to know what is right. The gospel ministry, medical missionary work, and our publications are God’s agencies. One is not to supersede the other” (Letter 55, 1903).

Of note is the statement that “one is not to supersede the other.” In other words, all three need to be in place and are of equal importance for the ministry to be most effective. In the next three chapters, we will more closely examine these agencies—gospel ministry, medical ministry, and publication ministry—to artic-ulate clear definitions of what each is and how each best functions in a contem-porary urban setting.

Before we move on to defining these ministry agencies, we need to take a look at a second set of stumbling blocks that often bars the way to ministry: our per-sonal stumbling blocks. Too often our human nature—our unbelief and our self-ishness—becomes the deficit that impedes the furthering of the gospel message.

When we perceive obstacles to God’s work, often these are simply manifestations of our own unbelief. As the children of Israel were on the very borders of the land that God had promised them, they sent ahead a group of their most qualified men to gath-er information. Two different reports came back. The majority saw the walled cities and giants as insurmountable obstacles and advised against going up against them. But two men, Joshua and Caleb, saw something different: an opportunity. They saw the glorious home that God had promised to them, and their counsel was, “Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it” (Numbers 13:30).

These twelve men were confronted with the same set of evidence, yet a single element drove them to separate conclusions—faith, or lack of it. Two of the men believed in the promise and plan of God, while the others floundered in their unbelief. Obstacles will persist until faith removes them. God’s promise to us is clear: “Let not unbelief come in; for God’s work is to go from city to city, from country to country. The plans of the enemies of God may be laid to defeat His work; but have faith that Jehovah will remove all obstructions to its progress. Talk faith, work in faith, and advance in faith. Obstacles will be removed as we lay hold of the promises of God. Let the Lord’s people go forward, and their hearts will be made strong” (Medical Ministry, 335).

But perhaps the core issue that keeps the work of ministry from flourishing is a matter of our hearts—our human selfishness. Ellen White warns us of this problem: “If one entering upon this work chooses the least self-sacrificing part, contenting himself with preaching, and leaving the work of personal ministry for someone else,

71

INSTRUMENTS OF THE VISION

his labors will not be acceptable to God” (The Acts of the Apostles, 527).A change of heart and a change in the way we do things are each part of the

prescription. In this book, we are suggesting ways to reform our methods and ap-proach, but it’s important to remember that only Jesus can change a heart. Only His love can supplant our selfish natures. The vision begins in you.

73

CHAPTER 8

THE GOSPEL MINISTRY

In the previous chapter, we observed from the counsel of Ellen White that there should be a three-pronged approach in city ministry. The individual components of this approach are gospel ministry, publication ministry (litera-

ture evangelism), and medical missionary ministry. In this chapter, we will begin by investigating the gospel ministry.

First, we need to clarify that this chapter addresses how to minister the gospel and is not an attempt to define the gospel itself. Having a clear concept of the gospel is essential to proclaiming it, and often there are disagreements as to what the good news actually is. But the purpose of this chapter is not to address those debates. Instead, we aim to define the mechanisms by which the gospel is minis-tered to those who are unaware of the truth about God.

What is the gospel ministry? Defining the term can be a challenge because of the broadness of its application. Consider these quotes from counsel:

“To take people right where they are, whatever their position, whatever their condition, and help them in every way possible, this is gospel ministry” (Medical Ministry, 238).

“The work of the gospel ministry is the sowing of the seed” (Manuscript 7, 1900).“The gospel ministry is an organization for the proclamation of the truth and

the carrying forward of the work for sick and well” (Counsels for the Church, 309).“The work of the gospel ministry is not to decrease in efficiency, but is to

increase until it becomes the great enlightening agency in our world. Everything possible should be done to send more laborers into the field” (Letter 123, 1900).

“The gospel ministry is to be supported by self-denial and sacrifice” (The Faith I Live By, 309).

74

THE EPHESUS MODEL

From Scripture we distill three main themes that indicate how the gospel can be successfully delivered. The first is that we are to deliver the gospel by going. The second is that we are to deliver it through personal ministry—discipleship and mentoring. And finally, we are to deliver the gospel through corporate ministry—the unity of diverse spiritual gifts working in harmony for the kingdom.

The gospel ministry begins with a need for people who will go. This is clear in Jesus’ final instructions to His followers on how to carry out the gospel work: “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” (Matthew 28:19, 20).

Our first instruction is that we must go! While this doesn’t mean that every believer must pick up and move to a far-off land, it’s apparent that this call is directed at every disciple of Jesus. What we need to realize is that the call to go involves more than sending willing individuals to foreign lands. It speaks to a mindset that should be ingrained in every believer. We should not be content to let other people do the “going.” It should be our desire, whatever station or stage of life we find ourselves in, to participate in the going. In other words, all God’s people are to be to missionaries wherever they settle.

Traditionally we think of missionaries as people who are called to foreign fields. They go somewhere else. However, the act of going should be more broadly understood. It means going to people, not simply to places. No matter where we are, people surrounding us have not heard the good news. Any person who shares the gospel with another is practicing the act of going. We may go one town over, across town to another neighborhood, or even simply go across the street. The im-portant thing is to have a mindset and desire to share the good news about Jesus. It is our privilege to be the initiators of the gospel invitation via the power of the Holy Spirit. So we must go, even if it’s just next door.

In fact, counsel suggests that this type of “going” within our own neighbor-hoods should be an organizational strategy of gospel ministry, that families should settle in places built upon the desire to be missionaries:

It is not the purpose of God that His people should colonize or settle together in large communities. The disciples of Christ are His represen-tatives upon the earth, and God designs that they shall be scattered all over the country, in the towns, cities, and villages, as lights amidst the darkness of the world. They are to be missionaries for God, by their faith and works testifying to the near approach of the coming Saviour.

75

THE GOSPEL MINISTRY

The lay members of our churches can accomplish a work which, as yet, they have scarcely begun. None should move into new places merely for the sake of worldly advantage; but where there is an opening to obtain a livelihood, let families that are well grounded in the truth enter, one or two families in a place, to work as missionaries. They should feel a love for souls, a burden of labor for them, and should make it a study how to bring them into the truth. They can distribute our publications, hold meetings in their homes, become acquainted with their neighbors, and invite them to come to these meetings. Thus, they can let their light shine in good works (Counsels for the Church, 61).

A problem today is that rather than going, we have a habit of asking people to come to us. In fact, this approach has been built into the fabric of much of our pro-gramming. We ask people to come to our informational meetings instead of going and showing them how good God is by addressing their needs. The reason we ask people to come is that going involves risk. It exposes us and tests our faith. Going involves leaving behind everything that is not essential, and we resist that level of sacri-fice and uncertainty. We are comfortable where we are. Yet the very sacrifice of leaving some thing, some one, some place, or some idea behind is what makes ministry more effective and successful when we go. It is a challenge, but we should be comforted by the fact that we do not go alone: “God invests with holy dignity those who go forth farther and still farther, in every place to which it is possible to obtain entrance. Satan will make the work as difficult as possible, but divine power will attend all truehearted workers. Guided by our heavenly Father’s hand, let us go forward, improving every opportunity to extend the work of God” (Counsels on Health, 394).

The second method of gospel delivery is personal ministry. Remember that in Jesus’ great commission, the second imperative was that His followers were to “make disciples of all the nations” (Matthew 28:19). Those first disciples of Christ were called to a gospel ministry of succession, that is to say, they were to find and make new disciples to do the same work that they were called to do. The entire commission of Jesus is bound by these two directives: (1) we are to go and make disciples, and (2) we are to continue to do it until the end of the age. This is a lifelong venture for all who are Christ’s servants. We must always be seeking for the next disciple. “ ‘As for Me,’ says the LORD, ‘this is My covenant with them: My Spirit who is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your descendants, nor from the mouth of your descendants’ descendants,’ says the LORD, ‘from this time and forevermore’ ” (Isaiah 59:21, NKJV).

76

THE EPHESUS MODEL

In our chapter on discipleship, we learned that the primary method of mak-ing disciples is through a mentoring relationship. The success of the whole com-mission is built upon personal ministry and sacrifice. To mentor someone is to in-vest yourself in them. It is not a casual relationship built solely upon the notion of information exchange. Instead, mentoring is a consistent partnership of faithful, biblical guidance and demonstration of a Christ-like character until the student becomes the teacher.

It is imperative, as we exhibit a Christ-like character through personal min-istry, that we continue to demonstrate a desire and willingness to go. If those we mentor don’t see these actions in us, the attitude and spirit of going is not likely to become a reality in them. To put this in terms of pastoral ministry, if the pastor is not continuing to go he cannot expect that to become the DNA of those he is mentoring in his congregation. This responsibility extends to the highest ad-ministrative levels. Ellen White wrote, “I am charged to wake up the watchmen. The end of all things is at hand. Now is the accepted time. Let our ministers and presidents of conferences exercise their tact and skill in presenting the truth before large numbers of people in our cities” (Evangelism, 71).

Leaders must always act upon that which needs to be emulated. Yet it is also clear they should not be expected to act alone:

The cause of God in the earth today is in need of living representatives of Bible truth. The ordained ministers alone are not equal to the task of warning the great cities. God is calling not only upon ministers, but also upon physicians, nurses, colporteurs, Bible workers, and other con-secrated laymen of varied talent who have a knowledge of the word of God and who know the power of His grace, to consider the needs of the unwarned cities. Time is rapidly passing, and there is much to be done. Every agency must be set in operation, that present opportunities may be wisely improved (The Acts of the Apostles, 158, 159).

This brings us to the final method of gospel ministry: it should be a corporate ministry, delivered through a unity of diverse spiritual gifts. A wide scope of jobs falls under the banner of gospel ministry, each one contributing in vital ways to the whole. In our work in Allentown, administrators, evangelists, pastors, missionaries, Bible workers, and teachers (to name a few) are collectively involved in advancing the gospel ministry. This practice is consistent with biblical teaching on the interdependence of spiritual gifts in the body of Christ: “And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers” (Ephesians 4:11).

77

THE GOSPEL MINISTRY

The work of each part is important to the success of the whole. This is vital to remember in a world plagued by so many lines of division. The interconnect-edness, or unity, of spiritual gifts is what God has designed to be our greatest tool for winning souls. The greatest validation of the gospel is its power to change lives and bring unity where there once was division.

In this book, we have been examining the Ephesus Model as a biblical ap-proach to urban ministry. Part of the reason we believe in the Ephesus Model as a successful framework for urban mission is that it addresses each of these ways of delivering the gospel ministry. We have discussed the importance of going to cities and establishing Urban Centers of Influence and new church plants in the neighborhoods of the people we want to reach. We discussed the importance of personal ministry in the context of mentoring the Discipleship Group and Leader-ship Trainees. And we’ve discussed the need for corporate ministry, or a Leadership Team with diverse spiritual gifts working in concert.

We have discovered that this method was successful in Ephesus, but what proof is there that it is a repeatable model? We have historical examples of efforts that bear striking similarities to the Ephesus Model, and each has led to successful ministries.

The first such example is the work of Stephen and Hetty Haskell in New York City, which we will discuss at length in a later chapter. Another was the “beehive” in San Francisco in the early 1900s in response to an appeal made by Ellen White:

There is a work to be done in California—a work that has been strangely neglected. Let this work be delayed no longer. As doors open for the presentation of truth, let us be ready to enter. Some work has been done in the large city of San Francisco, but as we study the field we see plainly that only a beginning has been made. As soon as possible, well-organized efforts should be put forth in different sections of this city, and also in Oak-land. The wickedness of San Francisco is not realized. Our work in this city must broaden and deepen. God sees in it many souls to be saved . . .

Where are the working forces? Men and women who are thoroughly converted, men and women of discernment and keen foresight, should act as directors. Good judgment must be exercised in employing persons to do this special work—persons who love God and who walk before Him in all humility, persons who will be effective agencies in God’s hand for the accomplishment of the object He has in view—the uplifting and saving of human beings (Counsels on Health, 549, 550, emphasis supplied).

78

THE EPHESUS MODEL

The “well-organized” work that Ellen White called for, under the leadership of dedicated “directors,” evolved into the following mission work:

During the past few years the “beehive” in San Francisco has been indeed a busy one. Many lines of Christian effort have been carried forward by our brethren and sisters there. These included visiting the sick and desti-tute, finding homes for orphans and work for the unemployed, nursing the sick, and teaching the truth from house to house, distributing litera-ture, and conducting classes on healthful living and the care of the sick. A school for the children has been conducted in the basement of the La-guna Street meetinghouse. For a time, a workingman’s home and medical mission was maintained. On Market Street, near the city hall, there were treatment rooms, operated as a branch of the St. Helena Sanitarium. In the same locality was a health-food store. Nearer the center of the city, not far from the Call building, was conducted a vegetarian cafe, which was open six days in the week and entirely closed on the Sabbath. Along the waterfront, ship mission work was carried on. At various times our ministers conducted meetings in large halls in the city. Thus the warning message was given by many (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 5, 1906).

If we were to summarize the effort in San Francisco we cannot ignore the obvious similarities to the model Paul used in Ephesus:

• They were led by directors and administrators (Leadership Team)• They worked as a team to share the gospel truth (Discipleship)• They opened Urban Centers of Influence, including a school for chil-

dren, “treatment rooms” or clinics, and a vegetarian café.

And again, we can see that the “beehive” phenomenon applied Ellen White’s three-pronged approach to ministry, taking advantage of all three agencies of deliv-ery: (1) they were “teaching the truth from house to house” and participating in public evangelism in large city halls (gospel ministry); (2) they were “distributing literature” (publication ministry); and (3) they were engaged in several medical missionary ministries, including visiting and caring for the sick and teaching health classes.

In San Francisco, this team of workers called for and implemented a citywide plan that contained the mission structures of the Ephesus Model. We point this out simply to emphasize that God does have a plan that, if followed, will bring success.

79

THE GOSPEL MINISTRY

But in order to have a plan that works—in order to be successful and aggres-sive in our efforts to reach today’s cities—we cannot stress enough the importance of unity of purpose and mission among the churches already located and working in an area. Ellen White emphasized the importance of this in a letter written to Stephen Haskell regarding his city work: “A determined effort must be made to unify our churches in New York and the surrounding cities. This can be done, and it must be done if aggressive warfare in New York is successfully carried forward” (Evangelism, 388).

Unity is never the easiest task. Our own local churches are sometimes sepa-rated by conference and language lines that can become self-imposed barriers to a united effort.

With so great a task in front of us and so many potential obstacles in the way, it’s natural for us to question, as Paul did, “Who is sufficient for these things?” (2 Corinthians 2:16).

Along with that question, Paul reminds us of two foundational truths to which we can hold fast. The first is that in our humanity we are insufficient: “Not that we are sufficient of ourselves to think anything as of ourselves” (3:5a). The second truth is that “our sufficiency is of God” (v. 5b), as He gently reminds us that His “grace is sufficient” (12:9). We are not sufficient to the task, but God is. And He is willing to fill us with Himself.

81

CHAPTER 9

LITERATURE EVANGELISM

We have been considering three agencies—gospel ministry, publication ministry, and medical missionary ministry—that are God’s tools for revealing the gospel to the world, and we have learned that these three

agencies should work in concert with one another. In the previous chapter, we examined the first agency, gospel ministry. Now we will take a closer look at the second: publication ministry, or literature evangelism.

According to counsel, “The canvassing work is a most successful way of saving souls” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, June 2, 1903). Saving souls should always be our primary concern, and in the past this counsel was taken to heart. Publication ministry was a strong partner in our evangelistic efforts. However, even in Ellen White’s day she saw a diminishing emphasis begin to creep in: “The importance of the canvassing work is kept ever before me. This work has not of late had the spirit and life infused into it that were once given by the leading agents who made it a specialty” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, January 22, 1901). This may be even more evident today than it was then.

Paul, it should be noted, was himself a literature evangelist. He used letters to exhort and encourage the churches that he helped to establish. He wrote these letters and sent them by one of his co-workers, such as Timothy or Titus, to be delivered to a particular congregation, sometimes with the instruction to share the letter with other churches as well. Some of these letters eventually came to form the greater part of the New Testament canon, making Paul the greatest literature evangelist ever.

It is clear that historically, literature evangelism has played an important role in ministry efforts, and it remains an important cog in our commission to proclaim the gospel message to today’s cities. This agency enables us to cast a broader net in the task of saving souls. Not every person will come to a church or

82

THE EPHESUS MODEL

a series of evangelistic meetings to hear the gospel. Modern literature work allows us to deliver God’s messages into the hands of these people, who also desperately need to hear them: “Our publications can go to places where meetings cannot be held. In such places the faithful evangelistic canvasser takes the place of the living preacher” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, October 7, 1902).

At the heart of our literature evangelism should be the hope found with-in the good news of the third angel’s message and Jesus’ soon return. Millions have very little to no knowledge of our Lord and His return or the salvation and grace that He has abundantly offered to us. They need to be warned and invited to receive the free gift of our Lord’s salvation. This makes the work of literature evangelism more vital today than ever: “The destroying angels are today executing their commission. Death will come in all places. This is why I am so anxious for our cities to be warned. There is a work to be done by canvassing in our cities that has not yet been done. . . . The blessing of God rests on the workers who warn those that are unready to meet him. . . . Now is our time to work” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, July 5, 1906).

If we accept the premise that literature evangelism is a vital part of our three-pronged ministry approach, the next question to ask is, What should it look like in our modern world? Publication ministry is composed of many lines of work coming together for one purpose, including but not limited to writers, editors, publishers, distributors, and canvassers. Ellen White provides abundant counsel about the im-portance of this work in publications such as Colporteur Ministry, Counsels to Writers and Editors, Gospel Workers, Manual for Canvassers, The Publishing Ministry, and others. In general, most of this counsel is directed toward the primary purpose of using the printed word to put God’s truth into the hands and homes of the people we encounter. This is what we traditionally call literature evangelism.

However, if we want our work to reach its full potential in today’s world, we should consider the changes in society and in technology that might affect our ap-proach. While many people still love to have an actual book or pamphlet in their hands, more and more are using e-readers, smartphones, computers, and tablets to read. For our literature work to be at peak efficacy we must adapt it to fit the changing reality of how people consume information.

Additionally, it is important to note that literature evangelism is challenged by the population’s reading habits and deficiencies. Consider the following statistics for the United States (US):

• 15–20 percent of the population (estimated) have learning disorders• 50 percent of adults read at below eighth grade level

83

LITERATURE EVANGELISM

• 26 percent of adults did not read a book in the past year• 14 percent of adults cannot read at all

(US National Institutes of Health, the National Center for Learning Disabilities, the National Center for Learning Statistics, Pew Research Center).

Not only do we have the obstacle of illiteracy, but also we live in the audio-visual Internet age. The decline of the daily newspaper is evidence that people are choosing to receive information through alternative media. It is critical for us to have audio and visual gospel literature available to meet this growing sociological shift. Many who are unlikely to read a book will watch a DVD or listen to a podcast. We need to develop a library of materials in our Urban Centers of Influence that correspond with how people get their information.

We should also consider social media outlets to be an exciting new means whereby people can become exposed to God’s Word. Facebook, Twitter, and other social networks are ingrained in popular culture and can be used as avenues to put truth into people’s hands and homes. Churches are beginning to discover the usefulness of these outlets, as well as other modern forms of communication. They are using group text messaging for ministries to en-hance communication and to build and sustain close communities, especially among youth.

Technology and social media can be invaluable tools for encouraging, teach-ing, and growing your Discipleship Group. These outlets can also be used to stay connected to people within the influence range of your Urban Center of Influ-ence. Inspirational messages, like Bible texts or encouraging personal remarks, are only part of what can be delivered through these media. We should be looking for innovative and creative ways to use the technology and media outlets that already permeate many people’s lives as tools for literature evangelism.

What makes texting and social media such powerful avenues for literature evangelism is their accessibility and immediate influence. An example that il-lustrates the point is a 2013 study at Duke University in North Carolina, which found that daily texting is an effective way to help women develop better health habits and weight control. Each morning a group of fifty women received an automated text saying, “Please text yesterday’s # of steps you walked, # of sugary drinks and if you ate fast food.” Based upon their responses, information and tips would be texted back. After six months, the text recipients had lost 1.25 kg (about three pounds), on average. On the other hand, a group of twenty-four women who tracked their health habits in more traditional ways gained an average of 1.15 kg (2.5 pounds) over the six months. According to the study’s authors, texting

84

THE EPHESUS MODEL

seems to have been effective for weight control because it was more accessible and not as mentally taxing as other methods of tracking health.

This study provides an example of another important piece of the ministry puzzle: how we can blend the different avenues of ministry in our three-pronged approach. Remember that gospel ministry, publication ministry, and medical ministry are of equal importance. These avenues are most effective when we find ways to integrate them to further the gospel. The Duke University study shows how medical missionary work combined with literature evangelism can deliver through the medium of texting.

Ellen White recognized the synergistic effect of blending these three avenues of ministry. She wrote, “By diligence in canvassing, by faithfully presenting to the peo-ple the cross of Calvary, the canvasser doubles his powers of usefulness” (Colporteur Evangelist, 88). Here we see that when the gospel ministry is blended into the can-vassing work, its effectiveness doubles. Additionally, she counsels that “canvassers should never forget that they are to make earnest efforts to do medical missionary work” (Colporteur Ministry, 90), and “wherever the canvassing work is presented among our people, . . . both the health books and the religious books [should] be presented together as parts of a united work” (Colporteur Evangelist, 71).

God’s chosen agencies must be perfectly blended in every way for the work to have its greatest potency. It follows logically then that our preparation and training should include all three disciplines. If we train in only one modality, there will be, no doubt, some measure of success. However, if we train across all three modalities, our success will be multiplied. It therefore makes sense for our training schools to implement curricula to that end. It also makes sense that we make efforts in our daily labor to conscientiously implement elements of each in our ministries.

At Simplicity we are trying to blend all three ministry agencies in all of our ac-tivities. As an example, we create Sabbath sermons that incorporate all three. First, we choose topics relevant to those who are joining us from the community and make sure to include a medical missionary appeal. So if, for instance, our topic is worry, we might talk about how it affects our bodies and our overall health. We then present the ways that the gospel is the answer to all of life’s needs and prob-lems. We discuss how God desires to transform us in all aspects of our lives and make an appeal to our listeners to receive the life-changing power of God’s grace. We conclude by providing all of our information on a handout that our attendees can take home to review—the literature evangelism component.

Literature evangelism should be an essential part of all ministry efforts. At our urban center of influence in Allentown, we’ve found it equally important that traditional literature is available and distributed and that new methods of pub-

85

LITERATURE EVANGELISM

lication ministry are being developed using today’s technology and social media outlets. Traditional canvassing still works in today’s world; nationwide, thousands of books are being sold and distributed into homes each year. Canvassing also emphasizes the door-to-door aspect of ministry—of going to where people are—that we’ve found to be critical in an urban setting. And beyond this, canvassing programs are a great training mechanism for young people to be mentored and developed into leaders.

One of the children who attends many activities at our center, a ten-year-old girl, asked to be allowed to go out with a team member on a Bible study. After she went, she was excited about the experience and asked if she could go again. On her own initiative she went to school the next week with her Bible and some literature. She asked her teacher if she would like to know what she was learning in church. The teacher said yes, looked at the literature, and asked the girl if she could get another piece of literature about having a happy marriage. The girl came back to the center very excited to pick up the requested material, and she delivered that marriage pamphlet to her teacher the next day. A few days later she approached her teacher and asked how she liked the material. Her teacher not only liked the pamphlet but also asked for another about how Jesus saves us. This is an example of how even a child can be effective in this work.

The written word has been and always will be an especially effective method for sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Technology has supplied us with new tools capable of doing things and reaching people in ways previously unimagined. Capi-talizing on these opportunities affords us new and creative avenues for proclaiming the gospel. Whether it be ink on paper or electronic impulses, we should still seek to “cast [our] bread upon the waters” (Ecclesiastes 11:1). The rest is up to God.

87

CHAPTER 10

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES

The final agency of gospel delivery in the three-pronged approach we’ve been discussing is medical missionary ministry. At first glance, this term may seem self-explanatory. Too often, though, the term has been misun-

derstood, leading us to underutilize this powerful avenue of ministry when, in fact, counsel suggests that medical missionary work will become more and more important. Consider the following statement made by Ellen White: “I wish to tell you that soon there will be no work done in ministerial lines but medical mission-ary work” (Counsels on Health, 533).

That is a prophetic statement—one that both projects forward in time and predicts a specific change in the character of the church’s work in that future pe-riod. Work in “ministerial lines” is destined to become one singular line that Ellen White calls “medical missionary work.” While it is impossible to pinpoint exactly when this shift will occur, it remains important to try to understand why this change might happen and what might precipitate it.

We can interpret the nature of this shift in two main ways. One possibil-ity is that a time will come when all other ministerial work will be shut down by world circumstances, leaving medical missionary work as the only channel through which we will be able to minister. A second possibility is that all ministe-rial work will be so seamlessly merged with the medical missionary work that they will become indistinguishable as separate entities. That is to say, they become one blended work. Our position is that this second view is more consistent with other very strong statements from Ellen White on this issue: “No line is to be drawn between the genuine medical missionary work and the gospel ministry. These two must blend. They are not to stand apart as separate lines of work. They are to be joined in an inseparable union, even as the hand is joined to the body” (A Call to

88

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Medical Evangelism and Health Education, 44, emphasis supplied). She also writes: “Medical missionary work is in no case to be divorced from the gospel ministry. The Lord has specified that the two shall be as closely connected as the arm is with the body. Without this union neither part of the work is complete. The medical missionary work is the gospel in illustration” (Counsels on Health, 524).

This seamless blending of ministry apparently was still in the future when Ellen White wrote these things. The fact that she made these statements implies a tension and separation between the different lines, a great concern to Ellen White at that time: “My brethren, the Lord calls for unity, for oneness. We are to be one in the faith. I want to tell you that when the gospel ministers and the medical missionary workers are not united, there is placed on our churches the worst evil that can be placed there. Our medical missionaries ought to be interested in the work of our conferences, and our conference workers ought to be as much interested in the work of our medical missionaries” (Sermons and Talks, 1:347, emphasis supplied).

We’ve already stressed the importance of unity in carrying out God’s work, and here we see it brought to the forefront again. In fact, moving away from that unity is described as “the worst evil.” Yet Ellen White saw a discord between gospel ministry and medical missionary ministry, which led to a second problem: the church was not enthusiastically engaging in medical missionary work as it should. “Medical missionary work is the pioneer work. It is to be connected with the gos-pel ministry. It is the gospel in practice, the gospel practically carried out. I have been made so sorry to see that our people have not taken hold of this work as they should” (Counsels on Health, 532).

These challenges not only persist but are even more pronounced today. The divisions between gospel ministry and medical missionary work have widened. Medical missionary work has been to a large degree lost or ignored by many of our churches, a great loss to the Lord’s work: “This branch of the Lord’s work has not received due attention, and through this neglect much has been lost” (Christian Temperance and Bible Hygiene, 121).

Perhaps the reason for the neglect of medical missionary work is that this work is still vastly misunderstood. We need an intelligent understanding of the basic tenets of medical missionary work and how it can be intentionally used in connection with the delivery of the gospel. “God grant that the importance of medical missionary work shall be understood, and that new fields may be imme-diately entered” (Medical Ministry, 239).

First, we need to understand what the term medical missionary work really means. It has multiple applications that can pertain to our city work today. The most obvious of these definitions is “healing the sick.” Christ’s ministry

89

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES

was filled with fantastic stories of His miraculous healing work. As He traveled from place to place, sick and diseased people would crowd about Him hoping for restoration and health: “And the people . . . followed him: and he received them, and spake unto them of the kingdom of God, and healed them that had need of healing” (Luke 9:11).

For many who had no other expectation for healing, Jesus was the only hope. Notice in the verse that Jesus’ pattern of ministry was to relieve suffering and teach people about the ways of His kingdom. He would address both their physical needs and their emotional or spiritual needs, and He would share the good news with them. These two elements were never separated in His ministry. He gained access to their minds and hearts by His compassionate care for their well-being. That was also the pattern that He taught His disciples to practice. When He sent out the twelve, He told them to “preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils: freely ye have received, freely give” (Matthew 10:7, 8).

In Ephesus, Paul followed Jesus’ example in a fantastic way: “From his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them” (Acts 19:12). At the same time, Paul preached the kingdom of heaven as he worked in the city (20:25). What we see in all of these examples is an unmistakable connection between the healing ministry and the gospel ministry. Jesus practiced this connection and taught His disciples to do the same. Paul followed the example in his city ministry as well. This same method is prescribed for us today: “Christ’s servants are to follow His example. As He went from place to place, He comforted the suffering and healed the sick. Then He placed before them the great truths in regard to His kingdom. This is the work of His followers” (Christ’s Object Lessons, 233, 234).

The medical work of Jesus and His disciples was miraculous in nature, and it’s difficult to imagine a parallel today that would have the same impact of opening hearts to the gospel. But the basis for Jesus’ medical missionary work is one we can follow today: to relieve suffering and share the gospel. The impera-tive remains for the advancement of the kingdom, even if the execution of it is significantly different in our world today, where the gift of miraculous healing seems to be in short supply.

Fortunately, we’ve been provided with an abundance of counsel in the writ-ings of Ellen White on how to continue Jesus’ pattern of medical missionary work coupled with gospel ministry work, including The Ministry of Healing, Counsels on Diet and Foods, Counsels on Health, Temperance, and articles in Testimonies for the Church. By studying that counsel, we can find a blueprint for how to deliver the

90

THE EPHESUS MODEL

medical ministry of Christ in our time. In brief, medical missionary work in cities today is to follow this progression laid out in the past:

• Schools were to be established to train medical missionaries.• Venues were to be opened for educating the world by those missionaries

(churches, schools, missions, urban centers of influence).• Restaurants and other centers were to follow to practically illustrate the

education delivered.• Treatment rooms or medical missions were to be opened to act as feeders

to sanitariums.• Sanitariums were to be opened near every large city.

Christ’s modern church is to deliver His healing ministry through these channels. Every branch of medical missionary work is to be implemented with the same sin-gular purpose of opening people’s hearts to the gospel by relieving their suffering. The intention for sharing the gospel is to be built into the framework of every line of medical missionary work.

To some extent, the Adventist church has followed this blueprint by creating wonderful institutions for health-care delivery all over the world. But where we often encounter a challenge is in maintaining the gospel intention within those facilities and their practices. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we should exist solely for the purpose of seeking and saving the lost, both on a personal level and on an institutional level. Sharing the gospel should be the primary objective in all of the church’s extensions. We should be asking ourselves continually whether we’re connecting the gospel ministry in tangible ways to every work we do, and if there is fruit resulting from our labor. The key to understanding the goal of our medical missionary work today is this: “We are to do all in our power for the healing of the body; but we are to make the healing of the soul of far greater importance. Those who come to our sanitariums as patients are to be shown the way of salvation, that they may repent, and hear the words, Thy sins are forgiven thee; go in peace and sin no more” (Counsels on Health, 272).

We cannot let physical healing become separated from the more important task of healing the soul. If we don’t give primary significance to the greater work, our motivation of reaching souls for Christ will be replaced by something else. We may become motivated by philanthropy, morphing into a humanitarian en-tity with little gospel intent or none at all. In that case, the “healing of the body” has become more important than the “healing of the soul.” Or we might begin to operate our institutions based solely upon business models with commercial

91

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES

goals, and only a nominal nod to a church connection. In this case, our focus would be on maintenance and expansion, forgetting that the healing of the soul is of far greater importance than profits and should be the ultimate reason for the existence of the institutions.

Recently, we participated in an evaluation of one of our corporate health min-istry institutions. The process involved assessing current programs with regard to efficacy and gospel potential. While each program was undoubtedly a value to the community at large, we could not trace a plan for intentional gospel delivery and subsequent discipleship. We couldn’t answer questions like “How does this lead someone to Christ?” or “What is the deliberate discipleship path?” We must be vigilant to keep these questions in our minds as we develop comprehensive health ministries, or our city work loses the very purpose for which it was intended.

As we have already pointed out, no lines of division should separate medical missionary ministry and gospel ministry. The very fabric of our corporate activity should be that we directly and purposefully lead people to Jesus through our med-ical ministries, no matter how large an institution grows to be.

Physically healing the sick through corporate institutions is only the begin-ning of medical missionary work. As we have mentioned, the term “medical mis-sionary work” has a broader definition and is a far more expansive concept than we sometimes realize. Consider the following quote:

There is a work to be done by our churches that few have any idea of. “I was hungered,” Christ says, “and ye gave me meat; I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink; I was a stranger, and ye took me in; naked, and ye clothed me; I was sick, and ye visited me; I was in prison, and ye came unto me.” We shall have to give of our means to support laborers in the harvest field, and we shall rejoice in the sheaves gathered in. But while this is right, there is a work, as yet untouched, that must be done. The mission of Christ was to heal the sick, encourage the hopeless, bind up the brokenhearted. This work of restoration is to be carried on among the needy, suffering ones of humanity. God calls not only for your benevolence, but your cheerful countenance, your hopeful words, the grasp of your hand. Relieve some of God’s afflicted ones. Some are sick, and hope has departed. Bring back the sunlight to them. There are souls who have lost their courage; speak to them, pray for them. There are those who need the bread of life. Read to them from the Word of God. There is a soul sickness no balm can reach, no medicine heal. Pray for these, and bring them to Jesus Christ. And in all your work, Christ

92

THE EPHESUS MODEL

will be present to make impressions upon human hearts. This is the kind of medical missionary work to be done. Bring the sun-

shine of the Sun of Righteousness into the room of the sick and suffering. Teach the inmates of the poor homes how to cook. “He shall feed his flock like a shepherd,” with temporal and spiritual food (A Call to Medi-cal Evangelism and Health Education, 23, emphasis supplied).

Powerful words indeed! God calls for “your cheerful countenance, your hopeful words, the grasp of your hand.” This expands our understanding of medical minis-try from a corporate responsibility to an individual commitment, from only heal-ing the sick to also comforting those in need in ways that are beyond the physical. “Medical missionary work brings to humanity the gospel of release from suffering” (A Call to Medical Evangelism and Health Education, 7, emphasis supplied). We should bring healing to others in our everyday encounters, as we are filled with compassion and kindness instead of indifference and criticism. We must recog-nize the suffering in our neighbors rather than be internally focused on our own issues. Such a work can only begin when we recognize how God has been gracious and compassionate toward us.

We should always remember “that one soul saved in the kingdom of God is worth more than ten thousand worlds like this” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, April 1, 1880, emphasis supplied). When we have the mind of Christ, we are able to see people with that same appreciation and desire for their restoration. The gospel within us changes how we think of the people we encounter every day.

In today’s cities, many are struggling to obtain life’s basic necessities, like food and clothing or a place to live. Some are sick and rarely see the outside of their homes. Many are poor and don’t have the means to make changes, and they don’t make the best decisions with what they have. People are lonely and dejected. Some are bound by wounds to their heart, and others’ souls are held captive in Satan’s possession. Herein lies the work of the medical missionary: to seek those worn out by the circumstances of life and the effects of sin and to offer relief. That is exactly what Jesus did.

In Allentown, we’ve seen God at work in many ways. As one example, the team was able to minister to a couple in great need. They had become homeless after the wife fell ill and her husband decided to care for her. A few of the young adults on our team began interacting with them in the shelter where they were living. Our team members brought the couple healthful food and began walking with them. Sadly, the wife took a turn for the worse. Her toes blackened from her diabetes, and she was scheduled for surgery to have some of them removed. On the morning of her surgery, a few members from the team prayed with her

93

MEDICAL MISSIONARIES

and anointed her for healing. After she arrived at the hospital, they tested her one last time and found the circulation in her toes to be adequate. The amputation procedure was canceled. Praise the Lord!

God works in whatever ways He chooses; we need only to be willing to ask and then be content with His plans. Sometimes the miraculous is as obvious as the experience we described above. At other times, healing occurs through the hard work of lifestyle change. In both ways God is glorified. This is the work that Seventh-day Adventists have been called to in these last days. Are you willing to take that call?

95

CHAPTER 11

SEARCHING FOR A CITY MINISTRY MODEL

As we have seen, the Bible presents us with a working model for city ministry from Paul’s example. Thus we have called this plan the Ephesus Model. It is fair to ask at this point whether a more contemporary example of the

model is available for us to examine. The answer is yes. In this chapter we will look at historical examples of city ministry conducted by the church in response to a persistent call that Ellen White made for more work in the cities. In particular, we will examine Stephen Haskell’s work in New York City and compare it to the Ephesus Model.

One of the earliest calls concerning the church’s need to work in the cities came to Ellen White in a dream in 1874:

I dreamed that several of our brethren were in council, considering plans of labor for this season. They thought it best not to enter the large cities, but to begin work in small places, remote from the cities; here they would meet less opposition from the clergy, and would avoid great expense. . . .

One of dignity and authority—One who is present in all our council meetings—was listening with deepest interest to every word. He spoke with deliberation and perfect assurance. “The whole world,” He said, “is God’s great vineyard. The cities and villages constitute a part of that vineyard. These must be worked” (Evangelism, 41).

Over the next four decades, with increasing passion, she called time and time again for a more determined effort to evangelize the cities. Shortly before her

96

THE EPHESUS MODEL

death in 1915 she penned the following: “The burden of our cities has rested so heavily upon me that it has sometimes seemed that I should die” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Nov. 17, 1910).

It should be noted that her appeals did not go entirely unheeded. But before we examine the church’s response to her call, we need to consider the magnitude of the task that the church was facing.

The Industrial Revolution began in Britain around 1760 and spread to other parts of the world through the mid-1800s. It transformed countries from agrarian societies to industrial ones. This shift prompted a migration from rural to city liv-ing as people went in search of jobs. An examination of United States census data for the period between 1870 and 1920, the time when Ellen White was repeatedly calling for a more concerted effort in the cities, confirms a major movement of people from country living to city life.

Population US New York Urban Rural1870 38,558,371 942,292 26% 74%1880 50,189,209 1,206,299 28% 72%1890 62,979,766 1,515,301 35% 65%1900 76,212,168 3,437,202 40% 60%1910 92,228,496 4,766,883 46% 54%1920 106,021,537 5,620,048 51% 49%2010 308,745,538 8,175,133 80.7% 19.3%

Compiled from US Census Data

By the time of Ellen White’s death in 1915, the population distribution had vastly shifted. Half of the population was by then living in urban clusters. The church’s man-date to spread the gospel no longer applied simply to foreign missions; it was also faced with the task of addressing the rapidly growing mission fields in the cities of America.

Today the numbers are even more staggering. The last US census at the time of this publication reported that urban areas contained about 250 million people, representing 80 percent of the population. Rural areas, on the other hand, had about 60 million people, only 20 percent of the population. This is a complete inversion of the demographics that existed at the time Ellen White began urging the church to focus its efforts on the cities.

The task may seem more daunting today, but “with God all things are possi-ble” (Mark 10:27).

As we have mentioned, the church did not let Ellen White’s counsel go entire-ly unheeded. From 1870 to 1915, various individuals took up the call to reach the

97

SEARCHING FOR A CITY MINISTRY MODEL

cities as the church searched for a model for urban ministry. One of the important leaders in that development was Stephen Haskell.

In 1870 Elder Haskell organized the first Tract and Missionary Society and subsequently organized similar societies in various parts of the eastern United States. Adventist historian Gary Land writes, “Haskell proposed using the tract and missionary societies to establish permanent missions in urban areas” (Histor-ical Dictionary of Seventh-day Adventists, 64).

“These were not welfare missions for the down and out but forerunners of the modern evangelistic centers primarily focusing in on literature evangelism” (Ella Robinson, S. N. Haskell: Man of Action, 67).

Those missions “provided living quarters for the workers and a center for colporteur evangelism, Bible studies, and small public meetings, and it served to train lay workers.” As converts gathered, “a church would be organized.” “The typical Seventh-day Adventist city mission of the 1880’s conducted a school for the special training of house-to-house Bible instructors.” They were “launched with the hope that it would cost the conference little or nothing.” “However, these missions rarely proved self-supporting” (ibid.).

With a good start in the 1870s, the church began to publish reports on the progress of the missions in the 1880s. Writes Ivan Warden, “In the 1880s the Sev-enth-day Adventist Church placed a high priority on city missions in the United States. The General Conference published an annual report on city mission from 1885 through 1899. In 1886 the report indicated there were 36 missions, em-ploying a total of 102 denominational workers, and training 224 lay members as interns and trainees” (“Ellen G. White Speaks on Urban Ministries”).

However, problems of repeatability and sustainability began to surface. “Although the missions helped to establish Adventism in urban areas, they proved too expensive to operate and few lasted in the 1890s” (Land, Historical Dictionary, 64).

This led to a rebranding effort in an attempt to maintain a viable program: “At the 1889 General Conference Session it was recommended that the name ‘city mission’ be dropped, since it was misunderstood by the public.” The name for missions was changed to “Canvassing Stations with Bible instructors working along with the colporteurs” (Robinson, S. N. Haskell, 67).

In addition, the welfare notion of ministry entered into the mission work. At the same time “during the 1890s many city missions (welfare missions) were operated for the poor” (ibid.).

Another significant component of the model came from the work of Dr. John Harvey Kellogg in 1893. He initiated and sponsored a medical missionary project

98

THE EPHESUS MODEL

in Chicago that included “a medical dispensary and visiting nurse program, free baths, free laundry, and a one-cent lunch. In 1896 the mission purchased an old church which it established as a ‘Workingman’s Home’ that provided sleeping ac-commodations, bath and laundry facilities, and meals. Temporary work, including rug weaving and broom making, was available to the unemployed so that they could cover their expenses at the home.” “Kellogg also acquired another building” that amongst other things “served as a settlement house which offered such services as a free kindergarten and daycare for the children of working mothers, classes in cook-ing and sewing, health lectures, and a maternity home for unwed mothers” (Land, Historical Dictionary, 57). Here we can see the fullness of the medical mission-ary work in action, from life-needs ministries to medical care. People were being cared for regardless of their station in life.

Unfortunately, Dr. Kellogg decided to shift the focus away from the church, by changing the definition of the work. He declared his effort to be “ ‘undenomi-national, and unsectarian, and purely charitable, benevolent, Christian and philan-thropic,’ ” according to Lena Sadler (“Early Days in the Rescue Work”). In effect, he was trying to amputate the right arm of the gospel (medical missionary work) from the pronouncement of the third angel’s message uniquely entrusted to the church, despite clear counsel from Ellen White not to do so. She wrote,

Medical missionary work is not to be carried forward as something apart from the work of the gospel ministry. The Lord’s people are to be one. There is to be no separation in His work. Time and means are being ab-sorbed in a work which is carried forward too earnestly in one direction. The Lord has not appointed this. He sent out His twelve apostles and afterward the seventy to preach the Word to the people, and He gave them power to heal the sick and to cast out devils in his name. The two lines of work must not be separated. Satan will invent every possible scheme to separate those whom God is seeking to make one. We must not be misled by his devices. The medical missionary work is to be connected with the work of the third angel’s message, as the hand is connected with the body; and the education of students in medical missionary lines is not complete unless they are trained to work in connection with the church and the ministry” (Counsels on Health, 557, emphasis supplied).

Here we must stop and recognize the important value the medical missionary work added to the model for city ministry. There is always the temptation, as in

99

SEARCHING FOR A CITY MINISTRY MODEL

the case of Dr. Kellogg, to continue only in the part of the plan we are most com-fortable with. History reveals this to be a narrow-minded mistake.

Finally, as the twentieth century dawned, the lessons of the previous three decades began to coalesce in a concerted effort in the heart of the nation’s preeminent urban environment—New York City. The man chosen by the Lord to lead out in the effort was none other than the seasoned warrior Stephen N. Haskell. Ellen White said,

The Lord presented before me the way in which the work should be car-ried on in our large cities. I was instructed by the Lord that Elder Haskell, who has a wide experience, should open up the work in New York upon correct plans, commencing missionary work after the Lord’s order. Let no man interpose himself to block Elder Haskell’s way. His work can be hindered, but God forbid that it should be. Clear the way for the aged servant of the Lord. Help him all you can. Do not allow meetings to be held where they will draw people away from the very interest which the Lord desires to see advanced, that souls may be won to Christ (Manu-script Releases 4, 313, emphasis supplied).

It is quite clear from her statement that the Lord had a particular plan for accom-plishing His purposes with respect to the cities. It is also clear that Haskell was the person suited and chosen to carry out that plan. Correspondence from Ellen White to Elder Haskell adds extra gravity to the significance of his work in New York: “Brother Haskell, the Lord has given you an opening in New York City, and your mission work there is to be an example of what mission work in other cities should be. You are to show how the work should be carried forward, sowing the seed, and then gathering the harvest. There are those who can unite with you in your labor, engag-ing in the work understandingly, and in full sympathy with you” (Letter 150, 1901, emphasis supplied).

In light of the significance of the work of the Haskells in New York City, we should examine what they did. Elder Haskell used the lessons of the church’s past experience to create a new model for city ministries, which incorporated the successful aspects of previous endeavors. Ella Robinson, one of his biogra-phers, wrote, “Elder Haskell was conducting an evangelistic ‘city mission’ in New York. It was a combination of an evangelistic mission, such had been pop-ular in the 1880s, and a mission among the poor, such as had flourished in the 1890s” (Robinson, S. N. Haskell, 179).

On closer examination we can see how his efforts parallel those of the apostle Paul’s in Ephesus. Although at the time it certainly had not been identified as

100

THE EPHESUS MODEL

such, Elder Haskell was, by and large, using the Ephesus Model.In the summer of 1901, Elder Haskell and his wife rented a sixth-floor apart-

ment at 400 West 57th Street in New York City. They acted as their own Advance Placement Team, selecting the location and initiating the work. Ellen White wrote of the progress:

We are thankful that in Greater New York doors are opening for the truth to find entrance in many hearts. Elder Haskell and wife are of good courage in the Lord. Certainly they have a grand opening. Before El-der Haskell’s special effort was begun, there were some good workers in Greater New York. But until Elder Haskell and wife went there, the way was not fully opened. Brother and Sister Haskell began their effort quietly in some of the immense blocks in the city, doing house-to-house work. This is as it should be. Already a good company has been raised up (Manuscript Releases 4, 300).

Mrs. Haskell reported, “All our rooms are light and airy” and that “all open on the street and have full sunshine.” She went on to note that there were “56 apart-ments in their building and that they had begun their gospel work in their own and adjoining buildings by selling books and giving Bible studies and providing practical medical instruction and care” (George Knight, “Adventists in the City,” nadministerial.org).

Mrs. Haskell’s note is quite informative because it indicates that they had incorporated all three of God’s agencies—literature evangelism, gospel ministry, and medical ministry—into their work right from the start.

The next order of business for the Haskells was to gather a team of experi-enced workers about them to aid in the effort. This was their Leadership Team, the second element in the Ephesus Model. Ellen White wrote to them, “You must select as helpers men who can carry the work forward solidly and thor-oughly, laboring for the conversion of the whole being, body, soul, and spirit. A solid foundation, laid upon gospel plans, must be laid for the building up of the church” (Evangelism, 385). “Brother Haskell, as you engage in the work in New York [City], you should have the help of the best workers that can be secured” (Manuscript Releases 7, 394).

As the work continued to flourish, the next component, an Urban Center of Influence, was founded. Through all the years of Adventism’s various attempts at finding effective methodologies for city ministries, the mission (Urban Center of Influence) remained at the forefront. Ellen White continually emphasized the

101

SEARCHING FOR A CITY MINISTRY MODEL

importance of establishing them: “Missions are essential as the foundation of mis-sionary effort in our cities” (General Conference Daily Bulletin, February 6, 1893). “This is the work that should be done today. Missions should be established, not merely in one or two cities in America, but in many localities. The buildings should be as inexpensive as possible. It is not expensive buildings that give charac-ter to our work; it is the spirit manifested by workers who show that they have the co-operation of the Holy Spirit. This gives power to their influence, and character to the work” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, August 15, 1899).

In her advice to Brother Haskell she called for the establishment of a center and articulated the prime reason for their existence: “Your work in New York has been started in right lines. You are to make in New York a center for missionary effort, from which work can be carried forward successfully. The Lord desires this center to be a training school for workers, and nothing is to be allowed to inter-rupt the work. After the people have embraced the truth and taken their stand, then the Lord will prepare them to be educated for the full reception of Bible truth” (Evangelism, 385, emphasis supplied).

The objective is clear. The center (mission), like Paul’s school of Tyrannus, is to be a place where new converts are trained and mentored by those with more experience. They form a Discipleship Group from which church plants can be established. A. W. Spalding summarizes Haskell’s work succinctly:

[He] who had captained a diverse corps of workers in the country’s me-tropolis, set forth a plan for the comprehensive and well-articulated city campaign. It contained the following . . . : That house-to-house literature work be conducted, opening doors for Bible studies by competent in-structors; that health service and education be given through vegetarian restaurants, hydropathic treatment rooms, and lectures; that when the groundwork had been sufficiently done, there follow evangelistic meet-ings; that all these workers be united, and so far as feasible resident, in a central worker’s school, in charge of the director of the city work (Origin and History of Seventh-day Adventists 3:114).

This is a dynamic picture of the Ephesus Model at work. It is not an ivory tower approach. It is a day-to-day, boots-on-the-ground presence in a community with the intent of being the hands, feet, and voice of Jesus, meeting needs where needs can be met, relieving suffering when possible, and appealing to hearts to be recon-ciled to their Father in heaven.

One challenge Stephen Haskell faced that Paul did not have to deal with in

102

THE EPHESUS MODEL

his day was the issue of unity among already existing churches in the field. Ellen White counseled, “A determined effort must be made to unify our churches in New York and the surrounding cities. This can be done, and it must be done if aggressive warfare in New York is successfully carried forward” (Letter 154, 1901).This challenge still haunts us today, and we must be willing to address it if we are to ensure success in our efforts. Nothing is more confusing or more damaging to a new believer than to be drawn into turf wars or “family squabbles” over minor issues. Unity is the hallmark of the Trinity and therefore should be reflected in the people of God. We have to do a better job as a people on this matter.

Another particular concern to Elder Haskell was that the model be sustain-able. As we have seen, this had been a problem for the church in the past. Elder Haskell’s approach was to create, as far as possible, a self-supporting enterprise. “[Elder Haskell] was sure that he could succeed in carrying out the original plan of making the city mission self-supporting, or largely so. He would make it an ex-perimental station for devising methods by which this could be done” (Robinson, S. N. Haskell, 180).

Sustainability is simply another way of expressing the notion of funding: How do we pay for it? It is the question that by and large remains the preeminent chal-lenge for conducting city ministry today. It is no secret that most self-supporting endeavors fail because ultimately they can’t support themselves. The problem may be that we have a misconception of what self-supporting means. We will address this idea and the issue of funding in the next two chapters.

In summary, Haskell’s model for city work contained the following elements:

• A plan—a comprehensive and well-articulated city campaign (Advance Placement work)

• A diverse corps (Leadership Group) of workers• Implementation of the three agencies:

º Literature evangelism—house-to-house literature distribution º Gospel ministry—Bible studies by competent instructors º Medical missionary work—health services and education

• A mission (Urban Center of Influence) • Welfare ministry for the poor• Ministry to the wealthy and influential• Training of new believers/lay workers (Discipleship Group)• Plans for establishing a memorial for God (a new group of believers in a

church plant)• Public reaping meetings—evangelism

103

SEARCHING FOR A CITY MINISTRY MODEL

• Making the city mission self-supporting, repeatable, and sustainable• Unified churches in the field.

This is in essence the Ephesus Model. It is incredibly important that all of the parts function together according to God’s clear instruction. It is God’s plan. We have seen it revealed biblically in the ministry of Paul, we have seen it confirmed in the counsel of the Spirit of Prophecy, and finally we have seen it emerge through ef-forts of dedicated servants in the church itself. We are therefore left without excuse.

You may ask why this methodology is so compelling to us. The answer is simple. If we recall the quote that is our clarion call to work the cities, the reason becomes clear: “When the cities are worked as God would have them, the result will be the setting in operation of a mighty movement such as we have not yet witnessed” (Medical Ministry, 304).

Let’s break down the quote:

• “When” looks to the future. It is a prophetic statement with an implicit suggestion that this will happen. The cities will be reached.

• “as God would have them” suggests that God has a plan. God has always had a plan. He is simply waiting for a people who are willing to implement it.

• “the result” is that God’s plan guarantees success. • “setting in operation” is a phrase that means commence, establish,

launch, or maintain. It is like a catalyst that starts a chemical reaction.• “a mighty movement” is how Ellen White saw that movement:

The angel who unites in the proclamation of the third angel’s message is to lighten the whole earth with his glory. A work of world-wide extent and unwonted power is here foretold. The Advent movement of 1840-44 was a glorious manifestation of the power of God; the first angel’s message was carried to every missionary station in the world, and in some countries, there was the greatest religious interest which has been witnessed in any land since the Reformation of the sixteenth century; but these are to be far exceeded by the mighty movement under the last warning of the third angel (The Great Controversy, 611, emphasis supplied).

Simply put, the work of reaching the cities precipitates the events that culmi-nate in the coming of Jesus. And at the risk of sounding self-serving—we want to see Jesus come.

105

CHAPTER 12

THE DEVIL DOESN’T SLEEP

As we reviewed Paul’s missionary journeys in chapter 2, one consistent theme was the opposition that Paul and his companions seemed to meet at every turn. We shouldn’t be surprised that Satan is still organizing to suppress the

work of the gospel in the cities today. Remember that when this work is conducted according to God’s plan, it will be the catalyst of a mighty movement. The devil is intent on stopping God’s work before it can take hold. We can learn much about the opposition we should expect to encounter from Paul’s experience in Ephesus, where Satan used four specific methods to oppose God’s work:

• opposition from competing belief systems • opposition from the demonic • opposition from culture• opposition from within the community of believers

As we began to set up our city work in Allentown, we found these to be the same methods of opposition Satan still employs. Satan is a defeated foe, but he is not an idle one. As we engage in spiritual warfare for souls, we should take time to become aware of Satan’s tactics to help us prepare and to avoid discouragement when the opposition inevitably comes our way. By examining Paul’s experience in Ephesus, we can see how he and his Leadership Team met and faced each of these challenges to the gospel work there.

1. Opposition from competing belief systems. One of the first forms of opposition Paul met in Ephesus was from a competing belief system, in that case Judaism. Early in his ministry in the city “he went into the synagogue and spoke boldly for three months, reasoning and persuading concerning the things of the

106

THE EPHESUS MODEL

kingdom of God. But . . . some were hardened and did not believe, but spoke evil of the Way before the multitude” (Acts 19:8, 9).

These incidents occurred in the synagogue, a place where people came be-cause they professed to believe in God. Paul’s intent was to share the good news of Jesus with people who had been waiting for the Messiah’s coming. This seemed the logical place to begin his ministry. However, the gospel has always been and will always be a polarizing element. Some who hear will believe, while others are offended. And according to the text, those who did not believe opposed the good news. They “spoke evil of the Way before the multitude.” In other words, some in the crowd had hearts so hardened to the gospel that they became active, vocal adversaries to Paul’s preaching. Paul experienced this type of opposition not only in Ephesus but almost every place he preached.

We can expect to experience the same opposition today. We had just such an experience as young teachers of the Word. In the midst of one of our presentations, a listener stood and began to speak of the team’s supposed hidden agendas and questioned our spiritual understanding in front of our listening audience. It was devastating in the moment, because it caused great harm. Half of our attendees left. But those who remained saw that we were letting the Bible speak for itself. The ones who stayed were encouraged and continued to study together for nearly a year.

When we experience this kind of opposition, we tend to take the rejection personally and our feelings can get hurt, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Taking rejection of the gospel personally means that we understand what is at stake and that our hearts are broken for the people who reject the truth. Re-membering that it is actually Jesus who is being rejected, and not us, does not necessarily make things easier. Rejection of what—or Whom—you represent is no easier to accept than rejection of what you say. But we need to be careful to avoid letting our own egos become involved in the process, lest resentment and bitterness take root in our hearts.

We have not been called to be accountable for the response of others to the gospel. We are called to share it and show it, and then to allow the Holy Spirit to do the convincing in the hearts of those who hear and see. This is what Paul did with great energy throughout his ministry. He was all things to all men so that he could save some. He lived among people who needed to hear, mingling with them and meeting their needs, always hopeful and ready for the opportunity to share the truth of Jesus.

Another challenge we may face is the prejudice against our work that often arises from denominational insecurities. Leaders from other church denomina-tions in our area of influence might not want their congregations exposed to our

107

THE DEVIL DOESN’T SLEEP

ministry. Sometimes it is because they don’t want to lose their influence. They may not know about or understand what we believe, or they simply reject it, and as a result they oppose what we’re doing.

This type of opposition can come in many forms. For example, we tried to rent a space in a church where the congregation had stopped meeting because of low attendance. The board members who were in charge of leasing the space wanted to rent it to ministries with a desire to work in the neighborhood. We applied and were rejected without explanation. The more effective our ministry has become in the neighborhood, the more we meet with these kinds of challenges. However, we have also had opportunities to do good work with other church organizations in the surrounding area, with leaders who felt that God had sent us to help. We’ve been able to collaborate with these groups to provide homeless ministries, food bank resources, and children’s ministries.

2. Opposition from the demonic. Another roadblock Paul encountered in Ephesus was opposition from the demonic: he faced evil spirits. The Bible says that God worked through Paul to cast out these evil spirits. The book of Acts pro-vides a description of the spiritual warfare that took place there:

Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We ad-jure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth. And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so. And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye? And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded. And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified. And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds. Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver. So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed (19:13–20).

What an interesting group Paul confronted—vagabond Jewish exorcists. Their motives are vague, but we can surmise a few things. According to the text, they adjured or charged the evil spirit directly “by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.” These Jews were attempting to use the name of Jesus as an abracadabra-like magic word to cast out the demon. They were using His name but lacked belief in the

108

THE EPHESUS MODEL

One whose name it was. Sorcery such as this was forbidden by the laws of Moses on penalty of death (Deuteronomy 18:10–12), and yet these men were drawn to this work. We can’t know their motives for sure; perhaps they were intent on receiving power and influence. We do know they were dallying with forces they didn’t understand. An evil spirit answered their charge and said, “Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?” What followed was astonishing. The spirit rebuked the would-be exorcists, and the man possessed by this spirit “leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded” (Acts 19:16).

Soon, news of this incident spread across Ephesus. It became clear that the name of Jesus was to be honored because in Him is all power and authority in heaven and earth. Many became believers and confessed their sins publicly, and some even started a new life by burning their books of magic. Contrary to Satan’s plans, this incident caused the work of God to grow mightily.

We too should expect to encounter Satan’s forces as we move into the cities to do Christ’s work. Satan has been working ahead of us to oppose the work of Christ. There is every reason to think that the spiritual realm is as active today as it was in Bible times. We can anticipate meeting people who are directly under Satan’s influence. We have had such encounters and know them to be disruptive and painful. Satan intends to use them to sow the seeds of fear and discouragement, to slow the progress of the work, or cause us to abandon it altogether.

When we act in the name of Jesus Christ, heaven is honored and lives are turned around and changed. Satan has no power when Jesus is present, and changed lives are the evidence of the power of God in action. When the work of Christ, through Paul, was observed alongside the work of the vagabond exorcists, the people of Ephesus saw a clear difference, believed, and acted on their belief.

3. Opposition from the culture. A third form of opposition Paul encoun-tered in Ephesus was opposition stemming from cultural influences. Christianity has a modifying effect on the culture, one that not everyone will be happy or comfortable with. Pushback is inevitable.

In Ephesus, cultural opposition was led by a silversmith named Demetrius, who made his living selling idols of the goddess Diana to the people of Ephesus and in the cities beyond (vv. 23–29). After examining his balance sheet and realizing that his earnings were significantly less than in previous years, Demetrius called all the other idol makers together for a union meeting. His argument was that the idol-making business had slowed as a direct result of the teachings of Paul and his disciples. Part of Paul’s message was that their idols weren’t really gods, that in fact nothing made by the hand of man was a god. According to Demetrius, these teach-

109

THE DEVIL DOESN’T SLEEP

ings were endangering their livelihoods. And he added another argument against Paul. If people continued to become Christians, the temple of Diana would no longer be honored and would lose its influence, an influence that was worldwide.

At that time, Ephesus was the capital of the Roman province of Asia. It was a great commercial port, making it an ideal place for people from all over the world to come and do business. At the heart of the city’s renown was its famous temple to the goddess Diana, one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. The histo-rian Pliny recorded the length of that temple at 425 feet and the width at 225 feet, an enormous marble structure with 127 columns, each 60 feet in height, support-ing a roof that was as big as a soccer field (Pliny the Elder, Natural History).

Another historian, Antipater of Sidon, wrote, “I have set eyes on the wall of lofty Babylon on which is a road for chariots, and the statue of Zeus by the Al-pheus, and the hanging gardens, and the colossus of the Sun, and the huge labour of the high pyramids, and the vast tomb of Mausolus; but when I saw the house of Artemis that mounted to the clouds, those other marvels lost their brilliancy, and I said, ‘Lo, apart from Olympus, the Sun never looked on aught so grand’ ” (Antipater, Greek Anthology, IX.58).

Ephesus’ economy was linked to the cultic worship of Diana. It attracted people from all over the world, who brought great riches into the local coffers. A large number of priests and priestesses lived in the temple in order to manage its affairs and carry out its practices. The values and behaviors of Diana worship had become accepted cultural norms, including:

• Temple prostitution (sexual promiscuity)• Magic and sorcery (spiritualism)• Refuge for criminals regardless of crime (lawlessness)• Worship of nature • Abortion• Central control of money • Influence over commerce and trade

Our modern Western culture embraces many of the same values as those of the citizens of Ephesus. Demetrius was correct when he said that the gospel poses a threat to such cultural norms, because it frees people from the tyranny that sin holds over their lives. But not everyone wants to be free. Jesus warned of this type of reaction during His dialog with Nicodemus: “And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does

110

THE EPHESUS MODEL

not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed” (John 3:19, 20, NKJV).Demetrius argued that Diana was being robbed of her great prestige, but he

was most upset about his loss of income. He wanted Diana worship to continue as the norm so that he could continue to get rich from idol sales. The influence of Paul and his disciples was beginning to have a direct effect on the culture around him and, more important, the economy.

The company of believers who met in the school of Tyrannus was an inharmonious note in the festive chorus, and ridicule, reproach, and in-sult were freely heaped upon them. Paul’s labors had given the heathen worship a telling blow, in consequence of which there was a perceptible falling off in the attendance at the national festival and in the enthusiasm of the worshipers. The influence of his teachings extended far beyond the actual converts to the faith. Many who had not openly accepted the new doctrines became so far enlightened as to lose all confidence in their heathen gods (The Acts of the Apostles, 292).

What is the contemporary application of this story as we work the cities to-day? As we have already stated, today’s culture shares many of the same values and dynamics that Diana worshipers held. As we preach the gospel, we should expect to encounter a similar aversion to our work for many of the same reasons. People will oppose us because their lives are affected directly or indirectly by our message.

4. Opposition from within. The final opposition in the Ephesus story comes by way of a warning Paul gave during his final meeting with the leaders of the church at Ephesus: “For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:29, 30, NKJV).

This text describes a two-part assault on the church, aimed at diminishing the influence of both leadership and the gospel itself. The first assault, characterized as “grievous wolves,” comes from the outside in. Jesus also spoke of such opposition:

Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves: be ye therefore wise as serpents, and harmless as doves. But beware of men: for they will deliver you up to the councils, and they will scourge you in their syna-gogues; And ye shall be brought before governors and kings for my sake, for a testimony against them and the Gentiles. But when they deliver you up, take no thought how or what ye shall speak: for it shall be given you in that same hour what ye shall speak. For it is not ye that speak, but the

111

THE DEVIL DOESN’T SLEEP

Spirit of your Father which speaketh in you. And the brother shall deliver up the brother to death, and the father the child: and the children shall rise up against their parents, and cause them to be put to death (Matthew 10:16–21).

These wolves are intent on destroying the flock. Though they may disguise themselves as our friends, or as “sheep,” this façade masks their true nature. We need to be wise and perceptive in our interactions; their fruit will reveal their true motives. The first verse describes them as “false prophets,” suggesting that they claim to speak on behalf of God but that what they say about God is actually a misrepresentation of who He is.

False prophets often direct their attacks at the existing leadership. Their teach-ings involve convoluted arguments that undermine the simplicity of the gospel. A prime distinguishing fruit of false prophets is a disregard for the principle of unity in the body of Christ. They make their own theories, ideas, or perceived rights into the paramount issues, regardless of their impact on the church body. They do not spare the flock. When we encounter this type of opposition, we should be careful to be “wise as serpents” and yet “harmless as doves.” Ellen White counseled:

These false prophets will have to be met. They will make an effort to deceive many, by leading them to accept false theories. Many scriptures will be misapplied in such a way that deceptive theories will apparently be based upon the words that God has spoken. Precious truth will be ap-propriated to substantiate and establish error. These false prophets, who claim to be taught of God, will take beautiful scriptures that have been given to adorn the truth, and will use them as a robe of righteousness to cover false and dangerous theories. And even some of those who, in times past, the Lord has honored, will depart so far from the truth as to advocate misleading theories regarding many phases of truth, including the sanctuary question (Manuscript 11, 1906).

While false prophets bring opposition from the outside in, a second branch of opposition originates from within the body: “Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them” (Acts 20:30).

Satan used this same method of recruiting in heaven. The danger in this type of opposition lies in its subtlety—it is often masked as pretended concern, or in whispers generated from unconverted hearts. Ellen White wrote, “The greatest harm to God’s people comes through those who go out from among them speak-

112

THE EPHESUS MODEL

ing perverse things. Through them the way of truth is evil spoken of” (Testimonies for the Church, 5:291). Clothed in a righteousness of their own making, these counterfeit disciples distort and pervert the truth of the gospel, usually in the name of maintaining orthodoxy, until it’s no longer the good news. They neglect fruit such as love and mercy, causing great damage to the body of Christ:

This will surely be seen among the people of God, and there will be those who are unable to perceive the most wonderful and important truths for this time, truths which are essential for their own safety and salvation, while matters that are in comparison as the merest atoms, matters in which there is scarcely a grain of truth, are dwelt upon and are magnified by the power of Satan so that they appear of the utmost importance. The moral sight of these men is diseased; they do not feel their need of the heavenly anointing that they may discern spiritual things. They think themselves too wise to err” (Medical Ministry, 98).

At the Simplicity mission in Allentown, some of our greatest discouragements have been initiated by criticisms from the brethren within the fold. In most in-stances, these critics are uninformed yet speak antagonistically about the ministry, regardless of the facts. Though we’ve seen in Scripture that both Paul and Jesus warned against this kind of opposition, it’s still hurtful to experience and can be the most difficult of opposition to bear. At the same time, we have to keep in mind that if we are straying from the task God has given to us, then we must be sensitive to His correction. Sometimes this comes in the form of prudent counsel from fellow believers that can adjust our course. It’s important to pray for wis-dom, discernment, and the humility to listen so that we are able to distinguish good counsel from discouragement.

It is evident today that while much of the church is asleep, the devil is not. We should expect to encounter difficulties in our way to slow or halt our work. The challenges range from regulations imposed by local authorities to direct conflict with satanic agencies. But we are encouraged by the promise of our Lord when He said of the church, “The gates of hell shall not prevail against it” (Matthew 16:18).

113

CHAPTER 13

SUSTAINING THE MOVEMENT

Inevitably, any discussion about establishing, staffing, and sustaining an Urban Center of Influence in an urban setting will come to the issue of money. How do we pay for it? In this chapter we will address the financial concerns of de-

veloping and maintaining a viable program for conducting city ministry. To be clear, the cost will be significant. As Ellen White wrote: “It almost

seems as if scarcely anyone dares ask a worker to go into the cities, because of the means that would be required to carry on a strong, solid work. It is true that much means will be required in order to do our duty toward the unwarned in these plac-es; and God desires us to lift our voices and our influence in favor of using means wisely in this special line of effort” (Manuscript 45, 1910, emphasis supplied).

These challenges remain today. Willing workers are difficult to find, and the means to provide for their needs seem to be scarce. But the reward of city mission work far outweighs the cost. It is also a task that our Lord has asked us to do. “Our large cities are to be entered by making beginnings, however small, and then working by faith. The Lord has committed to his followers the work of giving the message of warning, and those who have means should give financial aid. May the Lord move upon hearts to do this” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Feb. 5, 1884). With a plan in hand, we should humbly begin moving forward in faith that God will supply as He has promised.

The first order of business is to begin with the resources we have at hand, however small. This is not a call to forge ahead blindly, accruing debt or being fiscally irresponsible. It is counsel to begin with what we have. Our egos blind us

114

THE EPHESUS MODEL

sometimes to the simple things that lie right in front of us. We want to do great things, but God’s way is to test our faithfulness in the little matters before en-trusting us with larger responsibilities. When, in faith, we address what is within our reach, heaven takes notice. “Shall we not advance in faith, just as if we had thousands of dollars? We do not have half faith enough. Let us act our part in warning these cities. The warning message must come to the people who are ready to perish, unwarned, unsaved. How can we delay? As we advance, the means will come. But we must advance by faith, trusting in the Lord God of Israel” (Evange-lism, 62). Our Lord honors this kind of faith.

The term self-supporting as applied to missions, or Urban Centers of Influence, is somewhat misleading. These ministries are intended to be financially independent, but they will be no more self-supporting than any conference or church is self-supporting. Our churches and conferences remain financially viable because their members sup-port them with their dollars. The same is true of the Urban Center of Influence in the city. We should not fall into the trap of thinking that at some point the center is going to generate revenue streams that will sustain it. Unless we were to turn them into some sort of business, they will always be in need of monetary support from outside sources.

The self-supporting aspect of the plan has to do with the people who work at the center. They support themselves and often contribute portions of their own income to support the center as well. In Ephesus, Paul taught at the school of Tyrannus, spreading the gospel message and training others to do the same. But he also worked as a tentmaker to sustain himself and his co-workers:

Paul sometimes worked night and day, not only for his own support, but that he might assist his fellow laborers. He shared his earnings with Luke, and he helped Timothy. He even suffered hunger at times, that he might relieve the necessities of others. His was an unselfish life. Toward the close of his ministry, on the occasion of his farewell talk to the elders of Ephesus, at Miletus, he could lift up before them his toilworn hands, and say, “I have coveted no man’s silver, or gold, or apparel. Yea, ye yourselves know, that these hands have ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me. I have showed you all things, how that so laboring ye ought to support the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how He said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.” Acts 20:33-36 (The Acts of the Apostles, 352).

Even when our missionaries are self-supporting, there usually remains a sig-nificant expense gap to be bridged in order to keep the center open. Rent, utilities,

115

SUSTAINING THE MOVEMENT

insurance, and other expenses must be met. Sometimes those resources come as Christ’s followers see progress and enthusiastically support the work. Sometimes they come from unanticipated sources. At Simplicity we have experienced both blessings. People have opened their homes for housing; local churches have pro-vided monetary support and housing for the missionaries; people of other faiths have given us large donations; and even businesses have participated in and con-tributed to our work. Each avenue of support has been instrumental in sustaining us and has usually come to us at exactly the right moment. For this we praise God!

“When God’s chosen messengers recognize their responsibility toward the cities, and in the spirit of the Master-worker labor untiringly for the conversion of precious souls, those who are enlightened will desire to give freely of their means to sustain the work done in their behalf ” (Manuscript 45, 1910).

We have also found that, as predicted, those who have joined us from the harvest have been very generous with their time and effort.

All of this should not surprise us; counsel indicates that God has resources stored up in places that we sometimes don’t imagine. People of influence, wealth, and talent stand ready to aid us in His plan to reach the cities. We have listed a few references to support that fact.

• “. . . wealthy men, who have their Lord’s money” (Evangelism, 87).• “Many persons not of our faith will help considerably by their means”

(Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Sept. 30, 1902).• “Those who are in positions of trust, those to whom He has entrusted His

precious gifts, [are] to use their talents of intellect and means in His ser-vice” (Counsels on Health, 551).

• “Some who were once enemies will become valuable helpers, advancing the work with their means and their influence” (Advent Review and Sab-bath Herald, Sept. 30, 1902).

This gives rise to an interesting question: If we accept the premise that the Lord does not suffer from a lack of means, then why do these resources remain largely untapped? As we stated at the beginning of this chapter, funding is a big issue in establishing a center. Why, then, the obvious disconnection? Perhaps the answer lies in the true reason for stewardship.

Jesus pointed out a widow in church who had just placed a very small amount into the offering box—two mites. He turned to the disciples and de-clared the she had contributed more than all the rich people who had made much larger donations. Why? Because they had given from a position of excess,

116

THE EPHESUS MODEL

but the widow gave from the resources of her own need—she gave all she had. Hers was the greater sacrifice.

You see, the amount is insignificant to God; it is the nature of the sacrifice that He is concerned with. We do not win hearts through programs. Hearts are won when people see Jesus in the lives of His followers. No one sacrificed more to become a missionary than did our Master. He gave up all to come to a dying plan-et for our sake. We love Him because He first loved us. When people see that same spirit of sacrifice offered on their behalf, they will be drawn to it, and when God sees that spirit reflected in His people, the storehouses of heaven will be opened.

Ellen White cited how necessary this attitude of church members would be to city work: “My brethren and sisters, your gold and silver is needed to carry the work effectively in the large cities. Will you not deny yourselves of needless things, and use the means thus saved for the progress of the work? The Lord will be pleased to see you moved to acts of self-denial; for thus you will show yourselves laborers together with him at this time when new doors are opening to the mes-sage” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, September 28, 1911).

This is not simply the work for individuals who feel they are called to the task. It is also for the local churches and conferences to which it has been assigned. As individuals, churches, and conferences, we tend to hold onto our silver and gold until there is ample evidence of the possibility of success. No doubt we find great wisdom in prudence; God is certainly not pleased with waste. But if we are acting in faith on the clear promises of God, then success is a given. Additionally, we must always remember that success will demand sacrifice both personal and corporate:

The great cities must be warned; and if you have not surplus means, then it is certainly the duty of some of our brethren to sell and invest means in the different branches of the work. “Lay up for yourselves a treasure in the heavens.” Duty is plain; the selling time has come if means is demanded to advance the cause and work of God and cannot be raised without selling your land and your extra houses. Awaken, brethren, to the call of duty. I see no other way that the light in Chicago and other places can be withdrawn from under the bushel and placed on a candlestick. I appeal to every one in the ranks of Sabbath-keepers to deny self for Christ’s sake. There is earnest work to be done for the Master; and those who have no houses and lands to turn into money, can deny self in various ways, and save means which would have been needlessly expended. Practice temperance in all things. Cut down selfish indulgences at your tables, and dress plainly, with the great and grand object before you of having money to place in the treasury

117

SUSTAINING THE MOVEMENT

of God. You may thus be the means of advancing his cause, enlightening those who are in the darkness of error (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Feb. 10, 1885).

From God’s perspective, the issue of funding is not an issue of scarcity of means. It is an issue of faith, trust, and personal sacrifice in the lives of His professed peo-ple. From our perspective, moving forward is a function of acting on His promises, praying for wisdom and guidance, and giving of ourselves and of our means. That is the nature of the movement. There will be times when you do not know how it will continue. Put it to prayer, re-consecrate yourself and your team, claim the promises of God, be organized and efficient, and in faith boldly move forward.

We have often received unsolicited gifts at Simplicity. One gift we received illustrates God’s faithfulness in these things. We, the authors of this book, are both practicing dentists. Our patients are aware that our vocation, dentistry, is merely a vehicle for our avocation, Jesus Christ. A letter arrived at our office from a patient who had moved away to retire in Florida. She simply said she had decided to put Simplicity in her will. As far as we know, she was not a Christian but was hearing the Holy Spirit nonetheless. A week later, a second letter arrived saying she wanted to start donating with a $5,000 check. God is truly good and worthy of all our praise! This is His plan, and we are His people; He merely waits for us to act.

119

CHAPTER 14

GETTING PRACTICAL

Our purpose in writing this book was to outline a biblical plan for city ministry. We have called that plan the Ephesus Model. In this final chapter we will investigate the need, the mandate, and the

obstacles as Ellen White saw them more than a hundred years ago, when she called for city ministry to begin. Sadly, this call still remains largely unanswered today.

We live in an era when city ministry is more critical than ever before. Multi-tudes in cities are ignorant of a true knowledge of Jesus and need to be reached. The challenges and obstacles in the way of accomplishing that task remain re-markably the same as when Ellen White’s messages were first penned. Ulti-mately, we have some significant questions that need to be answered: How can the church implement a practical, biblically based plan for reaching the cities? What would that plan look like from an application perspective? Who should be responsible for initiating and overseeing that plan? Where are the Pauls to get the process going? And finally, how do we overcome the obstacles that have slowed our progress for so long?

In this chapter, we will make some suggestions in an attempt to cast a vision for initiating a movement that will finally fulfill the task our Lord has asked us to do. We offer the suggestions not as dogma but as an adaptable model to meet the unique needs of each community we serve. We are suggesting that it is time for us to be obedient to the Lord’s request to take the gospel to the masses in a serious way.

We begin with a letter from Ellen White written five years before her death:

120

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Sanitarium, CaliforniaSeptember 16, 1910 To Conference Presidents: During the night of February 27, a representation was given me in which the unworked cities were represented before me as a living reality, and I was plainly instructed that there should be a decided change from past methods of working. For months the situation has been impressed on my mind, and I urge that companies be organized and diligently trained to labor in our important cities. These workers should labor two and two, and from time to time all should meet together to relate their experi-ences, to pray, and to plan how to reach the people quickly, and thus if possible redeem the time.

This is no time to colonize. From city to city the work is to be carried quickly. The light that has been placed under a bushel is to be taken out and placed on a candlestick, that it may give forth light to all that are in the house.

Thousands of people in our cities are left in darkness, and Satan is well pleased with the delay; for this delay gives him opportunity to work in these fields with men of influence to further his plans. Can we now depend upon our men in positions of responsibility to act humbly and nobly do their part? Let the watchmen arouse. Let no one continue to be indifferent to the situation. There should be a thorough awakening among the brethren and sisters in all our churches.

For years the work in the cities has been presented before me and has been urged upon our people. Instruction has been given to open new fields. There has sometimes been a jealous fear lest some one who wished to enter new fields should receive means from the people that they sup-posed was wanted for another work. Some in responsible positions have felt that nothing should be done without their personal knowledge and approval. Therefore efficient workers have been sometimes delayed and hindered, and the carriage wheels of progress in entering new fields have been made to move heavily.

In every large city there should have been a strong force of workers laboring earnestly to warn the people. Had this been undertaken in hu-mility and faith, Christ would have gone before the humble workers and the salvation of God would have been revealed.

121

GETTING PRACTICAL

Let companies now be quickly organized to go out two and two, and labor in the spirit of Christ, following His plans. Even though some Judas may introduce himself into the ranks of the workers, the Lord will care for the work. His angels will go before and prepare the way. Before this time, every large city should have heard the testing message, and thou-sands should have been brought to a knowledge of the truth. Wake up the churches. Take the light from under the bushel.

Where are the men who will work and study and agonize in prayer as did Christ? We are not to confine our efforts to a few places. If they shall persecute you in one city, flee ye to another. Let Christ’s plan be followed. He was ever watching for opportunity to engage in personal labor, ever ready to interest and draw men to a study of the Scriptures. He labored patiently for men who had not an intelligent knowledge of what is truth. While we are not awake to the situation, and while much time is con-sumed in planning how to reach perishing souls, Satan is busy devising and blocking the way.

O, if I could but see the depth of experience coming to our people which they must have before they can enter heaven, then would I be filled with grate-ful thanksgiving to God! I speak to our people, ministers, physicians, and all who profess to believe the truth. A work of thorough conversion needs to be done. Walk in the footsteps of Christ Jesus. Why do we not take heed? The Lord has long waited for us as a people who know the truth, to make that truth known to all possible who will hear and be converted.—Ellen G. White

Ellen White addressed this letter to the conference presidents. We can safely assume that its directives apply first and foremost to our church conferences. In sim-ple terms, a church conference consists of two parts: the leadership, and the laity of local churches. That being the case, this counsel is directed toward the most founda-tional structure of the corporate church organization, the front lines of God’s work.

In order to clarify the key points of Ellen White’s counsel, we will first iden-tify themes repeated through the letter. Then we will analyze the actionable direc-tives that emerge from the letter for addressing those key themes.

Let’s begin by examining the repeated themes.

• The work is to reach the cities. The word city or cities is repeated nine times.• This is a heaven-directed appeal. The following phrases clearly relay

that this was an inspired message:

122

THE EPHESUS MODEL

º “A representation was given me.” º “Unworked cities were represented.” º “I was plainly instructed.” º “For months the situation has been impressed on my mind.” º “For years the work in the cities has been presented before me.” º “Instruction has been given to open new fields.”

• The work has been delayed. The word delay or delayed is repeated three times along with additional phrases conveying the same thought: º “Before this time, every large city should have heard the testing message.” º “The carriage wheels of progress in entering new fields have been

made to move heavily.” º “The Lord has long waited.”

• Internal obstacles delay the work. According to the letter, those obsta-cles include the following: º Incorrect methods. º Lack of organization and training. º Apathy—“light that has been placed under a bushel.” º Competition—“jealous fear” over money. º Control—“some in responsible positions have felt that nothing

should be done without their personal knowledge and approval.” º Delay—“Much time is consumed in planning” instead of doing.

• External obstacles delay the work. Satan actively plans to halt the work in cities: º “Satan is well pleased with the delay; for this delay gives him opportu-

nity to work in these fields with men of influence to further his plans.” º “While we are not awake to the situation, and while much time is

consumed in planning how to reach perishing souls, Satan is busy devising and blocking the way.”

• The condition of the church delays the work. Ellen White repeats that the church needs to “wake up” or “arouse” and that the colonizing and a lack of “thorough conversion” in the church also delay the work.

• A change in methodology is needed. Ellen White emphasizes the church’s need to follow Christ’s plan with the following phrases: º “There should be a decided change from past methods of working.” º “Labor in the spirit of Christ, following His plans.” º A need for “men who will work and study and agonize in prayer as

did Christ.” º “Let Christ’s plan be followed.”

123

GETTING PRACTICAL

• The work should be done quickly. º “Plan how to reach the people quickly.” º “From city to city the work is to be carried quickly.” º “Let companies now be quickly organized to go out two and two,

and labor in the spirit of Christ, following His plans.”

What becomes clear is that God’s work has been much delayed by our own self-imposed obstacles and the inaction of the church. At the same time, Satan furthers his plans to hinder and block our way. We must experience both a change of approach and a change of heart if we are to work quickly and to accomplish heaven’s directive to reach today’s cities.

Now let’s consider the actionable directives or the steps Ellen White called for that could remedy the aforementioned issues in the way of reaching the cities:

• “A work of thorough conversion needs to be done.”• The church must “wake up” and “act humbly and nobly”; “work and

study and agonize in prayer as did Christ.”• We must “open new fields” of ministry and not “confine our efforts to a

few places.”• There should be “a decided change from past methods of working.” “Let

Christ’s plan be followed.”

The fact that this counsel was addressed to the conference presidents means that church leadership is responsible for moving upon the directives within. Change and refocus can be difficult things for conferences to unilaterally em-brace. Ellen White emphasizes that the condition of the church hinders change, that there is a need for “thorough conversion” for the work of God to move for-ward. It remains the leaders’ responsibility to respond to God’s clearly expressed desire. Reflect on this paragraph from Testimonies for the Church:

Now, when the Lord bids us proclaim the message once more with power in the East, when He bids us enter the cities of the East and of the South and of the West and of the North, shall we not respond as one man and do His bidding? Shall we not plan to send our messengers all through these fields and support them liberally? Shall not the ministers of God go into these crowded centers and there lift up their voices in warning the multitudes? What are our conferences for, if not for the carrying forward of this very work? (Testimonies for the Church, 9:98).

124

THE EPHESUS MODEL

It could not be stated more plainly. This is the reason our conferences exist; this is the work they should be doing. We should have no question as to our goal, but rather seek to overcome our impediments and make progress toward the goal God has plainly laid out for us. Ellen White is clearly saying in her letter that the time to take bold and decided steps has come, in spite of the obstacles in our path: “[Since] He bids us enter the cities of the East and of the South and of the West and of the North, shall we not respond as one man and do His bidding?” (Testimonies for the Church, 9:98). By faith, as we encounter those obstacles, both internal and external, we can have full assurance of overcoming them in the power of Jesus.

One internal obstacle that stands in the way of progress in any mission work, as we have already pointed out, is the issue of money. Ellen White’s letter to conference presidents describes it. “There has sometimes been a jealous fear lest someone who wished to enter new fields should receive means from the people that they supposed was wanted for another work” (Medical Ministry, 302).

In our previous chapter, we looked at the ways in which city mission work should be funded. But the question always arises as to how the conferences should distribute their financial resources to the various ministries necessary for the king-dom of heaven to grow and flourish. The conflict that arises is the product of two opposing mindsets concerning how the gospel commission should be fulfilled. They are, in the words of the author, “new field” supporters and “another work” support-ers. In other words, the conflict is over whether to provide monetary support to start new groups of believers, and urban ministries, or to fund existing ones.

The reason this tension sometimes results in conflict is the fear that there is not enough funding to adequately support both types of ministries. Currently, our corporate church is functioning as though that assumption is true. Most conference budgets are strained to meet the financial demands of maintaining the status quo of the organization. That problem, coupled with many congregational factors and current economic trends, has led to institutional decline—fewer schools, camps, and pastors.

Because of this strain, the corporate body often becomes mired in mainte-nance-first thinking. We focus on lending support to existing ministries while hoping that kingdom growth will occur through these structures that already exist. In and of itself, maintenance is not a bad thing. In fact, it’s a necessary function of church life. But if the vast majority of our resources, both financial and human, are directed at simply maintaining what already is, how are we to accomplish the grand work God has laid before us?

The problem with maintenance-first thinking is that when all of our resources are expended to support existing structures, “new field” (or city) work is put in

125

GETTING PRACTICAL

a difficult position. Yet it is critical that we find a way to support this “essential work.” We know that “much means will be required in order to do our duty toward the unwarned in these places” (Evangelism, 42). Currently, much of the funding for city ministries comes from sources outside of local conference bud-gets. In some cases, support is predominantly lay driven.

A maintenance-first approach constrains the potential for an expanding move-ment in more areas than finances. A second problem is that we also use our manpower resources to maintain existing structures. If our manpower is focused on maintenance of existing structures, who is actually going to do the new-field work in cities?

Clearly, conference leadership is faced with the daunting question of how to corporately engage in this new and expensive work to reach the cities and at the same time maintain its existing structures.

At the risk of being greatly misunderstood, we suggest that these constraints are more imagined than real. The problem we face is one of perspective. We need to adjust our vision on what the work is and how it should be accomplished. What adjustment is needed? Consider the following striking passage:

Our people have had great light, and yet much of our ministerial force is exhausted on the churches, in teaching those who should be teachers; enlightening those who should be “the light of the world”; watering those from whom should flow springs of living water; enriching those who might be veritable mines of precious truth; repeating the gospel invita-tion to such as should be scattered to the uttermost parts of the earth, communicating the message of Heaven to many who have not had the privileges which they have enjoyed; feeding those who should be in the byways and highways heralding the invitation, “Come; for all things are now ready.” Come to the gospel feast; come to the supper of the Lamb; “for all things are now ready” (Evangelism, 382).

In local conferences, pastors are by far the largest line item in the budget. If much of our ministerial force is “exhausted” on maintaining church congregations, so are our financial resources. Because of our lack of “thorough conversion,” we church members perceive the needs of our already established churches as the first priority of our pastors. Many churches become pastor driven and consequently needy for the attention and oversight of that individual. Conferences react to their constituents’ desires by placing as many pastors to oversee established churches as the budget affords. This only ensures that the lion’s share of our financial resources is siphoned back to our churches in the form of pastoral oversight.

126

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Again, the unintended consequence of a maintenance-driven approach is that it becomes difficult to effect institutional change. If a conference were to redirect some of the pastoral budget to support a new field ministry, some of the flock would voice serious concern. Or, to put it another way, there would be “jealous fear” among the brethren.

Yet if we persist with this approach, we will only continue to encounter prob-lems that inhibit the work in the cities. First, this model for church growth is pri-marily dependent on the efficacy and diligence of the pastor. If he is a dedicated and hard worker, he may effect some measure of growth; if not, the church will instead experience stagnation and decline. Second, this model absolutely perpet-uates the malaise of the sleeping church, allowing it to continue unchecked, un-challenged, and un-awakened.

Ellen White counseled that the pastor-dependent model is harmful to both the church’s spiritual life and the pastor’s. A pattern of decline emerges in place of the intended revival. Think about the following statement:

The churches that have not life in themselves, that have lost their spiritual discernment, call for ministers to come to their help, to bring them the breath of life. But the ministers have other work to do. They must carry the message of truth to those who know it not. Those ministers who hover about the churches, who have not a clear cut message, which, like a sharp, two-edged sword, cuts both ways, will do the churches harm. They will not work for the salvation of souls that are in great peril because they know not the truth, and they will die spiritually themselves, and trouble and discour-age those who try to help them (Manuscript Releases 6, 65).

That our church congregations lose spiritual discernment and that our pastors “die spiritually themselves” is obviously not an outcome we intend or desire. Yet we con-tinue to follow this model despite the results. We have too often witnessed promis-ing young pastors become so burned out trying to meet the needs of congregations that they end up leaving the ministry. “Hovering” is not the work that God has asked our ministers to perform: “Our ministers . . . should feel that it is not their duty to hover over the churches already raised up, but that they should be doing aggressive evangelistic work, preaching the Word and doing house-to-house work in places that have not yet heard the truth. . . . They will find that nothing is so encouraging as doing evangelistic work in new fields” (Evangelism, 382).

We have counsel not only about what ministers should not do but also as to what should be their duty: “With Christ’s love burning in their hearts, they are

127

GETTING PRACTICAL

to go forth to win sinners to the Saviour. Beside all waters, God’s messengers are to sow the seeds of truth. Place after place is to be visited; church after church is to be raised up. Those who take their stand for the truth are to be organized into churches, and then the minister is to pass on to other equally important fields” (Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, Aug. 19, 1902).

If we followed these instructions, we could anticipate a decided change in the condition of both our ministers and our churches. Consider the results of follow-ing the apostolic model of ministry as seen by Ellen White:

When the church sees that the ministers are all aglow with the spirit of the work, that they feel deeply the force of the truth, and are seeking to bring others to the knowledge of it, it will put new life and vigor into them. Their hearts will be stirred to do what they can to aid in the work. There is not a class of people in the world who are more willing to sacri-fice of their means to advance the cause than are Seventh-day Adventists. If the ministers do not utterly discourage them by their indolence and in-efficiency, and by their lack of spirituality, they will generally respond to any appeal that may be made that commends itself to their judgment and consciences. But they want to see fruit (Testimonies for the Church, 3:49).

The truth is that the change, or “new life and vigor,” to do God’s work comes when the leaders act according to the biblical model. This is the very spiritual revival churches are seeking when they call for a pastor “to come to their help, to bring them the breath of life.” But the revival is delivered in a different manner than we expect: “If the ministers would get out of the way, if they would go forth into new fields, the members would be obliged to bear responsibilities, and their capabilities would increase by use” (Letter 56, 1901). By abandoning the desire for constant attention and hovering, both pastors and congregations will be encouraged and invigorated. As they pursue God’s plan to enter un-reached places they will experience a “new life and vigor” to do God’s work in the ministry of their pastor.

Our real problem, then, is not our lack of resources. It is that we aren’t prop-erly allocating the resources we have. The maintenance of the churches and the expansion to new fields can be accomplished if we simply follow God’s plan. Three very important steps of change need to occur.

First, ministers in pastor-dependent churches must change their pattern of min-istry from focusing internally to evangelizing new fields. We’ve clearly seen that the solution to “waking up” the church from her malaise lies largely in that prescription.

128

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Second, the people of the congregation need to become responsible to do their part. They must take over the maintenance of their own local church and encourage and support their pastor in his efforts to raise up new churches: “Instead of keeping the ministers at work for the churches that already know the truth, let the members of the churches say to these laborers: ‘Go work for souls that are perishing in dark-ness. We ourselves will carry forward the services of the church. We will keep up the meetings, and, by abiding in Christ, will maintain spiritual life. We will work for souls that are about us, and we will send our prayers and our gifts to sustain the laborers in more needy and destitute fields’ ” (Testimonies for the Church, 6:30).

Third, conference leaders must not encourage, in any way, the mistake of a pastor-dependent maintenance approach. Pastors should not feel it is their duty to hover over congregations. “Our ministers are not to be encouraged to hover about the churches to repeat to the believers week after week the same truths. We have a truth that is saving and precious. The Word of God must be planted in many hearts; the bread of life must be dealt out to many hungering souls. . . . It is a blessed work to lift up Christ before the world” (Manuscript 93, 1909).

We don’t have to sacrifice the existing ministries to work in new fields. We need to understand and believe that God’s plan allows for both to flourish if we move obediently in faith toward His design. The resources we need to reach today’s unreached cities already exist in the yearly pastoral budget, both in terms of manpower and money. If we applied these resources as we should, we would witness a dramatic change in both our ministers and our churches.

On the other hand, we are warned of the consequences of not following God’s prescription: “Do you not know that unless you carry the truth to the cities, there will be a drying up of means? When you carry this message to those in cities who are hungry for truth, and they accept the light, they will go earnestly to work to bring that light to others. Souls who have means will bring others into the truth, and will give of their means to advance the cause of God” (General Conference Bulletin, May 24, 1909). Sadly, this warning reflects our current reality.

Yet along with this warning is the promise that supporting the work in cit-ies will not subtract from our existing structures or diminish them in any way. Instead, if we properly administer our resources according to the plan God has revealed to us, our current congregations will be revitalized and expanded.

The practical dynamics of this approach are exciting. Let’s imagine a hypo-thetical conference—we’ll call it Conference A—that decides to fully embrace the idea that ministers are called to “new fields” as counsel has outlined. Conference A’s leaders inform their constituents that pastors will no longer hover over their churches. Instead, employed ministers are directed to work exclusively in new

129

GETTING PRACTICAL

fields of ministry, with their districts acting as home base.Suppose that Conference A currently has sixty churches and twenty ministers.

With this new directive, all twenty ministers begin evangelizing new fields. Using a three-year model to raise a new church, similar to Paul’s timeframe in Ephesus, at the end of that period there would be a total of eighty churches in the confer-ence, an addition of twenty that have the Ephesus Model as their framework or in their DNA. After six years, the conference would have a hundred churches, forty of which have the new DNA. By year nine, sixty of a hundred and twenty conference churches would have the new DNA.

Add to that the notion of the local response we have already considered: “When the church sees that the ministers are all aglow with the spirit of the work, that they feel deeply the force of the truth, and are seeking to bring others to the knowledge of it, it will put new life and vigor into them. Their hearts will be stirred to do what they can to aid in the work” (Testimonies for the Church, 3:49, emphasis supplied). And they will say, “ ‘Go work for souls that are perishing in darkness. We ourselves will carry forward the services of the church. We will keep up the meetings, and, by abiding in Christ, will maintain spiritual life. We will work for souls that are about us, and we will send our prayers and our gifts to sustain the laborers in more needy and destitute fields’ ” (Testimonies for the Church, 6:30, emphasis supplied).

If the church members of Conference A were also stirred to work alongside their pastors in new fields, the hypothetical outcome would be that in less than a decade, the number of churches in Conference A would double or more. The new mindset, not of maintenance but of active work in new fields, would influ-ence pastors and congregations to continue working in that manner. That is very exciting! And as an added blessing, the problem of financial support for ministry would disappear.

If we move from our current maintenance model to the model that counsel defines for us, we need to be mindful of the internal obstacles that could block our path. This transition will be challenging for congregations, for pastors, and for conference leadership alike and may be met with resistance at each level.

Church congregations that are accustomed to constant ministerial care and oversight will experience pains of change and will vocally express it. Leaders will hear murmuring and complaining about a model where churches are not the first priority of hovering pastors. Until a thorough conversion occurs in the hearts of our congregations, many will continue to demand a continuation of the status quo. And not only will this be a difficult transition for congregations but also for some pastors who work under our current model. Frankly, some enjoy their current positions of hovering over congregations.

130

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Ellen White’s new model includes a pointed list of ministry activities that they will need to begin to implement:

• “Plan wisely.”• “It is not their duty to hover over the churches already raised up.”• “[Do] aggressive evangelistic work.”• “. . . preaching the Word and doing house-to-house work in places that

have not yet heard the truth [new fields].”• “Place after place is to be visited.”• “Those who take their stand for the truth are to be organized into churches.”• “Church after church is to be raised up.”• “Then the minister is to pass on to other equally important fields.”

For this new model to become a reality, conference leaders will have to permit pastors to be trained and supported in spreading the gospel to new fields. Many pastors would be excited by the opportunity to raise up new churches. Under our current model, they can only pursue new fieldwork in their spare moments. From a conference perspective, the temptation is to ask pastors to do both works—to hover over current congregations and open new fields. But this puts our pastors in a frustrating and untenable position. They simply do not have enough time or energy to do both, resulting in pastors burning out, new fields neglected, and church congregations slumbering and inactive.

This transition will also be difficult for those in conference leadership posi-tions. Ellen White suggests that those in leadership positions will resist the loss of control this change will bring, and that this will delay or hinder the work: “Some in responsible positions have felt that nothing should be done without their per-sonal knowledge and approval” (Medical Ministry, 302).

The key to understanding this obstacle is the word personal. In other words, the problem is ego. The desire for personal control and authority results in a repressive, narrow approach to ministry, limited by the ideas and biases of the individual. Consider the following: “God has not set any kingly power in the Sev-enth-day Adventist Church to control the whole body, or to control any branch of the work. He has not provided that the burden of leadership shall rest upon a few men. Responsibilities are distributed among a large number of competent men” (Testimonies for the Church, 8:236).

Clearly, an authoritarian attitude even at the local level should not exist among God’s people. That attitude fails to recognize that all the parts of the body are vital parts of the whole. The local pastor should be part of a ministry team

131

GETTING PRACTICAL

designed to corporately reveal the image of Jesus to the community. God’s design is that the responsibilities of authority and control should be distributed to groups of trustworthy individuals, who, through conversion, have a spirit of humility and recognize the need for each part of the body. Or, as Paul put it, “In lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves” (Philippians 2:3).

The second problem with an authoritarian mindset of central control is that it stifles creativity in our approach to ministry. Each new field of ministry is unique, and therefore no two approaches to new fieldwork should be exactly the same. Workers in the field should be given latitude in how to carry out their work. As Ellen White counseled, “No one man or set of men is to have supreme authority to shape and to control the policy of the workers in the entire field, even with respect to the canvassing work; for every section of the country, especially the Southern field, which has been so long neglected, has its peculiar features, and must be worked ac-cordingly” (Manuscript 140, 1902). Obviously, those working in a particular field are best suited to adapt methods to the “peculiar features” of that community.

It is understandably frightening for leaders to give workers such a large degree of latitude. One failure often seems to undo a mountain of success. Until Jesus comes, we will always have a Judas or two among us who causes embarrassment and loss. However, top-down policies and heavy constraints cannot protect us against this reality. Instead, they only create more obstacles that stifle the work. Remember the counsel, “Even though some Judas may introduce himself into the ranks of the workers, the Lord will care for the work” (Medical Ministry, 303). Our job is to continue to press together as one body, both supporting and valuing the contributions and gifts of each member. We need a broad, unencumbered vision for fulfilling the commission of Jesus in our time.

A story in Acts evidences our need to follow Christ’s model and the blessing that will come as a result. The early church encountered some of the very internal obstacles that we do today:

And in those days, when the number of the disciples was multiplied, there arose a murmuring of the Grecians against the Hebrews, because their widows were neglected in the daily ministration. Then the twelve called the multitude of the disciples unto them, and said, It is not rea-son that we should leave the word of God, and serve tables. Wherefore, brethren, look ye out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business. But we will give ourselves continually to prayer, and to the ministry of the word (Acts 6:1–4).

132

THE EPHESUS MODEL

Notice that the problem was some members who thought they weren’t getting enough attention. But leaders’ solution was not to acquiesce to the member’s de-mands. Instead, they kept the church working along the lines of Holy Spirit gifts. The apostles continued with evangelistic work, while the church was instructed to solve the problem internally.

This incident marks a major transition in the way church growth is described in the book of Acts. Prior to this story, corporate church growth is portrayed in terms of addition: “And the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved” (2:47). “And believers were the more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women” (5:14).

After this incident, the description of corporate growth is different: “And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith” (Acts 6:7). In-stead of believers being added, they are said to be multiplied—a significant increase. As the early church continued to work according to Christ’s plan, the description of church growth continues to expand: “Then had the churches rest throughout all Ju-daea and Galilee and Samaria, and were edified; and walking in the fear of the Lord, and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost, were multiplied ” (9:31, emphasis supplied).

The progression of discipleship began with believers being added, then ex-panded to disciples multiplied, and ultimately ended with churches multiplied. That is what Ellen White would call a “mighty movement.”

As Paul wrote his epistle to the church in Ephesus, he foresaw the comple-tion of God’s plan. He realized a time would come when the character of God would be fully expressed by the church not only in this world but also to the universe (Ephesians 3:10). The enormity of that reality made him fall to his knees in prayer. He prayed the prayer with which we end this book:

For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to com-prehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God. Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us, unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen” (vv. 14–21).

133

APPENDIX

The following is a recap of the Ephesus Model.

FIVE MISSION STRUCTURES1. Advance Placement Team: Early assessment of the new field with your “Paul”; preparation for a larger team

Activities:

• Identify other charitable organizations in the city neighborhood you plan to work.

• Conduct needs assessment surveys to determine how to help.• Begin the process of building a Leadership Team.• Work with other organizations in caring for the needy.• Gather information by going to city meetings, town halls, and other forums.• Interview city officials and leaders, letting them know what you have to offer.• Look at zoning laws and begin to search for a potential mission site.• Identify an area to minister to (such as a five-block radius) focusing on an

unreached urban people group.• Begin door-to-door work, looking for potential Bible study interests.• Invite and inform the local churches regarding the plan.• Try to find the resources in the body for the larger team (housing, food,

transportation).• Identify what type of center might have the most influence.• Speak to leaders of other churches in the city and see how they are ministering.

134

• Ask them for ideas and assistance to establish your city mission.• Look for charitable businesspeople and engage them in your planning.• Start a house church.

2. Leadership Team: Apostolic in nature; mentors; self-starters

Team elements:

1. Administrative2. Pastoral/Bible work3. Medical missionary (both phases)4. Literature evangelism (both phases)5. Businessperson6. Age/gender representation

Activities:

• Gospel delivery—both teaching and preaching/evangelism• Medical missionary work—healing the sick, helping the poor, and so on• Literature distribution (writing and delivery; Paul, Timothy, Sosthenes)• Administration of the mission and vision• Church planting• Business skills and financial management • Self-supporting when possible• Advance placement work • Apostolic attitude, or a willingness to go.

3. Discipleship Group: Local people with cultural representation, trained and mentored as leaders to stay and continue the permanent work with a new DNA.

4. Urban Center of Influence: Point of intersection with the community that meets identified needs—physical, emotional, and spiritual. By proclaiming the everlasting gospel in both word and deed its goal is to raise up a new body of be-lievers, a church, to the glory of Jesus Christ, through worship, training, and the discipleship of believers.

5. New Churches: The ultimate goal of the Ephesus Model is to raise up a me-morial to God of the power of the gospel of Jesus Christ to change lives. That is

135

what a church should be, a corporate witness to the community of the principle of God’s love. It is a place of continual care for, and the teaching of, disciples con-cerning the words of Jesus and new life in the Spirit; a place where the disciplines and habits of life in the body are taught and practiced.

DAY-TO-DAY WORK: THREE AGENCIES

1. Medical missionary: Two phasesa. Health model—uniqueness (“one thing”); balancedb. Compassion ministries—participation (needs based)

2. Literature evangelism: Two phasesa. Traditional—door-to-doorb. Media—social networks; texting; social media apps; online video;

TV; radio 3. Gospel ministry: Bible work; pastoral; evangelism; preaching; teaching

We are always looking for new leaders. If you feel compelled to “go” and would like to consider joining us in the work, contact us at www.simplicityoutreach.org.

137

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Antipater, Greek Anthology, IX.58

Knight, George. “Adventists in the City.” Silver Spring, MD: North American Division Ministerial Association, n.d.

Land, Gary. Historical Dictionary of the Seventh-day Adventists. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow, 2005.

Pliny, Natural History XXXVI.xxi.95.

Robinson, Ella. S. N. Haskell: Man of Action. Brushton, NY: TEACH Services, 2004.

Sadler, Lena. “Early Days in the Rescue Work.” The Life Boat 9 (Sept. 1909).

Spalding, A. W. Origin and History of Seventh-day Adventists. Washington, DC: Review and Herald, 1961.

Steinberg, D. M., E. L. Levine, S. Askew, P. Foley, and G. G. Bennett. “Daily text messaging for weight control among racial and ethnic minority women: randomized controlled pilot study.” Journal of Medical Internet Research 15, no. 11 (Nov. 18, 2013):e244. doi: 10.2196/jmir.2844.

United Nations, Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Divi-

sion (2014). World Urbanization Prospects: The 2014 Revision, Highlights (ST/ESA/SER.A/352).

Warden, Ivan. “Ellen G. White Speaks on Urban Ministries.” Unpublished paper.

White, Ellen G. The Acts of the ApostlesAdvent Review and Sabbath Herald

April 1, 1880Feb. 5, 1884Feb. 10, 1885June 14, 1887Sept. 28, 1897Sept. 27, 1898Aug. 15, 1899Jan. 22, 1901Aug. 19, 1902Sept. 30, 1902Oct. 7, 1902April 14, 1903June 2, 1903July 5, 1906Nov. 17, 1910Sept. 28, 1911

A Call to Medical Evangelism and Health Education Christ’s Object LessonsChristian Temperance and Bible HygieneColporteur EvangelistColporteur MinistryConflict and CourageCounsels for the ChurchCounsels on Diet and FoodsCounsels on HealthCounsels to Writers and EditorsEvangelismThe Faith I Live ByGeneral Conference Bulletin, Feb. 6, 1893; May 24, 1909Gospel Workers

139

The Great ControversyLetter 150, 154, 156 (1901) Manual for CanvassersManuscript 7 (1900); 140 (1902); 129 (1903); 11 (1906); 115 (1907); 93 (1909); 45 (1910)Manuscript Releases 4, 6, 7, 10Medical MinistryThe Ministry of HealingThe Publishing MinistrySermons and Talks 1Signs of the Times, April 7, 1890TemperanceTestimonies for the Church, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9

141

INDEXAaccessibility of Urban Centers of

Influence, 55action, call to perpetual, 62action vs. words, 55action-taking skills, 37, 76, 123Acts 2:41–47, 62–64Acts 6:1–4, 131Acts 9:26–29, 42–43Acts 11:24–29, 43Acts 19:1–7, 42–44Acts 19:13–20, 107acts of ministry by Jesus, 53–54Acts of the Apostles (White), The, 44,

52, 76, 110, 114adaptation, 131administration, role/policies of, 34,

131administrator (Leadership Team), 37Advance Placement (AP) Team

overview of, 133–134church plant and, 59Discipleship/Mentoring and, 39historical Haskell model and, 102Leadership Team and, 34, 37members of (Ephesus Model),

23–24

modern example of work of, 27–29

work of (Ephesus Model), 24–26Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, 117“Adventists in the City” (Knight), 100agencies, government/nonprofit, 27, 28“all the world” / “all nations,” 59, 62,

75. See also “Go!”/goingAllentown, PA

Advanced Placement Team in, 27Center of Influence in, 56corporate ministry and, 76integrating three-pronged ap-

proach in, 84–85Leadership Team in, 37Leadership Trainees in, 44medical missionary ministry in,

92opposition of work in, 112

ambition, 36Antioch (Pisidia), 17Antioch church plant (Syria), 15–16,

43, 64–65Antipater of Sidon, 109Apollos, 24, 52apologetics vs. gospel, 18apostles’ doctrine in worship, 62, 64

142

Aquila and Priscilla, 23–24, 32, 52area of service, 55, 57, 59–61arguments vs. gospel, 18, 19Aristarchus, 33assessments/surveys, 27, 28Athens, 18audio-visual age, 83authoritarian mindset, 130–131authority, 108, 130–131

Bbalance, Leadership Team and, 34baptizing, Jerusalem church and, 62Bar-Jesus, 17Barnabas and Paul, 15–17, 42–45, 64“beehive” phenomenon, 77–78belief systems, competing, 105–107believers, truth-seeking, 39–40, 44,

52, 56Berea, 18bereaved, comforting, 54, 55Bible instructors, 97Bible studies, 53, 56, 102Bible study interests, 27–28body of Christ. See church/church

body“breaking of bread” in worship,

62–63, 64budget, financial, 37, 124–126business acumen of leadership, 34businesspeople, 28

CCaleb, Joshua and, 70Call to Medical Evangelism and Health

Education (White), A, 91call/mandate

the church and, 62

to city ministries, 67–68, 103, 119–124

Discipleship and, 46–49See also “Go!”/going

“Canvassing Stations,” 97capacities/capabilities of team, 31–34,

36, 38, 47. See also spiritual giftscaring for others, 54cell church plant, 65challenges. See obstacles/challenges;

oppositionchance vs. intentionality, 24, 26change in methodology

city ministries and, 69–71, 122missionary journeys and, 18–21resources and, 126–130See also ministry methodology

change of hearts/lives, effectingcity ministries and, 71corporate ministry and, 77Leadership Trainees and, 42, 45love vs. arguments and, 19medical missionary ministry and,

92Urban Centers of Influence and,

51–52character, exhibiting Christ-like, 76character development, 56character traits, 35–37charities. See organizations, charitableChicago, 98children, 56, 85Christ as Savior message, 18–19, 21,

34, 46, 52Christianity and culture, 108Christ’s Object Lessons (White), 471 Chronicles 28:2–6, 48church growth, corporate, 132

143

church plant modelsAntioch, 15–16, 64–65Jerusalem, 61–64missionary journeys and, 20See also house church plant

church plant/planting (new)overview of, 134–135counsel on urban, 59–61defined from biblical models, 59,

61–65example of, 128–130in Haskell’s city ministries model,

102Leadership Team skills for, 34vs. maintaining existing church,

124–127practics of, 119–133

church/church bodyadding/multiplying, 132connection to, 15Discipleship Group and, 40five habits defining, 62–64funding and, 116identifying with larger, 16, 64Leadership Trainees and, 45, 46opposition from, 110–112pastor-dependent model of,

125–127practices of healthy, 15–16, 64–65resources of, 20starting a new. See church plant/

planting (new)Urban Centers of Influence and,

55churches, other (SDA/non-SDA)

Advance Placement Team and, 28identity with, 16opposition from, 106–107

unity among, 102, 103city ministries

Advance Placement Team for, 27–29

approach to (three-pronged), 69–70, 73, 78, 81, 87–90, 135

change needed for (steps of ), 127–130

Discipleship/Mentoring in, 39, 48Ephesus Model of, 21historical SDA models of, 95–103Leadership Team for, 37–38medical missionary ministry and,

98–99obstacles to, 68–70, 122, 124–

127, 130–131outcome of biblical model of,

131–133planting churches in, 59–61Urban Centers of Influence in,

51–52, 56–57vision of/call to, 67–68, 103,

119–124city/cities

changing demographics of, 96defined, 67–68

clothes, supplying, 56comfort and gospel ministry, 75commission, gospel. See “Go!”/goingcommunication today, 83community

Advance Placement Team and, 26, 28

Jerusalem church and, 62Urban Centers of Influence and,

51–52, 55, 56, 57community relations liaison, 37

144

company model, 21compassion, 92competition, 36, 105–107complementary roles. See support

rolescomputers, 82conference boundary lines, 79conference leadership

city ministries and, 68–69EGW letters to, 120–124example of, following mandate,

128–130funding and, 116gospel ministry and, 76medical missionary ministry and,

88conference liaison, 37confidence, winning, 54conflict regarding church planting,

124–127. See also obstacles/chal-lenges

control, personal, 130–131conversion story, 42cooperation, 64Corinth, 19Cornelius, 15, 44corporate gift profile, 34corporate health institutions, 90–91corporate ministry, 76cost/costs, 113, 125. See also budget,

financialcounseling, 54Counsels for the Church (White), 75Counsels on Health (White), 77creativity, 131critics/criticism, 17, 92, 112cross, the, 19. See also Christ as Savior

message

culture, 16, 52, 108–110Cyprus, 15, 17

DDamascus conversion of Paul, 14David (King), 48, 63debates/debating, 18debt, 113decision-making, 34, 37dejected, ministering to, 92delay in response to call, 26, 122–123,

130Demetrius, 108–110demographics, changes in, 96demonic opposition, 107–108dependence on Christ, 25–26, 68Derbe, 17Diana (goddess), 109, 110disciples

adding/multiplying, 132Advance Placement Team and, 24defined, 46Leadership Team and, 34–35medical missionary ministry and, 89opposition from counterfeit, 112phases of mentoring, 45–46, 76See also Leadership Trainees

discipleshipabout, 46–48Ephesus Model and, 78Leadership Team and, 38progression of, 132

Discipleship Groupoverview of, 134church plant and, 59Ephesus Model and, 77historical SDA models of, 101,

102

145

Leadership Team and, 39–40Leadership Trainees and, 43roles/participation in, 47, 48social media and, 83Urban Centers of Influence and,

51, 56discussions vs. gospel, 18diversity, 34, 76donations, 47, 115door-to-door work

Advance Placement Team and, 27, 28

historical Haskell model and, 102traditional canvassing as, 85Urban Centers of Influence and,

52–53See also house-to-house fellow-

ship/worshipDuke University (NC), 83DVDs, 83

E“Early Days in Rescue Work” (Sadler),

98edifying body of Christ, 45, 46effectiveness of efforts, 57ego, personal, 106, 113, 130–131emotional needs. See needs, minister-

ing toencouragement, 17, 20, 47, 62“end of the world” imperative, 62, 75engagers, first-time, 39–40, 56English as Second Language (ESL)

classes, 56Ephesians 3:14–21, 133Ephesus

forbidden to go to, initially, 13missionary journeys and, 20

opposition in, 105–110Paul’s mentorship in, 44–45

Ephesus Model mission structureoverview of, 21, 133–135Advance Placement Team in,

23–29Discipleship Group in, 39–48historical Haskell model of,

99–101historical SDA models of, 77–78,

95–103Leadership Team in, 31–38new church plant in, 59–65obstacles to implementing, 68–70,

101–102repeatability/sustainability of, 67,

77–78, 97, 102Urban Centers of Influence in,

51–58vision of implementing, 67–68

equipping, 41–42, 48–49, 51Erastus, 28, 33e-readers, 82Evangelism (White), 95, 125evangelism, approaches to, 20, 34, 82,

103“every creature,” 59. See also “Go!”/

goingevil spirits, 107–108exclusiveness, 16, 20excuses/fear, 25, 124, 131expenses of center, 114–115

FFacebook, 83faith, 25, 68, 70, 75, 117false prophets, 111fear/excuses, 25, 124, 131

146

fellowship, worship and, 62–63, 64field ministry, 77financial acumen, 34financial director, 37financial resources, distribution of,

124–127. See also fundingfocus, identifying, 19–20“Follow Me,” 53–55food/food bank, 56, 92friendships, 55funding, 102, 113–117. See also finan-

cial resources

GGaius, 33gifts. See spiritual gift profile; spiritual

giftsglobal vision, disconnection of, 69God, 56, 63–64, 79Godhead, 36–37, 102“Go!”/going

defined, 74Advance Placement Team and,

25–26church plant and, 59, 62, 64city ministries and, 67delivering gospel by, 74–75Discipleship and, 46–48informational meetings vs., 75Leadership Team and, 34literature evangelism and, 85Urban Centers of Influence and,

57See also call/mandate; delay in

response to callgood for others, desiring, 54gospel

Advance Placement Team and, 24

apologetics versus, 18church planting and, 59, 62Discipleship Group and, 39Discipleship/Mentoring and, 48Leadership Team and, 31, 34, 37Leadership Trainees and, 41, 44medical missionary ministry and,

88, 90–91methods for delivery of, 74–77missionary journeys and, 17–18,

20perversion of, 112response of others to, 106three-pronged approach to reveal-

ing, 69–70, 73, 81, 84, 87Urban Centers of Influence and,

51–52, 55gospel commission. See “Go!”/goinggospel ministry

defined, 73examples of, 77–78historical Haskell model and, 102medical missionary ministry and,

88methods of, 74–77obstacles to, 79in three-pronged approach,

69–70, 73, 78, 84, 135gospel ministry director, 37Gospel Workers (White), 63government. See agencies, govern-

ment/nonprofit; services, govern-ment/nonprofit

government officials, 28great commission. See “Go!”/goingGreek Anthology (Antipater), 109

H

147

handouts, 84harmony, working in, 36–37. See also

unity, spirit ofHaskell, Hetty, 77, 100Haskell, Stephen N., 77, 79, 95, 97,

99–102healing, bringing, 34, 53, 88–89,

91–93health services/education. See medical

missionary ministryhealth-care delivery institutions,

90–91helping people where they are, 53, 56,

59–61Historical Dictionary of Seventh-day

Adventists (Land), 97, 98Holy Spirit

Advance Placement Team and, 23, 25

church plant and, 63, 64, 132city ministries and, 60, 70delivering gospel and, 74Discipleship Group and, 39, 40Discipleship/Mentoring and, 48Leadership Team and, 35, 36Leadership Trainees and, 43, 44missionary journeys and, 13, 17Urban Centers of Influence and,

52, 55, 56home hospitality, 26home ministries, 56homeless shelter, 56hope, giving, 56, 89, 92hospitality, 26hospitals. See health-care delivery

institutionshouse church plant, 26, 27, 65house-to-house fellowship/worship,

62. See also door-to-door workhousing expenses, 115humanitarianism, gospel intent and,

90humility, 36, 37

IIconium, 17identity with other Christians, 16. See

also churches, other (SDA/non-SDA)

illiteracy, 83inclusiveness, 16, 20, 31, 34, 44indifference, 92Industrial Revolution, 96influence/influences, 47, 51–52, 108information retrieval today, 83instructing. See teaching/instructing;

traininginsufficiency of humanity, 79insurance expense, 115intentionality vs. chance, 24, 26interacting/mingling, 26, 41interests, Bible study, 27–28Internet age, 83interpersonal engagement, 57interview process, 42interviewing, 28invitation, offered, 55, 57involvement. See participation/in-

volvementisolation from those in need, 55, 64Israel, 41, 70

JJerusalem, 14–15, 43Jerusalem church plant model, 61–64Jesus

148

Advance Placement Team of, 24–26

church plant and, 59Ephesus Model and, 101Leadership Team of, 34–35Leadership Trainees of, 40–41medical missionary ministry and,

88–89on opposition, 109–110power of name of, 108Urban Centers of Influence and,

53–55, 56worship and, 64See also Christ as Savior message

John (apostle), 53John Mark, 43Joshua and Caleb, 70Judaism, 105

KKellogg, John Harvey, 98–99kindness, 92kingdom of heaven, visibility of, 37Knight, George, 100knowledge of Christ, 45, 56

Llaborers. See workers/laborerslaity of conference, 121Land, Gary, 97, 98language lines, 79leadership

authoritarian mindset of, 130–131

city ministries and, 68–69gospel ministry and, 76Leadership Trainees and, 44–45literature evangelism and, 85

missionary journeys and, 20opposition from/of, 111Paul on, 40qualities of, 35–37Urban Centers of Influence and,

56Leadership Team

overview of, 134Advance Placement Team and, 28church plant and, 59developing (biblical models), 35Discipleship/Mentoring and,

39–40, 46Ephesus Model and, 78historical SDA models of, 100,

102members of (Ephesus Model),

31–34modern profile of, 37–38qualities of (Ephesus Model),

35–37Urban Centers of Influence and,

52work of (Ephesus Model), 34–35,

77Leadership Trainees

Discipleship Group and, 40Ephesus Model and, 77Leadership Team and, 39Paul’s, 42, 43–44qualities of, 40–41Urban Centers of Influence and,

51, 52, 56learning disorders, 82letters as literature evangelism, 81library of materials in Urban Centers

of Influence, 83lifestyle management, 56

149

limitations, circumstantial, 48listening skills, 27literature evangelism

historical Haskell model and, 102importance of, 81–82integrating new face of, 82–85Leadership Team and, 34in three-pronged approach, 135See also publication ministry

literature evangelism director, 37logic, gospel and, 18lonely, ministering to, 92love, influence of, 19, 54–55Luke 10:2–11, 24–26, 35Lystra, 17

MMacedonia, 28maintenance-first thinking, 124–127mandate. See call/mandatemanpower resources. See workers/

laborersMatthew 24:14, 59Matthew 28:19–20, 62, 74Matthew 10:16–21, 111Medical Ministry (White), 103, 112medical missionary acts, 17medical missionary director, 37medical missionary ministry

city ministry and, 98–99corporate/individual, 90–92historical Haskell model and, 102Leadership Team and, 34merging of ministerial work with,

87–90in three-pronged approach,

69–70, 78, 84, 87, 135meetings, informational/evangelistic,

75, 82, 103mentoring process, phases of, 45–46mentoring/mentorship

Barnabas-Paul partnership and, 15, 42

Discipleship/Mentoring and, 39Leadership Team and, 34, 38Leadership Trainees and, 43–45literature evangelism and, 85missionary journeys and, 20personal ministry and, 76Urban Centers of Influence and,

51methodology. See ministry method-

ologymigration, 61, 96mindset, authoritarian, 130–131mingling/interacting, 26, 54, 55ministry, work of

allowing for latitude in, 131Antioch church model of, 20church plant as goal of, 59EGW’s model of, 130by Jesus, 53–55Leadership Trainees and, 44, 46medical missionary ministry and,

87–88three types of simultaneous,

69–70in Urban Centers of Influence,

53–55, 57See also gospel ministry; medical

missionary ministry; publica-tion ministry

ministry imperatives, 15, 59ministry methodology

city ministries and change in, 69–71, 122

150

historical Haskell model and, 103missionary journeys and shifts in,

18–21synergistic effect of blending, 84Urban Centers of Influence and,

52–56Ministry of Healing (White), The,

54–55ministry patterns, 17–18miracles, 53, 89mission strategy, 19–21, 34, 96mission work, three types of simulta-

neous, 69–70missionaries, sending, 16, 20, 24, 27,

65missionary journeys, 17, 18–21missions, welfare/medical, 90, 97–98,

102, 114. See also Urban Centers of Influence

money. See fundingMoses, 26, 36

NNatural History (Pliny the Elder), 109needs, ministering to, 54, 75, 89, 101neighbors/neighborhoods, 55, 57, 74,

92“new fields.” See church plant/planting

(new)New York City, 77, 79, 95, 99–100newspaper, decline of, 83Nicodemus, 109–110

OOakland, California, 67obstacles/challenges

city ministries and, 68–70, 122, 124–127, 130–131

Ephesus Model and, 79, 102Leadership Team and, 38literature evangelism and, 82–83missionary journeys and, 17

oppositionAdvance Placement Team and, 25missionary journeys and, 17–18types of, 105–112Urban Centers of Influence and,

51–52organizations, charitable, 28Origin and History of Seventh-day

Adventists (Spalding), 101outcome of biblical model, 131–132outpost centers, 61

Ppairs/pairing in ministry, 20, 24, 35.

See also partnership; team ministryparticipation/involvement, 26, 48–49,

55partnership, 15, 18, 23. See also pairs/

pairing in ministry; team ministrypastor-dependent model, 125–127Paul

Advance Placement Team of, 23–24

church plant experience of, 15–16, 64

on completion of God’s plan, 132–133

Discipleship/Mentoring of, 41–42, 44–45

first journey lessons learned by, 17on leaders, 40Leadership Team of, 31–34, 35Leadership Trainees of, 43learning journey of (overview),

151

13–14literature evangelism letters by, 81medical missionary ministry and,

89opposition to work of, 105–108,

110second journey ministry shifts by,

18–20self-support of, 114spiritual journey of, 14–15urban ministry of, 60

Pentecost, 44, 61perfecting of saints, 45persecution, 14, 15, 43personal effort, 54, 55personal ministry, 75perspective, 125–127persuasion, power of, 54Peter (apostle), 15, 45, 612 Peter 1:4–8, 46philanthropy, gospel intent and, 90Philippi, 17philosophy, gospel and, 18Phoenicia, 15physical needs. See needs, ministering

toplans/blueprint of God, 68, 70, 102,

105Pliny the Elder, 109podcasts, 83poor, relieving

city missions and, 97historical Haskell model and, 102Leadership Team and, 34medical missionary ministry and,

92Urban Centers of Influence and,

54, 55

population shifts, 96Portland, Maine, 67power, 47, 108praising of God, worship and, 62,

63–64prayer/prayer support

Christ’s method and, 54church plant worship and, 62,

63, 64Discipleship/Mentoring and, 47funding and, 117medical missionary ministry and,

92Urban Centers of Influence and,

56preaching

Leadership Team and, 34Leadership Trainees and, 42, 46missionary journeys and, 17–18,

20–21overemphasis of, 69Urban Centers of Influence and,

53, 57prejudice, cultural, 16, 106–107pride, gospel and spiritual, 18priority. See focus, identifyingPriscilla. See Aquila and Priscillaprofits, gospel intent and corporate, 90programming, challenges of, 57, 69prophecy, gift of, 44Psalms, 63public forums, 27, 28, 52publication ministry, 70, 78, 81, 84.

See also literature evangelism

Rreading levels, 82reasoning, communal, 37

152

refusals. See rejection, handlingrejection, handling, 26, 106rent expense, 114–115repeatability of models, 67, 77–78,

97, 103reproducing (churches/leaders), 20,

34, 35, 38, 39rescue work. See missions, welfare/

medicalresources

Advance Placement Team and, 28allocation of, 127–128Discipleship/Mentoring and, 47,

48examples of use of, 128–130missionary journeys and, 20Urban Centers of Influence and,

52, 113–115See also financial resources; work-

ers/laborersresponse of others, 106restaurants, 90ripple effect, 53risk in gospel ministry, 75Robinson, Ella, 97rural areas, 61, 96

SSabbath School program, 56sacrifice. See self-sacrificeSadler, Lena, 98safety, missionary journeys and, 17salvation, 18–19, 57. See also Christ as

Savior messageSan Francisco, 77sanitariums, 90Satan, opposition and, 105, 111, 112Saul. See Paul

school of Tyrannus, 51–52, 114schools of training, 56–57, 84, 90science, gospel and, 18selfishness, 70selflessness, 55self-sacrifice, 36, 75, 76, 116–117self-support, 34, 102, 103, 114separatism in culture, 16sermons, Sabbath, 84service for others, 36, 54services, government/nonprofit, 27,

28showing, going and, 75sick, care for, 54, 55, 88, 91, 92Silas and Paul, 18Simon the Pharisee, 53Simplicity mission

funding, 115, 117integrating three-pronged ap-

proach, 84opposition to work of, 112Urban Centers of Influence in, 56website for, 135

simplicity of approach, 18, 19, 20, 54sin, 37, 52smartphones, 82S.N. Haskell: Man of Action (Robin-

son), 97social media and literature evangelism,

83–85social ministries, 55sociological shift, 83Solomon (King), 48sorcery, 108sorrowing, comforting, 54, 55Sosthenes, 33–34Spalding, A. W., 101specialty training, 57

153

spiritual condition of church/cities, 16, 56, 122, 123

spiritual gift profile, 31–34spiritual gifts

church plant and, 64corporate ministry and, 76–77Discipleship Group and, 40Discipleship/Mentoring and, 47Leadership Trainees and, 44unequal emphasis of, 69Urban Centers of Influence and,

51, 56spiritual needs. See needs, ministering

tostaging facilities, 61starting a new church. See church

plant/planting (new)“steadfast” and Jerusalem church, 62Stephen, stoning of, 14suburbs, 61suffering, relieving, 89, 90, 92, 101support of other Christians, 16, 64support roles, 26, 38, 47–48, 114–

115surveys. See assessments/surveyssustainability of models, 67, 97, 102,

103, 113–117sympathy, showing, 54

Ttablets, computer electronic, 82talents. See capacities/capabilities;

spiritual giftstarget area, identifying, 28target group, 19–20Tarsus, 15, 43teaching/instructing, 34, 53, 54, 55,

62. See also training

team ministry, 21, 27, 34–35technology and literature evangelism,

83, 85Testimonies for the Church (White), 53,

56, 123, 127testimony, life, 42text messaging in literature evange-

lism, 83thankfulness versus praise, 63Thessalonica, 17time. See resourcesTimotheus, 28Timothy, 32tongues, speaking in, 44Tract and Missionary Society, 97training

Advance Placement Team and, 24Discipleship/Mentoring and, 39, 49historical Haskell model and, 102included in three-pronged ap-

proach, 84Leadership Team and, 34, 35, 38Leadership Trainees, 41–42literature evangelism and, 85medical missionary ministry and,

90Urban Centers of Influence and,

56–57treatment rooms, 90Trinity. See Godheadtrust, 57, 117tutoring program, 56Twitter, 83

Uunbelief/unbelievers

city ministries and, 70Discipleship Group and, 40

154

Leadership Trainees and, 44missionary journeys and, 19, 20

uncertainty and gospel ministry, 75unity, spirit of

corporate ministry and, 77Discipleship/Mentoring and, 48Ephesus Model and, 79historical Haskell model and, 103Jerusalem church and, 62Leadership Team and, 36, 37between medical and ministerial

work, 88modern challenges to, 102

unreached areas, 21Urban Centers of Influence

overview of, 134Advance Placement Team and, 28church plants and, 59Discipleship Group and, 40Ephesus Model of, 51–53, 77, 78example of, 56–57historical SDA models of, 100–

101library of materials in, 83medical missionary ministry and,

90self-supporting, 114social media and, 83work of, 53–56

urban settingchurch plant and, 59–61literature evangelism and, 85migration to, 96See also city ministries

urgency of work, 123utility expense, 114–115

V

values, cultural. See culturevaluing Christ’s salvation, 48valuing others, 36, 57vetting of leaders, 38vision for city ministries, 67–68, 103,

119–124

WWarden, Ivan, 97wealthy, ministry to, 102welfare ministry. See poor, relievingWhite, Ellen

on adapting, 131on blending ministries, 84on centers of influence work,

53–56on city ministries, 59–61, 67–71,

95–97, 103, 119–124on funding centers, 113–117on gospel ministry, 75–78on Haskell’s urban ministry,

99–102on leadership, 130on literature evangelism, 81–82on medical missionary ministry,

87, 89, 91, 98on ministerial force, 125–127on mission work, 69–70on opposition, 111–112on Paul’s center of influence,

51–52on Paul’s Leadership Team, 32–33on Paul’s mentoring, 44on prayer in work, 63on use of gifts, 47

widow’s mites, 115Word of God, 46, 62, 83work history, ministerial, 43. See also

ministry, work ofworkers/laborers

Advance Placement Team and, 25, 27–28

city ministries and, 67–68, 125–127

Discipleship Group and, 40historical Haskell model and, 102Leadership Team and, 31Urban Centers of Influence and,

113workload, 34, 38worship, five habits of, 62–64

ZZacchaeus, 53zoning laws, 28

Walk down the street of any large city in the world, and you begin to wonder, How will we share the gospel

message with all the millions of people?

Today, more than 50 percent of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and it is projected to continue growing. As Adventists, we are admonished to “work the cities without delay, for the time is short” (Medical Ministry, 300).

The Ephesus Model offers a proven plan for Adventist urban mission. This plan comes from the Bible itself. Jeffrey and Robert McAuliffe outline the apostle Paul’s method for evangelizing cities by focusing on making disciples on a large scale. They map the advances in Paul’s urban-ministry experience and show how the apostle worked in Ephesus to build

• an Advance Placement Team

• a Leadership Team

• Discipleship Groups

• an Urban Center of Influence

• New Church Plants

The McAuliffe brothers lay out a Bible-based vision that, with Holy Spirit power and guidance, will spread the end-time message of the gospel in cities, as far as we dare to dream.

GlobalMissionCenters.org

JEFFREY McAULIFFE AND ROBERT McAULIFFE

A BIBLICAL FRAMEWORK FOR URBAN MISSION

MODELTHE EPHESUS

Graduates of Loma Linda University dental school Doctors Jeffery and Robert McAuliffe were raised by loving parents in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania. As participants in multiple short-term mission projects they developed a passion for serving the needs of those less fortunate and sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ. Jeff is the current director of Simplicity mission in Allentown Pa. Robert is a lay leader in a church plant group in New Tripoli PA that helps support the mission. Simplicity is a pilot project based on the Ephesus Model supported by grants, local churches, and the Pennsylvania conference of Seventh- day Adventists.