Maturity Is The Aim
Main Market Square in Kraków, Poland
“So, for now, as I work, I will aim for maturity, and trust God for any movement that he would so choose to bring about. ”
Ok, I am going to put this out there and I welcome the dialogue, correction, push back and feedback. So here it is, I do not think we should aim for Gospel Movements.
Now, before you jump to the conclusion that I am not aligned with the vision and mission of Converge, hear me out. I am still all for training and developing workers in hopes that Gospel Movements will take shape in the areas in which we work. Many of the systems and methods, though not all, introduced in the world of movement methodology seem to offer a helpful corrective to some of our existing missions’ practices. At the end of the day, I can confidently join in with the chorus of global workers saying that we are asking God for a gospel movement among every least reached people group in our generation. At the same time, I can say that my true target is not Gospel Movements. Though I hope for movements, I do not aim for them. So what is my aim?
Well, I find myself resting on the words of Paul in Colossians 1:28-29:
28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.
From this text, I would say that my aim is maturity. Or to put it another way, my aim is Christ-likeness.Let me give a few reasons why I land on this and why I feel it is important to aim for maturity with our vision for Gospel Movements and key ministry focus of developing Transformational Leaders:
1. Maturity is a goal of the Spirit of God at work in the believer:
Let Sinclair Ferguson’s words settle in here for a minute. In his book on the Holy Spirit he states this:
“The ministry of the Spirit in this increasing identification with Jesus is in order that, being ‘shaped’ as messianic Spirit by the life and ministry of Jesus, he may come to us thus qualified to reshape us to be ‘like Christ’, from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor. 3:17–18). This is the central function of the Holy Spirit in the life of the Christian believer.
If we thus make something other than maturity the aim, we may be laying extra standards on a person that the bible does not place on them. For instance, how many of us have worn some sense of failure from our ministry not “succeeding” in the way that we would have hoped it too. Maybe like me you think, “if I don’t see movement, have I failed?” Or we read the literature around movements and find that our ministry does not yet meet the qualification of movement, thus I have been ineffective. It’s not hard to feel like you might not be keeping up. I feel that often we lay a weight on people that the Bible does not put on them by holding up movement as the aim. The scriptures are calling us to embrace all that we have in Christ and through the working of the Spirit come to an increasing identification of all that we have in him.
Questions:
What do we celebrate?
Do we celebrate maturing in Christ as much as we celebrate rapid multiplication?
What can we do to help set the aim for maturity in the work of our ministry?
2. Maturity is the goal of discipleship and thus the core of leadership development:
So, if maturity is our aim, then discipleship is the process through which this happens. This then means that any work we do in our key ministry focus of developing transformational leaders must be rooted and grounded in discipleship, the pursuit of maturity. The idea here is that you never graduate from being a disciple to being a leader. If this is the case, then continual transformation towards Christ likeness is the core of leadership. Many of you have heard it said that if you start with church, you may not get disciples but, if you start with discipleship you will get to church. In many ways this is a similar thought. If we start with leadership, we may not get mature disciples but if we start with disciples we can get to transformational leaders.
One other note on this topic. Movements often need to embrace a variety of levels of leadership. This idea is common throughout movement literature that sees 5 levels of leadership in a movement. If movement is our aim than we may miss leaders at different levels who are contributors to a movement. If maturity is our aim than we can develop and celebrate leadership at a variety of levels and not just those who are “catalytic” towards movement.
Question:
Is our leadership identification and development rooted in discipleship?
3. Maturity helps in the evaluation our systems, methods, and practices:
Often when we consider our methods and systems, we will find that alternative goals linger under the surface. With movements we may do things because they are easily reproducible. This is not bad, but if our aim is simply how reproducible it is, we may find it lacking in other areas. In ministry we will always find that our goals, or aim, will drive the function of our ministry. This is not just in movements but in all forms of ministry. If our aim is not maturity, then our systems and methods are working towards some other end. What is that end and at what cost does it come? Now, I fully understand that with movements, it can be very messy. I am not saying that we abandon movement practices, as many movement practices might help us develop maturity in people. Yet, we should not just embrace the systems that lead to rapidity without evaluating how we can help lead toward maturity as well.
So, there are a few things to chew on. Maybe none of this is new for you and in that case thanks for making it this far in the article. I did want to raise a few more question that may be circling in your mind. I look forward to discussing these ideas further as we seek to sharpen one another in the work we are committed too.
Conclusions:
Is maturity and rapidity opposed to each other? I do not think so, but it is a tension that we will need to manage.
Does a focus on maturity mean moving slow? No, pace is not our goal nor is it in our control.
Is it possible for maturity to look different in different contexts? Yes, we all see this in our various contexts, and we need to be aware of the expression of maturity in our contexts.
Can movement systems help promote maturity? Yes, I think they can. As mentioned, I think they work best when these movement practices are evaluated on the maturity they produce and not just the rapidity.
So, for now, as I work, I will aim for maturity, and trust God for any movement that he would so choose to bring about. Again, I will leave you with the words of Sinclair Ferguson
“The purpose for which the Spirit is given is, therefore, nothing less than the reproduction of the image of God, that is transformation into the likeness of Christ who is himself the image of God. To receive the Spirit is to be inaugurated into the effects of this ongoing ministry.”
For the King and His Kingdom!
