Abstract
Churches and pastors are not fulfilling their God-given mission of making disciples. Ephesians 4:11–16 defines and describes the role that the church is to play in the discipleship process. What is more, the passage clearly attributes the role of disciple-making to the pastor. How can the church and its pastors rectify this problem? As authors Mich Fries and Jeremy Maxfirld argue: By leveling the church. The authors argue that the church is not making disciples who multiply. This is happening because pastors are involved in too many roles in the operation of the church. Instead, pastors should be focused primarily on the teaching and training of disciples. The change of work and focus for pastors can occur, because pastors can delegate the ministry roles that they typically focus on to others within the church. This is the stated role of the pastor in Ephesians 4:11–12. The results will be a church that is maturing from a spiritual perspective and a church that is fulfilling the great commission of Matthew 28:19–20.
The book opens with a personal experience about the first church in which he served as pastor. He was active in every part of the ministry of the church. He may have looked successful to some, but he was actually a failure. In what ways had he failed? He had not focused his time on the biblical definition and description of what a pastor should be doing. According to Ephesians 4:11–12, pastors should be training and discipling church members into leaders who will multiply additional leaders. This will equip the church to do the “work of ministry” and lead the church to experience sustained growth. This new paradigm will require a change in thinking and a change in operation in the church. The church will be responsible for serving others and accomplishing the ministry. Pastors will focus their attention on disciple-making and training leaders who will train other leaders. The authors present the problem with making this transition in their chapter Reframing Leadership Success. Fries and Maxwell assert that the measurements for success of attendance, baptisms, and offerings are worth looking at when evaluating a minister, as is faithfulness to preaching the word. However, these measurements are incomplete. Rather, the church should be measuring fruitfulness. Chapter two concludes with the authors sharing a personal story of how they rewrote a scorecard for measuring success in the church they serve as pastors.
Fries and Maxwell present four dangers that the church is facing that is hindering the church from completing its ministry and mission mandate from Jesus: 1.) Professionalism, 2.) Materialism, 3.) Independence, and 4.) Super Pastor.
First, there is the danger of professionalism. The world loves the idea of professionalism and each vocation being professional in all their dealings. Fries and Maxwell argue that professionalism has crept into the church as it relates to the pastors as the professionals and the church attendees as the consumers. The professional pastor produces a product that the consumer wants to purchase. This is not what Jesus has commanded pastors or the church to do.
Fries and Maxwell suggest that an additional church danger is materialism. This danger manifests itself in the church preparing and providing a culture in the church gatherings that is so user friendly and people-focused that the burden of God's call to obedience has been replaced with ensuring that consumers have a good experience. In so doing, the church has added Jesus to a list of things church people might add to their lives. This is not the call of the gospel. Instead, Christ followers have been called to deny themselves and to offer up sacrificial worship to God. Church members should be termed as co-workers or co-partners instead of members.
Next, the authors present a conundrum that many churches are facing at an increasing rate. The independence that we experience as Americans allows us to build our lives and choose our futures independent of any outside entity forcing us down a certain track. Additionally, the self-made man image of Americans is a myth. This attitude has become prevalent in the church inasmuch as church attendees are not dependent on fellow church members and ministries for their spiritual growth and development.
Lastly, the authors present their final danger that the church and its pastors are facing as the super pastor, which is the church expecting and pastors desiring to be the ministry hero to the church and the community. The authors suggest that pastors see themselves at the same level with the leaders in the church and the people in the church. The pastor is the leader, but he is also an equipper and one who delegates ministry.
In the second part of the book, Fries and Maxwell present four models that the church needs to align under and model in the leadership, ministry, and mission focus by using the examples of Jesus, Moses, Paul, and Timothy.
The authors present the pattern of Jesus as it relates to leadership development. During His earthly ministry, Jesus had an inner core of twelve disciples. However, the Scriptures reveal an even closer relationship with the inner three: Peter, James, and John. Jesus was familiar with the power of multiplication as it relates to the far reaching nature of disciple-making and leadership development. Church leaders are admonished to invest in a few people per year in order to make stronger leaders who will make leaders of others.
Pastors should follow the example of Jethro, the Father in-law of Moses, who told him he needed help in order to oversee and lead the people. Additionally, the authors suggest that pastors never do anything in ministry themselves that they can delegate to someone else in the church. The authors present the reader with several questions to ask when determining whether to delegate a task. The authors offer a reminder to church leaders of their inability to do everything and still be an effective equipper of the saints.
Next, Fries and Maxwell illustrate that making disciples and church leaders is more than choosing a curriculum and a meeting time; rather, as it was with Paul and Timothy, it was about proximity to the leader. The more Timothy was with Paul and observed his leadership and work, the more Timothy developed the same habits, skills, routines, and abilities.
Finally, the authors illustrate how the Apostle Paul passed on the ministry to Timothy and how he expected Timothy to lead and train others to lead. The authors provide an acronym that they use in their church as a listening guide for worship and an inductive Bible study tool for their groups. Disciples must be trained and taught how to train and feed their own souls. Theologically educating the church must become a priority for the leaders of the church.
Fries and Maxwell delivered on their main objective of the book by presenting and arguing for a return to a biblical model for church leadership, leadership development for the saints, and providing a healthy way forward for the church and the pastor. The book is valuable for the church and for academia in the following ways. First, the book is thoroughly biblical. The paradigm that is presented and encouraged for implementation in today's church is directly pulled from the pages of Scripture. Second, the book is practical and relevant to the difficulties that theologically conservative evangelical churches are facing. Third, the book is scholarly in its research and in the tone and tenor of the writing, but it is also a book that leaders could easily utilize to lead a leadership group through for the purpose of leadership development or for leading a church to make transitions to this biblical model. Fourth, the book is valuable because the tools and techniques in the book can be instituted by the smallest church to the largest church.
The church has been given a model for its ministers to coach and train the members to do the work of ministry (Ephesians 4:11–12). This is considered a non-conventional approach in the modern church. In fact, churches seem to prefer a professional hierarchy to present and provide ministry to the people. Leveling the Church sheds lights on the dangers the modern-day church is facing and it provides a pathway for the church to return to a biblical model that reflects God's plan for His church.