LET ME TELL YOU ABOUT OUR CHURCH

 Explaining the Story, Statements, Structure and Strategy Of New Wine Church 

“THIS IS HOW WE LIVE”

By Pastor Tayo Adeyemi
New Wine Church, London

Sunday 21 August 2011

Foundation Scriptures: Matthew 16:18 & Habbakuk2: 2-3

Last week, we began by looking at our Statement of Faith, which speaks of what we believe; and we agreed that what we believe will determine how we behave. We also agreed that it is important for us to know not only what we believe, but also why we believe. We then went on to look at our lifestyle statements, which are baptism, communion, worship, fellowship, evangelism and ministry.
We unpacked the first three of those seven lifestyle statements – baptism, communion and worship. Baptism by immersion in water, we learned, is an outward symbol of a believer’s faith and a representation of our identification with Jesus Christ in His death, burial and resurrection. We looked at Communion, which comes from the Greek word ‘koinonia’, meaning fellowship, association, community or joint participation and learned that the broken bread represents the body of Jesus, which was broken for us; and that the wine represents the blood of Jesus, which was shed for us. Finally we looked at Worship; and establish that it is our number one priority because we were created to worship God and agreed that at New Wine church, our worship is celebrative, reflective and expressive. Now today, we are going to pick up from there and look at the remaining four lifestyle statements. 

In Acts 2 we see a very succinct description of the lifestyle of the early church. Particularly in Acts 2: 41-42, 46-47 from which we understand that the early church ‘continued steadfastly in the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship in the breaking of bread and prayers’ we see our lifestyle statements, namely baptism, communion, worship, fellowship, discipleship, evangelism and ministry encapsulated perfectly.
So, let’s start with Fellowship which is an integral aspect of church life. In fact, take fellowship out of church and it is no longer church. Notice how this passage says they ‘continued steadfastly’ in fellowship. So, this was not something they did by the way – they were deliberate about it; and they were consistent with it. Last year, when I taught on the power of connection, we understood that the strength of any church is essentially the strength of the connection between its members. In 1 John 1:3-4 we understand that our joy can only be full when we are in fellowship with God and with one another. Incidentally, the Greek word for fellowship is exactly the same Greek word for communion – ‘koinonia’.

As a local church, we are a fellowship. But fellowship is not just what we are; it is also what we do. The point here is that we must be deliberate about connecting with one another. As a member of this church, you owe it to yourself to be aware of all the opportunities for fellowship provided by your church; and to take advantage of them. From joining a team to joining a Cell Group, to attending events for men, women, youth, singles etc, the opportunities are there – you just need to be aware of them.

Somebody once defined fellowship as “two fellows in a ship” - I like that definition. It means we’re on a journey together, we’re headed in the same direction and we have the same destination so we might as well get to know each other, so we can enjoy the journey together. If you’ve been in this church for more than six months, and you don’t know at least twelve people very well, you are not participating in fellowship. In Acts 2:42 we see that the early church members prayed together, studied the word together and devoted themselves to doing so. I ask you: ‘Are you devoting yourself to fellowship?’

Now, for any kind of fellowship to be effective, we must embrace and promote harmony and unity as a matter of priority. There is a slight difference between harmony and unity, although they both work to achieve the same goal. Harmony is the consistent, orderly arrangements of different parts whereas unity is bringing the different parts together to work as one. Now, promoting harmony and unity does not mean we all have to be exactly the same. In fact, harmony by definition means we have to be different. Singers will tell you that for four people to sing in harmony, they all have to sing different parts. Unity is not the same as uniformity. I don’t have to be exactly like you for us to work together as one.  God loves variety and diversity which is why there are 35,000 species of tulips and over 18,000 species of roses. If all roses were red, the world would be a very boring place! God created you to be unique, so it’s okay to be yourself but in trying to be yourself, make sure you’re doing everything to promote harmony and unity.

Romans 14: 19 exhorts us to ‘aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up’ and in Ephesians 4: 3 we are instructed ‘make every effort to keep yourselves united in the Spirit, binding yourselves together with peace.’  Therefore you must constantly ask yourself whether your words and actions are promoting harmony and unity or disharmony and disunity.
Discipleship, just like baptism, is an integral part of the great commission. In Matthew 28: 19-20 Jesus told us ‘Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you’ We were not commissioned to go and make converts or even to make church members; we were commissioned to make disciples. And if you look closely in that passage, Jesus tells us how to make disciples. How? By ‘teaching them to observe’. So disciples are made through a programme of systematic teaching. You cannot be satisfied with just the fact that you are saved, you need to ask yourself; “Am I a disciple?” If you look through the entire ministry of Jesus He always made a distinction between the multitudes and the disciples. To His disciples, He would say things like; “To you it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given”. [Luke 8:10] He would speak to the multitudes in parables, but He would break things down for His disciples. In every church there are multitudes and there are disciples and you have to honestly and seriously ask yourself; “Which one am I?” Seriously, this is not an issue you can brush aside or ignore; as a believer, sooner or later you will have to confront it.  God will not trust you with leadership unless you have first been a disciple.

In Matthew 4:19 Jesus told his disciples ‘Follow Me and I will make you fishers of men’ in his instruction “Follow Me” is the essence of discipleship. “I will make you fishers of men” – that’s leadership. In Mark 3:13-16 we see that Jesus ‘went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. Then He appointed twelve that they might be with Him and might send them out to preach and to have power to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons’ Note that He called them to be with Him before He sent them out to be leaders.
A poor disciple will make a poor leader and a great disciple will make a great leader. Sadly, we live in a day and age where people want to be leaders without first being disciples. So the big question today is; are you a disciple or are you just one of the multitudes? How can you tell which one you are? Simply ask yourself two questions: “Have I submitted myself to systematic teaching?” “Does my life remind people of my Master, Jesus?” In Acts 4:13, when Peter and John were summoned before the Sanhedrin, they could tell straight away that they had been with Jesus. So, let me give you a few pointers: First, if people can’t tell that you have been with Jesus, chances are you are not a disciple. Second, if you only come to church on Sundays, chances are you are not a disciple. Third, if you have not submitted yourself to any form of systematic biblical instruction, chances are you are not a disciple.

In Luke 6: 40 Jesus said ‘A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone who is perfectly trained will be like his teacher.’ This makes clear that you cannot separate discipleship from training. The purpose of discipleship is maturity; the process of discipleship is teaching. Here at New Wine, there are different levels of discipleship training. First, there’s New Life Programme, which is a three week course for people who have just received Christ. Then there’s Membership Programme, which is a five week course for people who want to know more about church life and who want to formally become members. Then there’s Believer’s College – a ten week course for those who wish to take their relationship with God to the next level. These are all fantastic programmes that you can take advantage of, if you’re serious about discipleship.
Evangelism is also an integral part of the great commission. In Mark 16: 15 Jesus said ‘Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature’. ‘Go’ is an action word – it means “you take the initiative”. ‘Go’ means a change of location – it means “don’t wait for people to come; you go and find them”.
Now, here’s the big argument for evangelism: ‘If we don’t go, how will they know?’ Romans 10:14 poses the fundamental question ‘ But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them’?  In each of our lives, there are people who are doomed to an eternity without God, unless we open our mouths and tell them about Jesus.
One of the biggest ways the body of Christ has been crippled is that we have been sold this lie that Ministry is the exclusive reserve of a few. Remember, the church is a body and just like the physical body, it functions when every part ministers to every other part. You are healthy and fit today because every part of your body is actively engaged in ministering to every other part. If only a few parts of your body were working, you would not be able to operate at your maximum potential. In Ephesians 4: 16 Paul explains ‘He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.’ The body is at its best when every part does its share and every joint supplies. In the book of Acts where we are told that believers shared and pooled resources, although this relates primarily to financial resources it is equally applicable to giftings, abilities and non-financial resources. Everyone contributed towards meeting the needs of everybody else. That’s how a healthy church is supposed to function. Now, here’s the interesting part – everybody has needs. And just as God has called someone else to meet your needs, He has called you to meet someone else’s needs. It is amazing what a local church can do if we all just simply realised that we are all ministers.

You are a minister – you are created for ministry, saved for ministry, called into ministry, gifted for ministry, authorised for ministry, commissioned for ministry and needed for ministry! But, you may ask, if we are all called to minister, what are the leaders supposed to be doing? Well, this is how it works: the members minister, the leaders administer.  Each of us has our own share in ministry and if every part does its share, there will be no place for competition. The hand is a hand because it is good at doing hand things.  The eye is the eye because it is gifted at seeing.  As a body, we’re called to minister to one another. The phrase ‘one another’ appears in the bible 58 times: Love one another; Care for one another; Bear one another’s burden; Greet one another; Encourage one another; Pray for one another ; Share with one another to name but a few. So here’s another important question you must ask yourself; “Am I doing my share? Am I involved in the ‘one another’ dynamic of church life?”

So there we have it – our seven lifestyle statements: Baptism, Communion, Worship, Fellowship, Evangelism and Ministry. This is how we live!