OUTLINE FOR OPEN CELLS

(Week of 6 /13 – 6/19, 2010)

The Church And The Coming Kingdom (2)

"Flipping To Equipping"

Subject - The real calling of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is to stay true to the task of "equipping the saints for the work of the ministry." (Eph. 4:12) Equipping focuses on the preparedness, wholeness and empowerment of the individual first, before becoming overly concerned with training (for tasks) or teaching (related to content). In order for the Church to truly function as an empowered organization, its priorities might well need to be turned right-side-up, placing people before all else, in order to achieve success.

I. The Church, like other organizations, functions to the level of the empowerment of its members.

A. (Steven Covey) "An empowered organization is one in which individuals have the knowledge, skill, desire and opportunity to personally succeed in a way that leads to collective organizational success."

B. (Bill Gates) "As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others."

C. (Eph. 4:11-16) for the "equipping" . . . for the "work"  . . . of the "ministry" . . . for the "edifying" . . .

1. equipping/katartismos/1.) recovered wholeness, 2.) discovered function

2. work/ergon/business, employment, that with which any one is occupied, that which one undertakes to do, enterprise, undertaking, an act, deed, thing done: the idea of working is emphasized in opposition to that which is less than work

3. ministry/diakonia/service

4. edifying/oi-ko-do-ma'/the act of building or building up, one who promotes another's growth

D. (v. 16) " . . . the whole body . . . every joint . . . every part . . . "

1. Body wholeness depends on the restoration and subsequent effective function of each part in order to produce organic multiplication. This goal requires every part's participation.

E. Edifying - Everyone's work (1 Cor. 14:3,4,5,12, 26, 2 Cor. 12:19, Eph. 4:12, 16, 29, 1 Tim. 1:4) Edifying here is clearly contrasted with endless fables and genealogies that produce questions rather than faith.

1. (Jude 20-21 - When there is no one else to edify us, we are encouraged to edify ourselves!)

II. Keys for leaders in organizations that desire to empower their people.

A. Don't delegate and disappear - take responsibility for success; don't entrap, empower  

B. Skill training - This is task-specific training; mapping out the skills needed for each position.

C. Resources - Christian workers must not be expected to multiply bread and fish to feed the masses.

D. Information - Teaching all content necessary to the successful completion of tasks.

E. Katartismos (equipping, training, teaching) It is Christian organizations which should specialize in this area, even putting it first, but often don't. The world fires it's inefficient workers. We are called to heal. Katartismos involves recovered wholeness, discovered function, character development and moving people from potential to ability. The Spanish word for power (poder) also mean "to be able."

III. Empowering organizations realize that they will be limited by their weakest members, making their wholeness of utmost importance or their imminent dismissal an imperative.

A. (Acts 1:8) The power received by the infilling of the Holy Spirit does not in itself empower us. Otherwise, we would not need the further "equipping" spoken of by Paul. (ability = power + equipping)

1. (Aristotle) "You can judge a nation by the way it treats its most vulnerable citizens."

2. (Samuel Johnson) "A decent provision for the poor is the true test of civilization."

3. (Mahatma Ghandi) "A nation's greatness is measured by how it treats its weakest members."

4. (Cardinal Roger Mahony) "Any society, any nation, is judged on the basis of how it treats its weakest members - the last, the least, the littlest."