Ministry networks strengthen Christian workers

Doug Koop
CW Staff

Pastors and ministry leaders in Winnipeg and southern Manitoba are very much like their counterparts anywhere in Canada-busy, busy, involved, busy, engaged in all manner of issues and kind of busy. And, just like their counterparts elsewhere in Canada, they need support and instruction from their peers. And they need prayer.

That’s why many full-time ministry workers take a few hours each month to get together with others who have similar needs and desires. In the Manitoba capital, two distinct groups of evangelical leaders meet each month.

The City-Wide Prayer Network is the larger of the two groups. It exists for the purpose of bringing ministry leaders together to pray for the city and do spiritual battle with the principalities and powers. MinistryNET exists to equip and encourage ministry leaders by facilitating supportive relationships, promoting active partnerships and providing helpful resources.

There are a few stalwarts who manage to attend both meetings on a regular basis, mostly because they address different needs in ministry life. Occasionally the two groups meet together. That’s what happened one morning in March when the prayer network gathered in its usual spot at Trinity Television’s Christian Media Centre to spend a couple of hours in prayer.

Just as they were wrapping up, a catered lunch arrived (a five dollar Subway package). A few people came and went, but it was evident that some MinistryNET regulars had come for the prayer time, and most prayer network attendees stuck around for the lunch and the speaker.

Mark Hughes, pastor of Winnipeg’s burgeoning Church of the Rock, took to the podium to talk about "how to change your church without blowing it apart.” He spoke from experience: the church he first served as pastor dissolved shortly after his disastrous tenure. But in 1987 he helped found a church that now attracts more than 1,000 worshippers each week and reaches countless others through its television ministry.

Hughes spoke to the reality of change and the need for the church to embrace it in order to witness to the needs of tomorrow. He identified four principles to help maintain stability in a changing environment, beginning with an emphasis on the reality that change requires visionary leadership. "We attract who we are and produce what we preach,” he warned the pastors, even as he encouraged them to develop a clear and compelling biblical vision for their churches.

The need to lead by example is a second important element of managing change well. "Visionary stuff is visionary fluff if you’re not doing it yourself,” says Hughes. "The call is to lead, not push.” He went on to encourage the ministers to be involved in pursuits beyond the church and comfortable Christian circles. "Touch the world,” he said.

Hughes spoke amusingly (and somewhat regretfully) about his own embarrassing first pastorate when he outlined the third principle: "You’re not leading if nobody is following.” From this emerged a plea for consensus leadership, which enhances the authority of any leader. This, he insisted, depends on continuous communication. "Inform people all along,” he says. "Let people process the information and come on board.”

Finally, Hughes acknowledged that change must be managed very carefully. "People are reluctant to change,” he said. "Churches change direction like an oil tanker,” but change can be good and is often necessary, as the metaphor of the wineskins (Luke 5:37-39) illustrates nicely.

Church of the Rock in Winnipeg is more corporate than congregational in the way it runs its operations, more charismatic than staid and unaligned with any denomination. So I asked a pastor from a Mennonite Brethren church what he thought of the presentation. It was realistic and helpful, he said. "Especially when Mark talked about developing consensus leadership, he was describing exactly what I need to do with my congregation.”

There are many ways of ministering and many types of ministers, but each holds much in common as well. Everyone involved in Christian witness benefits from the input of peers and the wisdom of mentors-for prayer, for fellowship, for instruction, and for encouragement. Ministerial associations are good for our leaders, and Winnipeg is blessed to have at least two functioning well.