A few weeks ago, we (the church leaders and the congregation) made a decision to dissolve our current church ministry and merge with a bigger, more stable church. At the time, all we saw was that we were in need of better organization and a pastor who was doing the work full time. This course of action did not sit well with some people, understandably, who saw our decision from the organizational viewpoint - that the organization (NWCM) would "lose" a strategic partner.
Well, here we are on the brink of that merge and a few interesting developments have sprang up. Although NetWork Christian Ministries will cease to exist in Federal Way, two new independent works have sprung up because of all this shuffling. Team Evergreen Washington is now a non-church work that will continue to do what it's been doing even outside of any church sponsorship. WITH, made up of the young people who used to comprise our BASIC Youth group, is now its own corporate entity - continuing to do what they have always done but at a higher level. Both of these entities will now function without the formal umbrella of a religious institution. On top of this, the former members of NWCM-FW will now belong to Word International Ministries in Des Moines, WA, serving in whatever area they have been gifted. What some saw as the demise of 1 partner ministry for 1 organization has actually multiplied to the benefit of 3 organizations in the Kingdom of God.
Some people may not agree with how things turned out. They caution that any good work that is being accomplished in this earth should have the Name of Christ attached to it and should be distinctively "Christian" and therefore part of a church. While I agree that we should do all we can to promote the Name of our Savior formally, I do see the advantages in having an entity doing good works without the backing of a formal denomination or church.
First of all, there is no pressure from any denomination for members of these new entities to do their tasks - the only pressure will come from their own members' convictions fueled by their relationship with their God. If these organizations do become successful, nobody else but God can claim glory for it. That alone makes sense to me.
Second, with no professional religious workers overseeing their work, each founding member of these organizations now have to increase their level of service, even more than they did as church workers. That's simply because they have no more minister to rely on to continue the work if they slack off. Gone is the excuse that "the pastor will take care of it, I just GO to that church", which is the typical syndrome found in many small churches. In these organizations, the founding members are it.
Third, the absence of any one denomination makes it possible for other believers of other churches who have the same vision as WITH and TEW to join their work without the constraints of denominational culture. Not every church can focus on serving their communities, just because there are so much resources going into simply maintaining the church itself. Every now and then, a believer may want to be involved in something other than maintaining the body. TEW and WITH provide that opportunity. Please take note: I am not minimizing the importance of internal church ministry or the work of full time ministers who are called to care for their congregations. I am merely saying that the work is so big that some must serve outside their churches even as some serve inside. A good analogy may be in the military, where some serve their country by taking care of the soldiers themselves, maybe as a cook as the soldiers fight battles outside; both are serving their country's cause but not everyone can be a cook.
And last, because TEW and WITH are not particularly denominational, their doors are open to people who may not necessarily subscribe to evangelical beliefs but believe in the work that they are doing. This opens the door for cultural reconciliation and possibly evangelism (i.e. it's much easier to tell service-minded people about Christ when they see you serving the community alongside them).
I don't know about you, but now, more than ever, I believe that God is always with us regardless of what we (the universal body of Christ) call our organizations. And the truth behind Romans 8:28 rings true today even as it did when I was doing ministry inside the church. As long as we keep Him in our hearts and follow His command to serve Him and serve others, and as long as we value ALL those involved in serving God inside and outside of church circles, the Kingdom of God will continue marching forward.
God bless you all.
Dondi
