Descripción
The two images of the trellis and the vine are used to describe two aspects of Christian ministry.
The basic work of any Christian ministry is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of God’s Spirit, and to see people converted, changed and grow to maturity in that gospel. That’s the work of planting, watering, fertilizing and tending the vine.
However, just as some sort of framework is needed to help the vine grow, so Christian ministries also need some structure and support. It might not be much, but at very least we need somewhere to meet, some Bibles to read from, and some basic structures of leadership within our group. (p. 8)
The observation of the authors is that so often in our churches the trellis work takes over from the vine work. We get caught up in committees, structures, activities, fund raising, keeping the machinery ticking over, such that we lose sight of the reason for the trellis – that is, to support the vine. Drawing on the great commission in Matthew 28, this book argues for vine-growing as disciple-making which should be the normal agenda and priority of every church and every Christian disciple (p. 13).
As churches move away from erecting and maintaining structures to growing disciple-making disciples, a radical mind-shift is required. These changes of outlook will include:
- Building people rather than running programs
- Training people rather than running events
- Growing people rather than using them
- Training new workers rather than filling gaps
- Helping people make progress rather than solving problems
- Developing teams rather than focusing all on ordained ministry
- Forging ministry partnerships rather than focusing on church polity
- Establishing local training rather than relying only on training institutions
- Looking at the long term picture rather than being constrained by immediate pressures
- Engaging in ministry with people rather than being consumed by management
- Prioritising gospel growth over specific church growth
Col and Tony ground their claim to the priority of the vine over the trellis in the Scriptures. They examine what God’s plan is for his world, what he has been doing, and what he is doing now after the finished work of Christ. God is saving souls through the Spirit-backed proclamation of the gospel and this has big implications. Our small ambitions need to be laid aside for the cause of Christ and his gospel. God is calling people to be born anew in Christ and to grow into maturity. And this growth happens by the power of God’s Spirit as he applies the word to people’s hearts. It’s evident that this has little to do with structures and organisations and much more to do with prayerful word ministry.
