Well we're up to the last of our ten propositions about Christian ministry. They don't say everything (of course). And they are all necessarily short and simple (being very abbreviated summaries of argument of the new book The Trellis and the Vine that I've just finished writing with Col Marshall). I hope they've been stimulating all the same, and that they've whetted some appetites to read and think and talk further.

The first nine were as follows:

1. Our goal is to make disciples not church members.
2. Churches tend towards institutionalism as sparks fly upward.
3. The heart of disciple-making is prayerful speaking of God's word.
4. All ministry has the goal of nurturing disciples, not just one-to-one discipling or mentoring.
5. To be a disciple is to be a disciple-maker.
6. Disciple-makers need to be trained and equipped in conviction, character and competence.
7. There is only one class of disciples, regardless of different roles or responsibilities.
8. The disciple-making imperative of the Great Commission needs to drive fresh thinking about our Sunday meetings, and the place of training in congregational life.
9. Training almost always starts small, and grows by multiplying workers .

The final proposition is less about the day-to-day life of congregations, and more about the generation-to-generation growth of the gospel.

10. We need to challenge and recruit the next generation of pastors, teacher and evangelists.

When the training engine begins to gather steam, and people within your congregation are being trained and mobilized to minister to others, some ‘people worth watching’ (PWWs) will start to make themselves known—people strong in conviction, character and competence. These PWWs are the potential ‘recognized gospel workers’ of the next generation (that is, those who are given responsibility to teach and lead God's people in some capacity).

If you are a pastor or elder, it is one of your God-given responsibilities to recognize, nurture, train and entrust the gospel to these “faithful men who will be able to teach others” (2 Tim 2:2). The raising up of more of these ‘recognized gospel workers’ not only ensures the guarding of the good deposit of the gospel into the next generation, it also multiplies gospel growth—not by having more ‘professionals’ to do all the work, but by having more godly, gifted men and women to act as key trainers for networks of disciple-makers.

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