The Trellis and the Vine

One book above all others (excluding the Bible, but this goes without saying [yet I still feel compelled nonetheless to say it]) has influenced me in how I think about gospel ministry.  Today I finished my second reading of Colin Marshall's and Tony Payne's The Trellis and the Vine:  The Ministry Mind-Shift That Changes Everything (Kingsford, NSW:  Matthias Media, 2009).  I read it for the first time a year ago shortly after its publication.  This time I read it with another intern at church.

The book made a huge splash when it came out and so has been mentioned and reviewed in the blogosphere over and over and over and over and over again.  So rather than a full review I want to give a general overview followed by a few thoughts on how I've found it personally helpful.

Now, some explanation of the title (I get the impression that Australian backyards have more trellises than American backyards).  The trellis is the latticework that supports the vine as it winds up and through the trellis.  Metaphorically speaking, the trellis refers to all the structures in church life and church ministry:  committees, programs, denominational meetings, and all the events that make churches run.  The vine, on the other hand, is the people.  The vine needs the trellis to grow, but what really matters is the vine.  So it is with ministry.  Ministry is all about people--seeing them converted, growing in godliness, and being trained to make new disciples.  Yet many if not most churches become preoccupied with the structures--maintaining programs that have long ceased being effective, developing evangelistic events rather than going out and doing evangelism, and the administration of churches which for all intents and purposes are (religious) corporations.  The Trellis and the Vine is thus a call to vine work.

The final chapter lists ten propositions that helpfully summarize the gist of the book:

1. Our goal is to make disciples 
2. Churches tend towards institutionalism as sparks fly upward
3. The heart of disciple-making is prayerful teaching
4. The goal of all ministry--not just one-to-one work--is to nurture disciples
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 Great Commission, and its disciple-making imperative, 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
10. We need to challenge and recruit the next generation of pastors, teachers and evangelists

Now for some personal reflections.  First, the idea that ministry is about people not structures was a liberating mind-shift.  In the past I've seen church structures stifle ministry, and indeed my own tendencies in my present ministry at Holy Trinity Church is to start developing structures (even good ones like Sunday School classes) rather than to disciple individual people.  

Second, the "Gospel Growth Process" (ch. 7) has been extraordinarily helpful.  The authors identify four stages in a person's growth in the gospel.  The first stage is Outreach, the time before someone repents and believes the gospel.  This stage is divided into two subcategories:  Raising Issues, before the gospel has been shared; and Gospel, referring to a time after someone has shared the gospel with a non-Christian but before that person has been converted.  The second stage is Follow-Up, after someone has become a Christian yet is still in need of instruction along the way to maturity.  The third stage is Growth, which is divided into Needs Help (for someone is struggling in some way) and Solid (a mature Christian).  The final stage is Training, although this isn't distinct from the growth stage, since no one ever stops growing.  Training is divided into General Training (those skills which every Christian needs to know, such as how to share one's faith) and Specific Training (how to preach or lead a Bible study).  The chart on page 87 lays it out quite nicely and shows that this is much simpler than I've been able to describe it.  All this is to say that thinking in terms of gospel growth stages is very helpful in determining how to minister to particular people.

Third, the huge emphasis on training--from developing a core group of "vine-growers" and "co-workers" serving alongside the pastor or pastors to a two year ministry apprenticeship prior to seminary--was likewise stimulating.  In some of my past experience the emphasis was more on testing than training.  The thinking in many American evangelical churches seems to be, "The ministry is so important that we're going to do everything we can to keep the wrong people out of it."  For Marshall and Payne, on the other hand, the thinking is, "The ministry is so important that we're going to do everything we can to recruit and train as many qualified people as we can for it."  I think they make a strong biblical case for their position.  

If you want a great plug for the book check out this clip from Mark Dever, which has probably been posted on all the blog posts about this book:

Please get and read this book!