The Spiritual Model of Ministry

Someone asked me, “So, what do you mean when you say the vestry is moving from a business to a spiritual model of ministry?” Yes, this is my sincere hope. I am convinced by reading Scripture that the church was never meant to be a business and the vestry is not a board of directors. To impose “business” on church leadership is to reduce the church to a profit/loss, numbers game when it is meant to be about spiritual transformation. This doesn’t mean that we in the church cannot learn from the world (it has been my practice for a long time to read a secular management book every year), but the Kingdom of God is far more eternal and dynamic than fundraising for dispensing a product or service.

When I speak about a spiritual model, here is what I mean:

Jesus is the “head” of CCA, not just the figurehead. (Colossians 1:18; Ephesians 1:22)

This means the rector and vestry are not the head.

And the purpose of the head is to lead the body.

This means the highest purpose of the rector/vestry is to “hear” the head (to pray) and then to go where God directs.

God will lead us if we will listen to him.

Serving on the vestry, then, will be a spiritually invigorating experience every time because it will demand greater and greater dependence on God.

I don’t know of a more important and revolutionary biblical principle than this: “Jesus is the head of Christ Church Anglican!” It sounds good, but to get hold of it and to walk the road of its practical implications for our life and ministry will change us. To have a rector, staff, and vestry that supports spiritual leadership will center us on Jesus Christ and the work of his Spirit in our midst. It will put “hearing God” higher than bylaws, Roberts Rules of Order, and my own pet peeves and music preferences. It will make our congregational life an adventure with an adventuresome God.

In Christ,

Chuck Collins