θαυμάζω

Every year, many pastors undergo a tradition as perennial and written into nature as a jacaranda’s bloom or a salmon’s journey home .  The tradition is the dreaded leadership drive. “We need more Bible study leaders!” “We’re losing a bunch of musos!” “Sharon wants to step down from Sunday school teaching next year because she’s doing her CA” “Benjie doesn’t want to do youth group anymore; he wants to give welcoming a try” “Can Leanne play the drums??” Panic sets in as the roster holes grow wider. How is it we have hundreds of members in our church, and yet so few people to serve? A framework for thinking about church ministry In The Vine Project , ministry trainers Colin Marshall and Tony Payne lay out a discipleship framework which they call the 4Es. The 4Es are a pathway of bringing lost people from non-Christian to Christian. They hold this out as a way for churches to think of doing productive gospel ministry. The 4Es are: Engage : This is when the church engages non-Christians th