It is often said that the Church is like a Wheelbarrow; it doesn’t move unless you push it. Unfortunately this is often true. But what can be done about it.
Perhaps there is an approach that can move on from this image to something more appropriate for the Body of Christ
Start with a Team – often it seems that only one person is pushing, so the first step is to gather a team of those who seem most active in the church (always admitting that not all the active people are active in a good way; so we are looking for godly people). Getting them together and getting them to recognise their calling together as leaders in the church. Identifying the leadership team is the first hard step.
Getting the Team to Work Together – the next stage is to recognise that the people who may seem to be called to leadership all have their own ideas and agenda. If they are pushing (or pulling) in different directions they are not going to be part of the solution. There is probably no shortcut in this stage – it takes time talking, praying and worshiping together, to find some sense of mutual calling and vision. And, this needs to be an ongoing working at relationship; regular and committed.
Envisioning the Church – if it is left there, we have only achieved more people pushing the wheelbarrow. We need to do something about the wider Church. Perhaps, the first stage is to begin to encourage a vision of what the church is and what it can be. This can be like oiling the wheel; making the wheelbarrow easier to push and decreasing its natural resistance. Churches naturally get rusty unless they are maintained. Envisioning, here, has a double meaning: it is both giving the church a vision (a purpose and direction); and it is seeing the church differently (envisioning a different way of being church). Both are necessary.
Equipping the Body – Making the wheelbarrow easier to push is a great thing (it is often harder than it should be; somehow like pushing it uphill). But the next stage is like installing a motor. The church is not meant to be pushed, like a wheelbarrow; it is a living body, that moves because it is alive. And Leadership is meant to be an encouraging and managing its growth and life, not pushing it along. Often, though, the body has become like a patient in hospital; a once living and vital person, becomes dependent and passive. We need to free the people and equip them to live out their calling together.
Given all of the above, however, we need to remember that each church is the actual people of Christ that have been gathered as that local expression. They are not theoretical, but real, people; and they are the people that must be that particular expression of church. We always have to work with what we’ve got – with who we are – and to wish we (or they) were different is lacking in faith. Jesus gathered the most unpromising group of disciples, but in his hands, and with the gift of his Spirit, they turned the world upside down.