Church growth scholars enumerate five ministry dynamics that inform a healthy congregational outreach, these are:
- Teaching (didache)
- Preaching (kerygma)
- Prayer/Worship (leiturgia)
- Fellowship (koinonia)
- Service (diakonia)
The aspects above can either be explicitly implemented or implicitly happens unnoticed depending on the church ecology, leadership, and sensitivity to the working of the Hoy Spirit. Recalling these five ministry dynamics and the working of the Holy Spirit in Upendo Baptist Church, Dallas Texas there are aspects that have greatly impacted the formation and disciple making aspects of the UBC church community.
Some explicit “didache” teachings incorporated include Sunday schools for children, organized specialized group workshops among the men, women, youth, and young adults, which may involve the invitation of guest speakers to handle specific topics like family disciple making. The result is natural family talk interest stirred among the families and members of the church.
During the “kerygma” pulpit preaching ministries, the pastoral team aims to stir the congregation to living God’s word implicitly at home, work, and church. The pastoral team recognizes that members are in church for two hours every week, but twenty-four hours at home or in their market space, which is their place of influence.
In response to “leiturgia” worship and prayer, every ceremony done in church must be purposeful. Every ministry service, be it child dedication, baptism, eucharist, weddings, funerals and memorials are intentionally planned to let the congregation know what God’s word say’s about the circumstance at hand.
The “koinonia” fellowship moments are planned to enhance continual growth beyond the “Sunday” meeting. Most gatherings are rather informal, this may involve to take advantage of every group gathering in church and intentionally introduce a disciple making moment. Fellowship groups meet weekly in homes as life groups “doing life together.” To inculcate purpose for meetings every group has the opportunity to expose its members to service. Such “diakonia” moments like compassion, benevolence, or care moments are naturally adopted where members are part of a fellowship. The expectation is members of every group feel cared for in celebrations and crisis moments even in the absence of the pastor.
The study of biblical and historical small groups shows that the formation and posterity of the “disciple making groups” demonstrate the need of factors like, living values, practicing cooperate accountability, clarity in mission and identity, vision sharing, bearing, and caring, openness to outsiders and newcomers, consistency in practicing discipline, adaptability and sensitivity in appreciating the diverse settings as platforms for “Spiritual formation.”[1] “Disciple making” groups are further propagated by a healthy Church ecosystem, group purpose, sound content and context, pastoral engagement in equipping and recognising specialised support groups.[2] It is not farfetched to acknowledge that sound intentional explicit approach stirs implicit activity and creates a movement.
Denominational commitments can both propagate or hinder the five ministry approaches. Organisations tied down with bureaucracy and office protocols may find it hard to cope with congregations that keep evolving as their members seek contemporary solutions to address their day-to-day ministry dilemmas. In contrast healthy denominational leadership gives credibility, sustainability, and accountability in ministry.
Addressing the stability and impact of the UBC Fellowship within the local context is provoking. Currently the church ministers mostly to immigrant Kenyan communities, most live far from the church but come because it is a “Kenyan” community church. Over time other nationalities and races have identified with UBC fellowship as their church. The church though “old” in occupancy is a stranger in this neighbourhood. There is need to design methodologies to incorporate the needs of the Garland community in the church outreach, if UBC Fellowship will have to show spirituality beyond Sunday among its members and neighbours
[1] Bill Donahue and Charles Gowler, “Small Groups: The Same Yesterday, Today, and Forever?,” Christian Education Journal: Research on Educational Ministry 11, no. 1 (2014): Pg 100-103, https://doi.org/10.1177/073989131401100110.
[2] Boren, Scott, and Jim Egli. “Small Group Models: Navigating the Commonalities and the Differences.” Christian Education Journal: Research on Educational Ministry 11, no. 1 (2014): Pg. 163. https://doi.org/10.1177/073989131401100112.