Posted: 07/17/2005 at 7:21pm | IP Logged

An Australian’s Alternative to One-Man-Band Ministry

By Steve Eastman
OpenHeaven.com

        “When individuals in the body of Christ do not function, they need someone to carry and feed them and do everything else needed for their spiritual walk and well-being….  If you have ever seen a one man band, you will know what I am talking about – he has a guitar over his shoulder, a wire contraption holding a harmonica to his mouth, bells on his hat, a drum operated by one foot pedal and a cymbal operated by another….  In the life of the church, this is the one man band pastor!” – David Newby from The Bubble Will Burst. OpenHeaven.com invites you to visit with the author.  David Newby is founder of Team Ministry International.  It is a church of about 40 people in New South Wales, Australia.

What are some of the life experiences that God used to teach you the principles of the book?

Back when I was in Bible College about 30 years ago, one of our lecturers took us through the book of Ephesians, word for word in the Greek.  I remember just in my own private time with the Lord that I started to get the big picture, especially of Ephesians, Chapter 4.  I just couldn’t get away from the fact that this was a team that God was talking about.  The body of Christ was built on multiple gifts and multiple ministries.  I couldn’t see in that book anywhere that the church was supposed to be led by one man, by a pastor.  When I looked at the book of Acts I found the same thing.

What kind of ministry model were you involved in at that time?     

My background was Episcopalian and I started to get involved in charismatic and Pentecostal churches.  All of those were pretty much based on the senior pastor model.

What is the structure of Team Ministry International—house church, cell church or something else?

We meet in a community hall.  We also own a house in the middle of this housing area, which we use for outreach purposes and mid-week meetings.  Over the past eight years we’ve had meetings in people’s houses, in their yards.  We started the church based very much on outreaching into a ghetto area.  (We) really had a burden to see the Kingdom of God established in this area.  Initially people followed me thinking it was going to be a traditional senior-pastor model church.  I just kept working on changing their values.  It probably took two years before people understood the Scriptural value of team ministry/body ministry.  I really had the sense that I should only be doing those things that God had called me to do and therefore (had) to stand aside and let others fulfill their ministry.

Is anybody in full-time ministry with Team Ministry?

No.  All of us have our jobs or businesses and put as much time into it (Team Ministry) as we can.

So is everyone from Team Ministry part of the team?

Absolutely.  We say, “We’re having a meeting to make some decisions.  Everyone who comes can be part of the decision-making process.”  It gives everybody the opportunity to input into the church if that’s what they feel they should do and there are those who are quite happy to let others seek God and make those decisions for them.

How much do translation difficulties affect the way we view church life?

There are many people who defend the King James Version to the hilt.  One of the instructions given to the translators was that the old ecclesiastical words from previous translations, especially the Bishop’s Bible, had to be maintained.

What were some of those words?

For example, the use of the word “office,” as in the office of an elder or deacon.  That word “office” is not even there in the Greek.  It was a verb meaning overseeing or serving.   Another typical one is the translation of the word “ecclesia” into the word “church.”  When I say the word “church,” generally we think of hierarchical organizations … buildings … programs, whereas that word “ecclesia” really means congregation, people who have been called out of the world to Jesus Christ.

Beyond having the church structure right what is more important?

The bottom line is this.  We have mistaken titles and position for ministry.  We confuse leadership and ministry.  When we’re together and we’re all functioning, as each one functions, the rest of the body submits to the operation of the Spirit through that person (through whom He’s working) at any point in time.  It’s not as though we always have to look to the guy in charge to say, “If it’s okay, can I do this?”  There’s a sense of working together that’s led by the Holy Spirit and submitting to one another.  People ask me, “What is the local church supposed to look like?”  The church has always been a combination of small groups and large groups from day one, the day of Pentecost. In every community it will be different for two reasons—the dynamics of that community and the dynamics of the church that is in that community.

David Newby has been in part-time and full-time ministry since 1971, living and working in Australia and many countries in Asia and the South Pacific. He has spent many years in children's ministry, leader training, church leadership and pioneering. He has been married to Rosemary for 23 years and they have five children, three boys and two girls.  As it says on their website, www.teamministry.com.au, their burden is to see the one, true Church of Jesus Christ built and brought to maturity through the proper function of each individual working member.  “Jesus taught and lived the Kingdom of God....”—from The Bubble Will Burst.

Read Steve's Review of David Newby's The Bubble Will Burst