Status Updates From The Trellis and the Vine

“This is what God is now doing in the world: Spirit-backed gospel preaching leading to the salvation of souls. It's his program, his agenda, his priority, his focus, his project, or whatever business-related metaphor you'd like to use. And by it, he is gathering a new Christ-centred people as his very own; a quiet, steadily growing profusion of leaves on the great vine of his kingdom.”

"If people are not growing in their knowledge of God's will so that they walk ever more worthily of the Lord, seeking to please him in all things and bearing fruit in every good work, then there is no growth to speak of happening at all."

"Training is inescapably relational. It cannot be done in a classroom via the supposedly neutral transferral of information. The trainer is calling upon the trainee to adopt not only as teaching, but also the way of life that necessarily flows from that teaching."

"all pastors and Elders are also just partners. They do not have a different essence or status, or a fundamentally different task- as if they are the real players, and the rest of the congregation are spectators or support crew. It passed her or Elder is a vine worker who has been given particular responsibility to care for and equip the people for their partnership in the gospel."

"The pastors and Elders certainly take the lead in Vine work and our responsible for guarding and teaching the word and maintaining the gold standard of sound doctrine. But one of the facts of this work is to equip and release the members to do Vine work themselves."

This is basically "teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime."