For some reason I kept putting off reading The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne. It might be the familiarity breeds… thing. After all, I did a ministry apprenticeship with Col nearly 30 years ago, and I overlapped with Tony doing the same thing a year behind me. It could be I thought I’d heard it all before. And I pretty much had! But it’s for this reason, and the passion and commitment of the authors, and the quality of the book, that I’m now keen to recommend it to others. I intend to provide an overview of the material, highlighting what I see as some key issues, share some ideas of how we are seeking to grapple with these things, and make some suggestions.
The two images of the trellis and the vine are used to describe two aspects of Christian ministry.
The basic work of any Christian ministry is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of God’s Spirit, and to see people converted, changed and grow to maturity in that gospel. That’s the work of planting, watering, fertilizing and tending the vine.
However, just as some sort of framework is needed to help the vine grow, so Christian ministries also need some structure and support. It might not be much, but at very least we need somewhere to meet, some Bibles to read from, and some basic structures of leadership within our group. (p. 8)
The observation of the authors is that so often in our churches the trellis work takes over from the vine work. We get caught up in committees, structures, activities, fund raising, keeping the machinery ticking over, such that we lose sight of the reason for the trellis – that is, to support the vine. Drawing on the great commission in Matthew 28, this book argues for vine-growing as disciple-making which should be the normal agenda and priority of every church and every Christian disciple (p. 13).
As churches move away from erecting and maintaining structures to growing disciple-making disciples, a radical mind-shift is required. These changes of outlook will include:
- Building people rather than running programs
- Training people rather than running events
- Growing people rather than using them
- Training new workers rather than filling gaps
- Helping people make progress rather than solving problems
- Developing teams rather than focusing all on ordained ministry
- Forging ministry partnerships rather than focusing on church polity
- Establishing local training rather than relying only on training institutions
- Looking at the long term picture rather than being constrained by immediate pressures
- Engaging in ministry with people rather than being consumed by management
- Prioritising gospel growth over specific church growth
Col and Tony ground their claim to the priority of the vine over the trellis in the Scriptures. They examine what God’s plan is for his world, what he has been doing, and what he is doing now after the finished work of Christ. God is saving souls through the Spirit-backed proclamation of the gospel and this has big implications. Our small ambitions need to be laid aside for the cause of Christ and his gospel. God is calling people to be born anew in Christ and to grow into maturity. And this growth happens by the power of God’s Spirit as he applies the word to people’s hearts. It’s evident that this has little to do with structures and organisations and much more to do with prayerful word ministry.
The Trellis and the Vine aims to show that every Christian is called to be a part of this vine work. Not everyone is gifted in the same way, but we are all called to the task of being and making disciples. The beauty of the body of Christ is we can support one another in this work. The common clergy/laity divide is broken down as leaders and congregations begin to work off the same game plan. Modeling and teaching from pastors, elders, teachers, group leaders and others is focused on God’s agenda of proclaiming Christ and calling people to follow him. We read, discuss, and prayerfully apply the Scriptures together at church, in groups, one-on-one, in formal and informal contexts, with the same aim of growing into maturity as followers of Jesus.
I especially appreciated the careful defining of ‘training’ in this book. The authors contrast our popular understanding of training, with its focus on skills development, and show from the New Testament that training should be more focused on Christian thinking and living.
Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness. (1 Tim 4:7)
All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. (2 Tim 3:16-17)
Though training is not simply the imparting of information, the faithful passing on of sound teaching is essential.
And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable people who will also be qualified to teach others. (2 Tim 2:2)
Training is also modeling a way of life. It is caught as well as taught and we are called to set one another an example. The ultimate example is that of Jesus Christ himself.
Do not cause anyone to stumble, whether Jews, Greeks or the church of God — even as I try to please everyone in every way. For I am not seeking my own good but the good of many, so that they may be saved. Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ. (1 Cor 10:32-11:1)
It’s not that trainers will be perfect, but they are called to watch their lives and teaching carefully. They will impact others profoundly as their progress is seen.
Practice these things, immerse yourself in them, so that all may see your progress. Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers. (1 Tim 4:15-16)
This understanding from the Bible has led the authors to summarise the nature and goal of training by three Cs.
Through personal relationship, prayer, teaching, modeling and practical instruction, we want to see people grow in:
- conviction – their knowledge of God and understanding of the Bible
- character – the godly character and life that accords with sound doctrine
- competency – the ability to prayerfully speak God’s word to others in a variety of ways. (p. 78)
Following the lead and language of the Book of Acts, the authors describe training as more concerned with gospel growth than particular church growth. This happens in the lives of people, not structures. It means we should be generous and willing to send off many whom we train for the sake of God’s church elsewhere. It requires us to see people as people, and not just cogs in the wheel of our own projects. As more and more people are trained in godliness and a good understanding of the truth, then we will find churches growing in numbers and maturity, with people serving one another, encouraging and setting an example to each other. This is a long way from the ‘professional minister with all of his clients’ approach, which does little more than stifle gospel growth.
For churches to adopt this radical mindset requires pastors and leaders to grasp the essential importance of training. It’s not sufficient to be the preacher, clergyman, CEO, or business manager. Leaders need to encourage their churches to become centres of training where disciple-making disciples are nurtured, equipped and encouraged. In this way the opportunities for outreach, teaching, modeling, service and care are shared among the body of the church. Churches can grow in health as well as numbers as more and more people are mobilised. We would do well to conduct an honest audit of our congregational programs, structures and activities and see how we measure up against this picture.
Recruiting co-workers is key to promoting gospel growth, but there are mistakes to be avoided. Here are a few:
- Don’t compromise on core beliefs and values.
- Don’t be impressed by enthusiasm over substance.
- Don’t ignore their track record.
- Don’t choose people who aren’t good at relating to people.
- Don’t recruit in desperation.
- Don’t select unteachable co-workers.
- Don’t simply choose ‘yes’ people.
- Don’t just advertise for volunteers.
The best way to recruit co-workers according to convictions, character and competence is to train them. Keep on the lookout for people who might be suitable to share the load with you. Always be thinking about whom you could be training. Consider if there are one, two or more people that you could especially invest in. Make it happen. Share in their lives, work through the Scriptures together, pray with one another, open your heart to them, delight in their progress, be honest and speak the truth in love, as you encourage them to grow as a disciple-making disciple.
A chapter is devoted in this book to the Ministry Training Strategy. This isn’t surprising given that Col was one of the founders of this ministry and Tony was one of the early trainees. They have shaped and refined this ministry over three decades, and commend it as an excellent strategy for preparing new Christian leaders. It’s basically a two-year apprenticeship that gives people real opportunity to grow in gospel ministry, by doing ministry under the supervision and guidance of a suitable trainer. It’s often a precursor to more formal theological training and has the benefit of enabling a good assessment of a person’s suitability for ministry leadership before investing everything in three or four years at college. A good outcome is a wise and godly decision at the end of the apprenticeship. I’m an advocate for this training experience before formal theological training. I benefited greatly from receiving it myself and have subsequently led more than 60 apprentices through a similar program.
What have I learned from this book?
The biggest thing has been the reminder to see training as part of the DNA of a healthy church – not simply skills development, but the making of disciple-making disciples in response to the commission of Jesus. As churches grow, it is easy to be consumed by organisation, structure, vision setting, strategic planning and the like. We can lose sight of people. It’s been a good reminder that God is seeking people with him for eternity, not clever programs!
The Trellis and the Vine has also encouraged me to be more purposeful in training workers for ministry throughout our church. Training is not simply for the ‘professionals’. It’s about being transformed into the likeness of Jesus, and that’s for all. We need to audit our Sunday meetings, growth groups, children’s and youth ministries, and ask the hard questions. Are we occupied with a gospel work that will make a difference for eternity? Are people genuinely seeking to follow Jesus? Are we making disciples of one another, or are we sitting back assuming it will just happen automatically somehow?
A couple of suggestions
Given that this book is called The Trellis and the Vine there is very little about trellises. The authors’ main point is to get us focused on vine growing and not distracted by erecting and maintaining trellises. However, I would appreciate more on how to create helpful trellises for vine growing. A lack of trellis or the wrong type of trellis can become a serious impediment to vine growth. Disorganised strategies and structures can certainly prevent gospel growth in our churches, but the inverse can also be true. It seems to me that we need to find the right trellis that enables the vine to grow. More could be said on this.
However, and I’m not sure if this point is made explicitly in the book, The Trellis and the Vine is itself a helpful trellis! Here is a strategy with organisational advice to increase the disciple-making outcomes in our churches. Chaos is affirmed in the book as an expected outcome when the focus is on vine growing, but sometimes the chaos is an indicator that some trellis work needs to be done to keep the vine growing healthily.
I also had a concern in the section on ‘people worth watching’. The call is to become ‘talent scouts’, looking for “people with extraordinary gifts in leadership, communication and management; people with vision, energy, intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit; people who are good with people, and who can understand and articulate ideas persuasively. If these are also godly servants of Christ who long for his kingdom, then why not headhunt them for a life of ‘recognised gospel ministry’?” (p. 140) My concern is primarily the order and emphasis. It’s too easy look on the surface, see gifts and talents, and fail to look deeply at the life and character of the person. In a book that has highlighted this issue, it would have been more helpful to illustrate the things that might give evidence of godly character.
A similar concern is the limited mention of ‘love’ as a defining characteristic of the disciple and his or her life and ministry. Interestingly, the first FAQ in the appendix illustrates what makes a great salesperson. The answer is love for the product and care for the people. When it comes to the gospel and Jesus and other people, this is so important. I think it’s a point that could have been much stronger and more upfront in the book. 1 Corinthians 12-14 would have been an excellent starting point for a chapter on the importance of love in building the church and making disciples. I worry sometimes that our catch cry of looking for FAT people (faithful, available, teachable) is not enough. I used to add an S (self-starting or sacrificial), to make FAST people. Maybe we should add an L (loving) to make FLAT people instead.
Overall
This is a very helpful book. I commend it to pastors, ministry leaders, small group leaders and any Christian keen to make their life count for eternity.
