The Rev. Dr.
Gregory Tournoux
"Make Disciples Who Will Make Disciples," Pastor Tells Erskine Seminary Students
The Rev. Dr. Gregory Tournoux told Erskine Theological Seminary students Wednesday that he inherited a dwindling congregation known for "fighting, feuding and fussing" and learned that growing a small church "is all about reproduction" — making new Christians. "It's difficult, but it can be done," he said, adding that the process must begin "on your knees."
In the first of this year's Ford Lectures, Tournoux stressed the importance of "making disciples who will make disciples," compared a traditional model of the church with what he called the "new apostolic" model, and spoke about moving toward the new model and developing church leadership.
Tournoux, who became rector of a declining Episcopal parish in Owosso, Mich., in 1991, said the process of making disciples includes three conversions: to Christ, to the church, and to ministry and mission.
A traditional understanding of the church assumes the United States is a Christian nation, emphasizes ministry to Christians in the church building, focuses on ordained and staff-centered ministries, and sees Christian education primarily as the delivery of information. "This traditional model is not really working anymore," Tournoux said.
In the new apostolic model, he said, the church takes into account today's pluralistic, global and secular culture and directs its ministry to Christians with no church home, non-Christians and nominal Christians in the community and the larger world, offering active Christian education, in which church members are both hearers and doers.
Church members are often willing to listen to lectures, but Tournoux contends that education in the church "has to do something in people's lives" to be effective.
"You can't just sit and soak," he said, telling about a weeklong education series on evangelism he conducted. He said the participants spent part of the time going into the community and gaining experience in evangelism rather than spending the whole week in class.
"Isn't that what Jesus did with his disciples?" Tournoux asked, citing gospel accounts of Jesus teaching his disciples, then sending them out to preach and heal. "Go out, then come back and we'll talk about it."
In the traditional model, the church is passive and sometimes uncertain of its central aims, Tournoux said, but in the new apostolic model, the congregation has a vision, "a dream of a preferred future," as well as clear core values.
"It is important to ask what kind of Christian God wants in the church and what kind of church produces the kind of Christian God wants," he said.
Tournoux said that in his own denomination there is often excessive concern about buildings and furnishings. Church members become attached to the familiar and this can keep the congregation from moving forward. In the new apostolic model of the church, building people is primary. Buildings, pews, and stained glass "must not drive our life" in the church, he said.
"The church is not like a lake or a pond," Tournoux said. "I see the church as a river — a river is always moving."
Tournoux said the shift from the traditional model to the new apostolic model cannot be accomplished all at once, and advised pastors to try "tweaking rather than dramatic change."
Moving toward the new apostolic model must be done "slowly, prayerfully and highly relationally," Tournoux said, building on "islands of health" that exist even in a failing congregation.
"People won't follow a vision, but they follow people," he said. A pastor can influence a congregation to live its vision and core values, but it is essential to have high expectations of the laity.
Tournoux said the traditional church model's requirements for the laity can be summarized as "pray, pay and obey," but in the new apostolic model this is not enough. "God wants to move in people's lives — He wants to do more than we can ask or imagine," he said.
"I am trying to work myself out of a job,"Tournoux said. "The only thing I do that laypeople in my parish can't do is sacramental ministry." He stressed the importance of cells, small groups within the larger congregation, for developing leadership.
"When a member of the congregation leaves and goes to live somewhere else, that person should be able to start a cell group wherever they go," he said. "A college student away from home, for example, should be able to start a small group Bible study."
"Our mission is about making disciples who will make disciples," Tournoux said.
The Ford Lectures conclude today, with Tournoux speaking on how the "cell system" works and continuing his explanation of the traditional and new apostolic models.
Tournoux is rector of Christ Episcopal Church in Owosso, where Sunday worship attendance has tripled and the budget has more than doubled during his tenure. He holds the B.S. degree in special education from Slippery Rock University, a Master of Divinity degree from Virginia Theological Seminary, and a Doctor of Ministry degree from Trinity Theological Seminary in Indiana.
The Ford Lectureship, established in 1995 by an anonymous friend of the seminary, focuses on the small membership church. The lectures honor Wilborn McCree and Lyllian Virginia Rosen Ford, a Presbyterian couple whose lives were devoted to pastoral ministry for 46 years and who were especially concerned for the future of the small church in remote or sheltered areas.
