Don’t Mistake the Tools for the Project

by Matthew Bohling, Executive Director of Flourish Coaching

(image from wallpaperaccess.com)

Yesterday, it happened twice. I interacted with two different churches that were wrecked by leaders who mistook the tools for the project.

I am a minister in the Presbyterian Church in America. I love the PCA. I was baptized as an adult convert in a PCA church. My first Pastors and Elders were incredibly patient with me. They were interested in me growing in my faith and offered to help me in my doctrinal development. But their passion was not making Christians Presbyterians. They didn’t mistake the tools for the project.

As best I can tell from the Bible, Jesus left us with the project of proclaiming the gospel (Matthew 24:14) to unbelievers where we live, work, and play in the context of loving them as neighbors (Luke 10:25-37). This is the proper beginning place of the project.

As a PCA teaching elder, I’m encouraged and challenged by our Book of Church Order, which indicates that all Elders “...should set a worthy example to the flock entrusted to their care by their zeal to evangelize the unconverted, make disciples, and demonstrate hospitality.” Our congregations would be rather different if that is what animated every Elder on our Sessions and served as our heuristic for Elder qualification.

I like this expression in the BCO because it properly orders things in our lives as Elders. We are good examples to the flock when we have observable, life-altering zeal to evangelize the unconverted. And then yes, if we are doing our spiritual jobs, we must apprentice those reached with the gospel (Matthew 28:18-20). This discipleship is undoubtedly meant to include in part instruction in sound doctrine (Titus 1:9) by mature Elders. That is one small part of the continuation of the project. And while it is an essential small part, it is not meant to be the most crucial part. Note Jesus’ passion in Matthew 28:20 for people to be taught not doctrine but how to obey, which is vastly more challenging.

The proper role of Elders is to be those who understand the gospel profoundly and have learned to apply it broadly so it touches their observed character, life habits, and family life. This is the burden of the passages that tell us what demonstrates that someone has “gotten” the gospel so it affects every area of their life, thus qualifying them to be an Elder (1 Tim 3:1-7, Titus 1:5-9).

However, profound ongoing life change and absolute dependence on the Holy Spirit are hard as we discipline ourselves daily in repentance and faith. However, that pursuit is constantly both humbling and uplifting as we understand in greater depth that God’s grace is indeed greater than our sin (Rom 5:20). I find an advantage of aging is that I’m profoundly more aware of my sinfulness than when I first came to Christ at age 18. This makes God’s grace incredibly humbling and encouraging. God wanted a screw-up like me in His family. Amazing! Amazing grace!

What I’m describing is not an easy path for the Elder to keep trodding even if it is the right path. A vastly easier route is to imagine that the role of the Elder (whether Teaching or Ruling in my tradition) is to not only hold to sound doctrine and teach it (Titus 1:9) but also one whose primary role is to convince others it is correct. 

Twice yesterday and too many sad times to count in our work at Flourish, we have seen that the pursuit of making people confessional Presbyterians too often becomes the functional project of Pastors and Elders. Confessional Presbyterians are wonderful. I’m one of them. God’s used me in the churches I pastored to make some of them by His grace. By they weren’t my goal. I aimed to bring new people to Christ and begin the discipleship process with them.

Many non-Presbyterians will be in heaven. Some of those folks, in God’s providence, will have developed little doctrinally by the time they die or Jesus comes back. This doesn’t upset Jesus (Luke 23:43). However, some Reformed churches function like this is a big problem. This is a mistake and, interestingly, upsets Jesus. Why? It is mistaking the tools for the project.

Our sound doctrine is one tool in our toolbelt as we go about the discipleship process. But it is merely that. Leaders, discipleship, and eventually churches become distorted when it becomes more than that.

One of my best friends is a pastor at a healthy PCA church. The church is healthy for many reasons, but one significant reason was the church planter's philosophy related to Presbyterian doctrine. His philosophy was to teach through the books of the Bible. He rarely used theological buzzwords and always explained them if he did. He believed that if he taught the Bible faithfully, observed the sacraments thoughtfully, and engaged people interested in further doctrinal development, many would become confessional Presbyterians. And they did and continue to do so under my friend’s ministry. 

But that was never the prime goal. He didn’t mistake the tools for the project. Do you?

I have a theory as to why this happens. Understanding Reformed doctrine is intellectually stimulating and vastly easier than loving your neighbor. While we need the powerful working of the indwelling Holy Spirit to exhibit love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control, we don’t need the Spirit to debate other Christians on fine doctrinal points. One only needs to observe apostates who knew abundant “right” doctrine to understand this.

Jesus says that apart from Him, we can do nothing of spiritual value (John 15:5). Utterly relying on the Holy Spirit and abandoning our supposed abilities makes us uncomfortable. We don’t like to be weak but strong. Knowing doctrine makes us feel strong and is easy. Laying down our lives for the sake of others – to which we are called by Jesus (1 John 3:16) – especially those who don’t yet know Christ, makes us feel weak and is hard.

My theory, then, is that being doctrinal is comfortable. Comfort is the hidden idol most Americans unknowingly seek. This is in absolute contrast to Jesus’ call in Matthew 16:24. “...If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” Sounds comfortable, doesn’t it? This is the example Elders are to give to the flock. 

We must demonstrate to congregants that Jesus is worth giving up everything to follow. That is hard, but that is the role of Elders, and Jesus is worth it. 

Does good Eldering involve doctrinal content? Certainly, however, the doctrine is a tool for the project, not the project itself. Let’s stop mistaking the tools for the project.