Skip to main content

The Worship, Walk and Work model of Harvest Bible Chapel.

Go to any of their websites and you will discover Harvest's model for discipleship. I was a member of a Harvest Bible Chapel for about six years, and being out of work for a long time and also entertaining thoughts of being a paid minister of the gospel, a Pastor there told me there, "Mike you don't have to have a degree to serve the Lord!" When I heard these words, I was excited at the prospect of actually serving God without any formal education. What Pastor Ed didn't tell me was that you can serve the Lord without a degree, but you won't ever get paid for it. During my time there as a volunteer minister, I worked extremely hard. I remember friends telling me, "Mike you are working again?" they couldn't understand my dedication to this church, and why I was spending so much of my time and my talent for many years without getting paid!

What I came to understand, is that any church cannot function without a healthy volunteer base. Many of these volunteer are not being compensated by their church in any way, and it doesn't matter what denomination you belong to, there will always be lay people serving you in some from. The model that all Harvest Bible Chapel's use is WORSHIP, WALK, AND WORK. At first glance this seems like a socialistic concept, because there is no financial compensation for this model, and to be a member of a Harvest Bible Chapel Church you are commanded to participate.

Some of their sermons have the intention of recruiting volunteers into full time ministry for free. By chance, some of these volunteers end up on staff, but this is the exception not the rule. There are literally thousands of non-paid volunteers working for free in Harvest Bible Chapel churches around the world and churches like Harvest. The WORSHIP part of their discipleship model encourages congregants to faithfully attend their service, or a service at another Harvest Bible Chapel if they are out of town every weekend. While I was attending there, I literally attended the same service more than once, and on a given weekend and sometimes served all weekend long.

The next thing that this church encourages people to do is join a small group. This is the WALK portion of their discipleship model. In these small groups, there is strict confidentiality covenant and many secrets are told that shouldn't be told to relative strangers, or brother's and sister's in the Lord. Finally the WORK component of their discipleship program includes WORKING for Christ at your local Harvest. This is done by the worker (Volunteer) for free, and the leader of Harvest (James MacDonald) in his sermons has literally commanded that WORK  for Christ, is a badge that you are truly saved, and anyone one who isn't WORKING (Volunteering) for the Lord, is not truly saved.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

On Christian Marriage. (Short)

On Christian Marriage. (Short) The modern co-habitation crisis has produced a lot of single moms and dads, and has fractured "family units" allowing other family members and relatives to take a bigger role in these "Separated families." There isn't a "one cause" why families have separated or divorced, it is a complicated issue, sometimes resulting in very hard emotions for Society to process. Things like the "millennial sexual revolution" have contributed to the widespread "non-committal" attitude, which in turn has given the traditional marriage the "black eye" it currently has and has turned many Christian men away from seeking a life partner. The more society devalues "traditional marriage" the more co-habitation you will see in all the other generations as well as the Millennials. This is Mike.
Post a Comment
Read more

Why Christians must show Mutual Concern for One another.

  Look and see, there is no one at my right hand; no one is concerned for me. I have no refuge; no one cares for my life. Psalm 142:4. Christians in the church should have mutual concern for one another, this is what it means to be part of the body of Christ, 1 Corinthians 12:25. It’s takes good pastoral leadership to foster this sense of concern, and where it is missing, individuals who are suffering in the church are overlooked and not supported. Every believer needs support and encouragement, but when this is missing, the church divides and loses it power and testimony. Christians live like the world, and become vulnerable to Satan’s attacks when nobody is supporting them outside the church. I used to belong to an evangelical church which had great leadership, and something called small groups. This church felt like a family and I had people who shared my Christian walk with me when I was not in the church building. I have been attending a different denomination that doesn’t hav...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Biblical Meaning of “Life in the Spirit.”

  “Life in the Spirit” is an example that the Apostle Paul gives in the book of Romans starting in chapter 5 and going through to chapter 8. He begins by telling us we are justified by faith (5:1), and have gained access by faith into the grace of God (5:2). We have been delivered from God’s wrath (5:9) and we have been reconciled to God through the death of His Son (5:10). He goes on to explain that through Adam all die (5:12), and that the free Gift of God brings justification and righteousness to the believing sinner (5:15-17).   Through our conversion we are baptized into Christ and into his death, which frees us from the law and makes us dead to sin (6:2-4). He explains that just as Christ was raised from the dead, we are given new life in Christ (6:4). Our old unregenerate self was crucified with Christ so that our body of sin might be done away with (6:5-6). Because we have died to sin, we now submit ourselves to God being that we are now under grace, not the law (6:8-1...
Post a Comment
Read more