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The trellis and the vine

The ministry mind-shift that changes everything

How does your pastor use his time?

THE TRELLIS AND THE VINE
The ministry mind-shift that changes everything
By Colin Marshall and Tony Payne
Matthias Media (available from http://thegoodbook.co.uk). 196 pages. £10.00
ISBN 978-1-92144-158-5

This book is encouraging, challenging, and provocative. The authors use the apt parable of a vine growing upon a garden trellis in order to challenge our preconceived ideas concerning much of modern-day church life.

Too often as churches we concentrate upon trellis work — committees, structures, programmes, activities, events — and not upon vine work — making disciples who in turn make other disciples.

The book falls naturally into two parts. The first part describes what churches should be about: bringing God’s word to Christians and non-Christians and praying that God would cause that word to bear fruit by his Spirit. This is essential vine work. It’s for all. It’s not just for those within the leadership of the church. The second part of the book — and, for that reason, the book as a whole — is directed towards church leadership. It deals with the practicalities of how we are to change, as churches and as church leaders, from focusing upon the trellis to focusing upon the vine. The authors argue that church leaders must not only be preachers and pastors, but also trainers. All within churches are to be trained as effective disciple-makers. This is not simply training in competency, but also in knowledge and godliness, in understanding and character.

However, why in particular do I say the book is encouraging, challenging, and provocative? Well, it’s encouraging because it makes us consider again what churches are all about. Christians — and the churches they belong to — are part of God’s glorious kingdom purposes. Jesus tells us to ‘make disciples of all nations’ (Matthew 28.19). So it’s encouraging to rightly take our eyes away from the frustrations of trellis work and focus them upon what truly matters — vine work. The book is challenging because as church leaders we need to seriously face up to the radical attitude-change that is demanded by it. What is our primary focus within church life: the trellis or the vine? For this reason, I would highly recommend this as a study book for church leadership over a period of a month or two. It will pay back the effort spent. The book is provocative because there are elements within it that I’m unsure about. Are the practical suggestions made to facilitate the required mind-shift only another form of trellis work? Do the authors — through conflicting statements — downplay the primacy and necessity of the preached word on Sundays? How do these ideas work out within a small church with very limited resources? This book is precisely the type of book which makes you wish you could sit down with the authors in order to thrash out the details of exactly what they mean! Overall, this book is strongly recommended.

Ray Trainer,
pastor of a small, reforming, evangelical church on the Wirral