The Tribune

By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer

jgibson@tribunemedia.net

MOUNT Tabor is changing the way it carries out the work of the church by establishing a new model of ministry that caters to those outside its four walls, and which it hopes will lead them to a personal relationship with Christ, but in a holistic manner.

Bishop Neil Ellis, pastor and leader of Mount Tabor, announced during a press conference this week that the church's structure needed an overhaul to accommodate the changing times.

"Over the years it was the Lord, who through us built a dynamic, spiritually-focused and socially-responsive ministry where members were highly engaged in doing what I now reference as 'church work'. We established robust auxiliaries which were centered around demographics such as age and gender. They represented church work. Many of us agree that they served its purpose well and were relevant for its time and season, but we began to sense over the past few years that things were changing and things were changing fast," he said.

The changing times called for the introduction of a 'Marketplace Ministry' and various sub-commissions which are designed to counter many of the challenges facing the modern-day Christian and heighten the relevance of the church as it interfaces with all spheres of society.

The Marketplace Ministry model, Bishop Ellis said, is coordinated through the office of a committed and staffed secretariat that provides support for 12 commissions: the commissions on arts and entertainment, business, education, evangelism; family, government, health, media, religion, men, women, youth and children.

Each of these commissions will have a three-year tenure and will introduce, during that period, seven nationally relevant yet spiritually infused initiatives to support their objectives, said Bishop Ellis.

"There were widely held, and in many instances, scientifically supported views that our traditional model with a preoccupation with internalised clubs, auxiliaries and titles catered to the congregants within our four walls. The danger with that was that studies and our own observations were confirming that there was a global shifting away from persons coming into the four walls of the church. For example, over the past decade we saw the evolution of a new generation of church attendees who are utilising technology to connect with God and with each other, without consistently coming into the confines of the traditional church walls. The staggering reality is that many people who are leaving the church are not leaving God," he said.

Upon a close analysis of its ministry's structure, Bishop Ellis said it was realised that the current structure only catered to the congregation.

However, it is his belief that the ministry should meet the demands of a shifting culture by "placing a greater focus on life and ministry as it exists outside of the four walls of the church."

Following a sabbatical, Bishop Ellis said he felt a strong conviction that the current model needed to be revamped or the church would stand to lose its "credibility and relevance".

"I am therefore proposing a shifting of the paradigm; an intentional and very strategic plan which will represent a shifting away from the prevalent preoccupation with internalised clubs, auxiliaries and titles within churches, to a more externalised interaction with the prominent spheres of influence, which I pray, will impact all of life, not just church life. This represents the essence of what we mean moving away from - just doing church work to doing the work of the church," he said.