SynopsisCollin Marshall and Tony Payne address current trends in evangelical churches that have given up gospel growth for church growth in The Trellis and the Vine. Marshall and Payne use the metaphor of a trellis to indicate Church infrastructure and program growth, and the vine to indicate gospel growth through people. The authors assume their readers believe that “The basic work of any Christian ministry is to preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in the power of God’s Spirit, and to see people converted, changed and grow to maturity in that gospel” (Marshall and Payne 8). So the admonitions of the text are set in light of an evangelical audience.
In chapters 1-3, the authors give us a definition for true gospel growth. They believe the modern evangelical church has given into pseudo growth models which sound appealing and might even look successful. The problem with most church growth models is that they fail to grow the part of the church that actually makes it the church. For the evangelical church, the focus can easily become management growth, infrastructure growth, and program growth and certainly many programs bring in some people who hear the gospel. But the authors call us to a radical ministry mind shift away from programs and towards gospel growth in people. They want us to be worried about advancing the kingdom by making our focus be on the gospel manifested in people.
In Chapters 4-6, the authors have two primary purposes: to dismember the popular notion that Christian ministry is primarily the work of pastor/elders, and to show that discipleship (along with sound preaching) is the primary means of gospel growth. The distinction between clergy and laity has become far greater than Paul ever intended. Obviously, if true gospel growth happens through disciple making, than the pastor or even elders cannot personally disciple every member in a large congregation. The congregation has the responsibility of discipleship just as the church leadership does. This is not to say that there exists no distinction between congregation and leadership. The authors take us here by way of Paul’s letters to the Thessalonians and Corinthians, where he calls them to be imitators of him (1 Corinthians 10:31-11:1). Paul pleads for ever member to find gospel partnership with him. This means that every person shares the gospel by contributing to gospel growth in the church, and this happens through disciple-making discipleship. The authors exhort every believer to take responsibility for entrusting the good deposit given to them in the gospel. This happens through prayerful community in the gospel at individual, small group, and large group levels.
In Chapters 7-12, the authors teach us practical ways to make disciple-making discipleship growth possible. They start with the premise that “the gospel by its very nature produces growth” (82). The authors give three profound principles when considering how to practice vine work instead of trellis work. (1) Growth of the gospel happens in the lives of people, not in the structures of my church (82). (2) We must be willing to lose people from our own congregation if that is better for the growth of the gospel (83). (3) [Our] understanding of ‘gospel growth’ lies in the way we think about people. We see people not as cogs in our wheel or as resources for our projects, but as individuals each at their own stage of gospel growth (83). These principles lay the foundation for the remaining chapters. Marshall and Payne give warnings to the pastor who sees himself as a “CEO” or a “service-provider.” The pastor exhibits discipleship by becoming a gospel trainer. Training gives responsibility of gospel growth to more than just the pastor, and thus training happens by more than the Sunday morning sermon. The finals chapters answer the true meaning of what “the call” to the ministry truly is. They reconfigure many false perceptions of the call to ministry and give practical resources for the ministry of the gospel.
Reflection
The Trellis and the Vine served me as a member of the body of Christ. Though this book might be addressed to pastors or church leaders, it contains incite and exhortation for those in the pew. I am thankful for the appreciation the authors gave to certain church growth models without following the church growth trends that so easily miss the gospel. My understanding of true gospel growth has morphed. I often fall into thinking that success must be tangible, meaning growth must mean numbers, and structures, and programs. This view of success is no where seen in the New Testament. True success is gospel growth in people. Gospel growth can mean a number of things in different people. Gospel growth means new life, growing in godliness, growing in discipleship, and growing in shepherding. So, no matter “where we are” in the faith, we are in need of gospel growth.
Marshall and Payne gave some needed support for the idea that all believers are ministers of the gospel in a sense. They brought us to Philippians 1 where Paul thanks them for being with them in partnership of the gospel. This was not a passive partnership but an active one, a partnership that included sharing their faith, and thus being ridiculed or beaten for their faith. So often church leaders are seen as first class citizens in Christendom, but no such distinction occurs in the New Testament. Leaders and laity alike are full time ministers of the gospel. We are all called to be ministers, but minister in different venues. Also, the authors gave a profound section on the meaning of “calling” in the Scriptures.
In the final chapters, the authors gave scriptural warrant for their call to disciple-making discipleship. They showed that this can only happen through training in godliness as Paul himself exemplified. Being a trainer is far more exhaustive then simply being a preacher (proclaimer). The authors say in Chapter 6, “It was not only the good deposit of the gospel that Paul passed on to Timothy, but a way of life” (72). They are getting this directly from Paul in 2 Timothy 3:10-11 when he says, “You, however, have followed my teaching, my conduct, my aim in life, my faith, my patience, my love, my steadfastness, my persecutions and sufferings that happened to me at Antioch, at Iconium, and at Lystra—which persecutions I endured, yet from them all the Lord rescued me”. Paul is showing us through his words what true discipleship is, gospel imitation. Paul uses this idea of imitation as the means for discipleship in numerous passages including Philippians 3:17, 1 Corinthians 4:14-17, 1 Corinthians 10, and 1 Thessalonians 1:4-7. We can conclude that gospel growth cannot happen without discipleship, which is training in the gospel, and discipleship cannot happen without relationships with people (not programs) because biblical discipleship means imitation. This book has encouraged me to make my fellowship with people, fellowship in the gospel. This has increased my realization that I am in need of discipleship and I am called to be a disciple.
