Effective Christian Ministry

by Ronald W. Leigh, Ph.D.

Chapter 2 – The Goal: Salvation and Christian Maturity

PRINCIPLE 2
The goal of any Christian ministry is twofold: first, to help
others become saved, and second, to help them grow toward
complete Christian maturity.

Beyond Salvation
The decision to accept Jesus Christ as Savior, in itself, is the most important single decision a human being
can make. Salvation brings spiritual life. It establishes the believer's new relationship with God both for the
remainder of his life on earth and for eternity. The relationship with God established by this decision is the
basis for all subsequent Christian living and growing. In other words, the position (salvation) is basic to the
practice (the Christian walk). Because of the extreme importance of the salvation decision, some might think
that all of the believer's efforts should be aimed at getting people saved. However, this is not the emphasis of
the New Testament.

The New Testament states clearly that each individual believer is to go beyond salvation and aim for complete
Christian maturity. Paul preached, admonished, and taught with the goal of presenting everyone "perfect in
Christ" (Colossians 1:28). He also said that believers, members of the body of Christ are to build each other
up "until we all ... become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ" (Ephesians 4:13).
Paul was not satisfied to stop with salvation. Rather, he worked toward the goal of guiding every individual
toward complete Christlikeness. At one point Paul even expressed more concern for building up Christians
than he did for preaching the gospel to nonbelievers. Even when there were still many localities to be reached
with the gospel, Paul said to Barnabas, "Let us go back and visit the brothers in all the towns where we
preached the word of the Lord and see how they are doing" (Acts 15:36).

Thus we have a twofold goal. Salvation is basic, for without spiritual life spiritual growth is impossible.
(Since salvation is so important, Principles 8 - 16 are devoted to the gospel and evangelism.) However, even
though the new believer's position is perfect in Christ, his daily practice is not. His understanding of the
teachings of the Bible must grow. His consistency in applying those teachings must increase. He must learn
to share his new life with others. In short, he needs to grow more and more mature, more and more like
Christ.

The great commission, Christ's command to his followers at the end of his earthly ministry, also encompassed
this twofold goal. It is a command to contact those who do not yet know Christ (the "nations") and to teach
them to obey everything Christ commanded his disciples.
 All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all
nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching
them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of
the age." (Matthew 28:18-20)

What is Complete Christian Maturity?

The word "mature" is commonly used in two different ways. Sometimes it is used in an ultimate sense,
sometimes in a current sense. Maturity in the ultimate sense would refer to an individual only when he has
"arrived" at the final destination. Maturity in the current sense would refer to any individual who is "on
schedule" right now, implying that there is a fixed sequence or schedule which each person must follow.
Since there is a relatively fixed sequence of physical and mental development in the child, it is possible to
speak of a one-year-old as mature because he can walk, a two-year-old as mature because he can talk in
simple sentences, and a six-year-old as mature because he can read. (Of course, neither the one-, two-, or six-
year-old is mature in the ultimate sense.) But there is no fixed sequence or set schedule for spiritual
development, so it is better to use the word "mature" only in the ultimate sense when talking about spiritual
growth. We will refer to the ultimate destination of spiritual growth as "complete Christian maturity."

No one ever reaches complete Christian maturity in this life. Complete Christian maturity is spiritual
perfection, and no one is able to maintain sinlessness in this life (1 John 1:8-10). But even though the ultimate
goal is out of reach in this life, subgoals are within reach, and growth toward these subgoals is to be the
Christian's daily occupation.

Below are five general descriptions of complete Christian maturity. All five refer to the same thing, yet each
one states the idea in a different way, relating maturity to the three members of the trinity as well as to the
Bible and to our built-in sinful tendencies.

Complete Christian Maturity is:

Being like the Father, holy (1 Peter 1:15)

Being like the Son, Jesus, complete and mature (Ephesians 4:13; Colossians 1:28; James 1:4; 1 John
2:6)
Being thoroughly adjusted to the Holy Spirit's influence (Galatians 5:16)
Being consistently obedient to God's Word (James 1:22)
Not being selfish, proud, or independent (Philippians 2:3-8)

In a single word, complete Christian maturity is Christlikeness.

A List of Characteristics

All of the above descriptions of complete Christian maturity are generalizations. In order better to visualize
Christlikeness, and to apply the concept to our lives, we need a much more specific description. Thus,
seventy-three characteristics of Christlikeness are listed below, organized in eleven categories. Of course, this
list, which is based on the New Testament commands, is only a partial list.

1. In relation to God:

assurance of salvation
deep love toward God
submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ in all aspects of life
yielded to the Holy Spirit
recognition of one's own sinful tendencies and shortcomings
desire to be like Christ
sincere worship of God
continual earnest prayer and thankfulness
 immediate confession of sins

2. In relation to the Bible:

conviction that the Bible is God's Word

rich knowledge of the Bible
rich knowledge of Bible doctrine
aware of false doctrine
aware of religions and cults
desire to know more about God and his Word
able to feed oneself from the Bible
regular Bible study
applies the Bible to one's daily life

3. In relation to evil, Satan, worldly influences:

sensitive to sin, recognizes evil

hates sin and Satan and desires to live apart from sin, Satan, and worldly affairs
resists temptation; abstains from all forms of evil

4. In relation to oneself:

wholesome thought life

takes good care of one's body
honest acceptance of oneself
humility
joy
peace
self-control; self-discipline

5. In relation to all other Christians:

unity of Spirit
love
understanding and empathy
humility
gratefulness
patience
forgiveness
kindness
not envious
no evil speaking against fellow believers; no grumbling
prays for fellow believers
is genuine (is oneself, does not put on a spiritual front)
honest
a good example
respects the weaker brother
does not falsely judge the stronger brother
faithful in gathering with other Christians
unselfish; shares
bears others' burdens
restores those overtaken in sin

6. In relation to service:
 knows one's own spiritual gifts
faithful in using one's gifts to serve others
Spirit empowered; fruitful
does all for the Lord's glory
good steward of one's time and abilities

7. In relation to non-Christians:

love and burden for the lost (neighbors, fellow workers, school friends, etc.)
consistent witness to the lost in life and word
personal involvement in missions
not slothful in business
owes no man anything except love

8. In relation to one's family:

if child or youth, obeys parents

if husband, loves and cares for wife
if wife, loves and submits to husband
if parent, raises children to fear and obey the Lord

9. In relation to the events of life:

faces life realistically

faces a crisis spiritually minded
proper perspective (not here and now, but God's will and the end result)
rejoices in suffering
not regularly discouraged or anxious

10. In relation to civil affairs:

cooperates in civil affairs

subject to government and civil laws
prays for civil leaders

11. In relation to things:

does not love things in themselves

proper use of things (moderation)
a good steward of one's money

We can use this list as a checklist to discover the areas of our lives that need improvement. Of course, all
Christians need to grow in all areas, but the purpose of such a checklist would be to identify the few areas that
are most urgent. Growth is most likely to occur when we focus our attention on one area at a time.

The same process can be used when we are helping another Christian grow. Since all ministry is aimed at
meeting needs, we must have a clear idea of the above goal, or standard, in order to identify a person's needs.
Then, by concentrating on his most urgent need we can help him grow in that area.

Obviously, if the other person is not a Christian he needs to accept Christ. If he is already a Christian he needs
to strive to become more like Christ in every area of his life. As his discipler, teacher, pastor, or friend we can
help him become aware of his needs and encourage his growth in one area after another.

Even though the Christian's ultimate goal is to become like Christ, there are a few things about Christ which
the Christian should not try to imitate. For example, since Jesus was divine, he had authority to forgive sins,
but we don't. Also, Jesus remained single, but this does not mean that celibacy is for all Christians. Jesus
taught that either state, married or single, can be good -- depending on God's gifts and leading in the
individual's life.

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Copyright © 1984, 2002, Ronald W. Leigh