Fulfilling the role of a ‘kingdom university’
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Ministering with excellence
Harlem minister urges fellow workers ‘to be as excellent as our God is.’
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Minister O.J. Shabazz with the Harlem Church of Christ in New York City recently spoke to The Christian Chronicle Podcast about the practical wisdom he shares in his book “Excellence in Ministry: A Guide to Protocols and Etiquette for Church Leaders.”
Following are excerpts of that interview from Episode 55, which have been lightly edited for clarity and style.
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How do you define minister for the purpose of the book and for the conversation that we’re having today? I fundamentally define “minister” as a servant, as a “doulos” (Greek for “bond-servant”), a slave to Jesus Christ.
The minister is a servant. And fundamentally, ministry is people serving people.
I think we’re living in a time where we’ve become so big on titles.
And often there are titles without any towels. … I mean there’s no manifestation of what the real work is. It’s just the esteem of having the title.
I’ve grown up around ministers my whole life, and I’ve heard them talk about a lot of things — being effective, being faithful, even being successful as ministers — but I don’t think I’ve ever heard them talk about being excellent. … Why did you choose excellence as your theme? Well, this is a good place, B.T., for me to talk about what I call the “excellence paradigm.”
The excellence paradigm suggests that the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob is, in fact, the quintessential example of excellence.
And even if you casually read your way through the Bible, one can readily see that everything our God does, he always does with supreme excellence — is always that which is outstanding, superior, above and beyond, is never that kind of “that will do” approach.
Shabazz, center, displays his book, “Excellence in Ministry: A Guide to Protocols and Etiquette for Church Leaders,” at the publication launch party.
So everything, the creations of the heaven and the earth, the creation of mankind, the sending of the Messiah, the body of Christ, her governance — I mean, whatever you consider concerning God, he always does it with excellence. And so I believe that he deserves, desires and demands to be imitated.
And just as he is excellent, all that we engage as relates to ministry and to Kingdom living, should be in the context of excellence — that should be our drive, to be as excellent as our God is.
You talk about the mission of a new minister in the first years of working with a congregation, and you were emphatic on this point because you repeat it over and over and over again in your book. What is that mission? And why is it of first importance? I advise ministers the first year that they go into a congregation: Your immediate mission is to establish yourself as an authority in the Bible.
That means I must pray hard, study hard, research hard, polish my delivery, master that transference from the study to the pulpit. … I think that has to be viewed as a mission, as something you keep perfecting, you keep going after, until you see that it’s becoming more and more excellent. And by the way, I’m not trying to prove myself a smart guy. What I’m trying to do is create a comfort in the minds of members — this man really does know the Bible.
I’m not getting up with a joke and two stories and let that be the meat of my lesson. I’m not getting up with a lot of hoopla that really is gravy, and I have no meat.
Let me tell you another mission: Don’t go in trying to unravel everything.
“That means I must pray hard, study hard, research hard, polish my delivery, master that transference from the study to the pulpit. … I think that has to be viewed as a mission, as something you keep perfecting, you keep going after, until you see that it’s becoming more and more excellent.”
I know you’re new. I know you want to talk to leadership about all these new ideas and concepts and what you see that’s not really functioning and so forth.
Here’s what your mission should be, here is what you’re trying to go, this is how you intend to get there — you’re going to leave things alone.
And just watch. Just observe, whether it’s functional or dysfunctional. My mission is to make this transition peacefully, these changes peacefully.
So what is my mission? My mission is to not go in and dismantle everything because I have a better way. I want to see this succeed for what is in the best interests of the church and the leadership.
Dr. Shabazz, you end Chapter 5 with an exhortation toward a congregational evangelistic movement, as opposed to an evangelistic program. What is the difference? Man, now you’re going to get me excited, B.T.
For many years here in Harlem, we were baptizing 100 people a year. And I mean every year.
I started out with these programs, evangelistic programs. I introduced one called SWAT: soul-winning action teams. And those individuals would target visitors.
Do you have any Bible questions? You know, are you interested in having a Bible study — we’d sit down and have a Bible study with them, and then we’d attempt to baptize them.
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Well, the problem with that is that SWAT only involved handpicked people. There were just a few individuals out of the congregation who were involved in that particular evangelism project.
Then I noticed something. In the new convert class downstairs for individuals who had just been added to the church, they were on fire.
Shabazz
What they would do is turn around and invite friends and relatives, and they would come hear the Gospel, and they would be converted.
And then all of a sudden, an excitement got started in the congregation. And it went from there to members coming to Harlem expecting every Sunday to see someone immersed in water for the remission of sins.
You could feel the happiness and the pleasure of knowing that all of these people had made a contribution to what they see going on.
It was a movement, and it was a movement because not just a committee or group of people were identified — the entire congregation had a part in it.
B.T. IRWIN directs and hosts The Christian Chronicle Podcast. He and his family live in Clawson, Mich., and are members of the Rochester Church of Christ in nearby Rochester Hills.
