The Trellis and The Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne is a book about a ministry mind shifts that can have enormous effects on local church ministry. In chapter two, the authors write "We will be arguing that structures don't grow ministry any more than trellises grow vines, and that most churches need to make a conscious shift-away from erecting and maintaining structures, and towards growing people who are disciple-making disciples of Christ." This chapter includes 11 mind shifts which are listed below:
- From running programs to building people
- From running events to training people
- From using people to growing people
- From filling gaps to training new workers
- From solving problems to helping people make progress
- From clinging to ordained ministry to developing team leadership
- From focusing on church polity to forging ministry partnerships
- From relying on training institutions to establishing local training
- From focusing on immediate pressures to aiming for long-term expansion
- From engaging in management to engaging in ministry
- From seeking church growth to desiring gospel growth
These are very useful mind shifts that are valuable to discuss with our ministry teams. I recommend working through chapter 2 of The Trellis and The Vine with those you are partnered with in ministry!
