I teach a series of lessons on church growth and development titled “The Threefold Cord.” This series of lessons aims to define three fundamental elements necessary for a church to grow. As church planters, we have found them integral to our local church’s growth.
Referred to in the New Testament as the “Church in the Wilderness” (Acts 7:38), the Tabernacle in the Old Testament provides us with powerful principles that serve to inform modern church development. Scrutiny of the texts engaging with God’s desire to have a dwelling built amid His people (Ex. 25:8) reveals a threefold collective of peoples that helped make this happen.
- Visionary
- Vision Crafters
- Congregation
These three, serving as my threefold cord (borrowing from Ecclesiastes 4:12), were critical for the success of a church being built in the wilderness, and they are crucial today for the development and success of the 21st-century local church.
Brief Overview
The visionary (Shepherd-visionary Moses) is necessary for the growth and development of the local church. This shepherd-visionary figure (i.e., pastor), like Moses, ascends into a place of impartation and receives divine instruction from God that is meant to be communicated to the congregation that dwells at the foot of the mountain. He is to bring from the mountain to the valley the vision of what God has desired, motivate the people, and clearly articulate what is necessary for the house of God to be built so that God may come and dwell among the people. Every church must have a shepherd-visionary figure.
The next critical people group is the vision-crafters. These are figures, like Bezaleel and Aholiab (along with a contingency of those who come under their ministry), who are anointed and appointed to help the visionary bring the abstract into concrete reality. These are individuals who can be trusted with the blueprints given by God to the visionary. The sole purpose of these individuals is to facilitate bringing the vision into focus, never deviating by 1 degree from what the visionary has revealed from God. These are Spirit-filled, obedient, skilled craftsmen who work carefully to utilize and steward resources at their disposal and build to exact specifications what the blueprints provided by the visionary detail. Every church must have Spirit-filled vision-crafters.
The last, but never least, critical people group is the congregation. This group is just as crucial as the visionary and the vision-crafters. In fact, one cannot speak of any layer of this threefold cord as being more important than the other. The three must work in unison to build God’s house in the wilderness. The congregation, as seen in the Old Testament, is to provide the resources that the vision-crafters can utilize to give shape to the abstract plan God has given to the visionary. We see this in the words given to Moses on the mountain: “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they bring me an offering: of every man that giveth it willingly with his heart ye shall take my offering” (Ex. 25:2). It is key to recognize that the giving from the congregation was to be willing, not compulsory. They must have a desire to fund and facilitate the building of God’s house. Every church must have a giving congregation.
Focusing on the Vision-Crafters
While we could zoom in on each of these elements—as I do in my series—I want to zoom in specifically on the vision crafters. In the New Testament, we see a similar group of men filling this role following the appointment of seven men, full of the Holy Ghost, who stepped in to unburden the Apostles (Acts 6:3). These were men of wisdom and business acumen who were faithful to the visionary Apostles. The Apostles knew they could be depended on, and upon appointment, it reveals that the church began to grow exponentially (Acts 6:7). Today, we often identify these figures as “second men.” Sometimes we label them as lay ministry. However, I believe it is essential to recognize the breadth of this group.
The vision-crafters are not just lay ministry or business owners, but Spirit-filled men and women in the local church whose gifts, resources, skill sets, and wisdom serve to facilitate the vision cast by the visionary. These are individuals whose service extends beyond simply funding the vision; they also help shape it. They are not passive helpers but active agents who bring stability and strength to the work of God in a local church.
The mistake sometimes made with this critical group is that we too often box them into a limited frame. They are either assistant pastors, elevated ministry teams, or business owners. By doing this, the breadth of this group is constrained, and the efficacy of the vision crafters is greatly diminished.
Consider Aquila and Priscilla (Acts 18:2, 26; Rom. 16:3–5), who embodied the spirit of vision-crafting. They opened their home for worship, partnered with Paul in labor, and carefully instructed Apollos to sharpen his ministry. Their gifts and hospitality translated the apostolic message into living communities. They were active agents, not simply passive helpers, in facilitating the work and ministry of the visionary leader, Paul. The work of Paul captured this couple, and led by the Spirit, they began to help bring the abstract burden and vision of Paul’s mission into concrete reality. They didn’t need a title, position, or official appointment. They, like Bezaleel and Aholiab, whose names combined mean “In the Shadow of the Father’s Tent,” set to work and began to hammer out what was needed to bring the mission to fruition. Is it any wonder they were “tentmakers?”
Fleshing this Out
How then do we flesh this out today without limiting the breadth of this group? First, we must be careful not to limit this group to only “business owners,” and second, we must ensure that it is not limited to being a recognized lay ministry. Thirdly, we need to be careful that we do not make the mistake of appointing vision crafters to positions that can hurt, not help, the ministry they are meant to engage in.
For example, I have observed those who were perhaps the clearest example of vision-crafters being appointed to the role of Assistant Pastor. In my humble opinion (and I emphasize that), the appointment was not so much a recognition of a pastoral call as it was a traditional creature of necessity. Too often, unless we confer a title on those who operate like Bezaleel, we feel as though we might lose them—or that their work is somehow less legitimate without formal recognition. Yet the truth is, vision-crafters are already serving in the capacity to which God has called them. Their value is not contingent upon a title but upon their Spirit-filled obedience and skill in translating vision into reality.
Bezaleel was not a visionary; he was a vision-crafter. His ministry operated in perfect sync with the visionary, Moses, whose role was to ascend the mountain, receive the divine blueprint, and steward the voice of God through legislation, oracular declaration, and governance. Moses carried the burden of vision; Bezaleel carried the skill of execution. This partnership reveals that the visionary and the vision-crafter function in different but complementary spheres. The visionary hears from God and articulates what heaven requires; the vision-crafter ensures that what is spoken is faithfully shaped into tangible reality. Without Moses, there would be no blueprint; without Bezaleel, the blueprint would remain abstract and unbuilt.
Not every business-owner is a vision crafter. Not every lay minister is a vision crafter. Funding and facilitating are the roles of the congregation. Every member of the local church ought to earnestly desire to provide the resources necessary to further the dwelling place of God in their city. But the vision-crafter’s calling is something more specific and Spirit-marked. While the congregation contributes to the mission, vision-crafters carry a unique anointing to take what has been revealed to the visionary and translate it into living reality. Their contribution is not measured simply in dollars or hours served, but in Spirit-filled obedience, wisdom, and craftsmanship that builds the church according to God’s blueprint.
The Proposal
We must create intentional space for the instruction, development, and clarity of the role of the vision-crafter. Vision-crafters can emerge from unexpected places—business owners, property managers, or couples with unique opportunities to become active agents of development and change within the local church.
For example, vision-crafters might be those who operate short-term rentals, such as Airbnb, and use them to house ministry teams and missionaries, thereby translating the vision of revival into practical hospitality. They might be commercial property owners who open their spaces for preaching points, Bible study gatherings, or community-oriented evangelism. These are not passive assistants; they are active agents in the mission of the local church, dynamically sensitive to the divinely inspired vision of the visionary.
If the church began to intentionally promote, instruct, and communicate this people group at an organizational level, the results would be supernatural. By highlighting men and women who may not fit traditional categories—preachers, business owners, or the oft-emphasized “second men” ministries—we affirm a role that is both vital and Spirit-filled. Vision-crafters expand the capacity of the church to embody God’s blueprint for their city, ensuring that the visionary’s burden does not remain abstract but becomes incarnate in the life of the congregation.