Download the latest sermonDate added: Tuesday, 22nd September 2009
We're ALL in the Ministry!
Bob Hyde challenges the concept that only church leaders are in the ministry . . .
I remember it well - I was stood having a cup of coffee at a church leaders' day and a chap who I'd never met before came over and we started talking. "So, how long have you been in the ministry?" he asked me. I knew what he meant - how long had I been a church leader? I told him that I'd been in church leadership for a number of years, but added that I had previously been in ministry in the world of insurance and finance. He looked at me somewhat quizzically and was clearly struggling to grasp the concept of what I was saying. "So you were a chaplain in a bank were you?" he said. I explained that I was a normal employee of the Company, but saw my work there as a ministry for the Lord Jesus Christ. He started to get it!
To be honest, the approach taken by the chap at the leaders' day is, in my experience, not untypical of the way most Christians have been taught to understand what ministry is. Being ‘in the ministry' is typically understood in a very narrow way - if you're in the ministry, then you are involved in some kind of Christian leadership or work. That's it! I think this is a big mistake and basically says to the vast majority of Christians who are not in leadership, but who have ‘normal' jobs, that what they're doing isn't ministry. This is a shocking and insulting message and one that we shouldn't be sending!
In Ephesians chapter 4 vv 11-12, Paul writes: "And He (Jesus) gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ." [New King James Version] The New Living Translation puts it like this:
"He is the one who gave these gifts to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God's people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ."
This begs a question: ‘What is the work of the ministry that God's people are being equipped for?' If the work of the ministry is just about church leadership, then the role of apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers is clear - they are to equip everyone to become leaders in the church! While we need more leaders raised up in the church, it's clear that not everyone is called to be leaders in the church. However, I do believe that all of God's people are called to be leaders in life and as a church leader I see one of my main responsibilities as equipping Christians for the work of the ministry which is to live life effectively! LIFE IS MINISTRY!
So, can we PLEASE stop insulting the vast majority of Christians by devaluing what they're doing, by inferring that ministry is just for the chosen ones - it's not! We're ALL in the ministry, because ALL of God's people are called and chosen to honour Jesus Christ in everything we do!
Selah.
Related Links:
Downloads: