Healthy churches are not all about one person or one group of people.
Healthy churches don’t merely gather to consume the content of gifted speakers or listen to gifted musicians. They understand that the pastor or team of pastors exist not to perform for them, but to equip them to do the work of ministry.
To be clear: the ministry of the church is not confined to the offices of the church.
Healthy churches are full of normal people serving God in normal ways–normal people who God has called to himself and given spiritual gifts for the health of the church and life of the world.
God has called us to himself and given us all we need to serve the common good, build up the church, and advance the gospel.
God Has Called Us to Himself
17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. 18 All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; 19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. 20 Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. 21 For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
2 Corinthians 5:17-21
If you are a Christian, you are a minister of the gospel. God has reconciled you to himself and given you a ministry of reconciliation. If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away and the new has come. And guess what? This is all God’s doing! He reconciled us to himself in Christ. He has chosen, in Christ, to forgive us our sins – to forgive the sin debt that we owed – to reconcile us to himself.
But, according to the Apostle Paul, this is not where the story ends. God has reconciled us to
himself and given us the ministry of reconciliation (v. 19). The ministry of reconciliation has been given to all who have been reconciled.
In other words, gospel ministry has been given to everyone who believes the gospel.
We share ministry because we’re all ministers. You are a minister of the gospel.
Now, if that’s intimidating, have no fear. God has given you all you need to be faithful to the task. Jesus has given us gifts to build the church and advance the gospel.
Gifts to Build up the Church and Advance the Gospel
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5 and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; 6 and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. 7 To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
1 Corinthians 12:4-7
Paul tells the Corinthian church that there are many types of gifts, and there are all kinds of ways to serve in and through the local gathering. But all those gifts are from the same Spirit. All that service is for the same Lord. And all those activities are empowered by the same God.
God has wired you and gifted you in such a way that you play a role in the local church and the kingdom of God. I believe God will use your spiritual gifts, your natural gifts (from him), your passions, your talents, and your interests as you submit to him to build the church and bless the world.
11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ…
Ephesians 4:11-16
God has gifted the church in such a way that as we minister to one another, the church grows in maturity. God has given you gifts that, when used, build up the church.
God has given each of us a role to play in the church, and God has given each of us a role to play through the church.
Healthy churches share ministry because the church needs all the gifts Jesus has given it.
We need men and women committed to God and his word who love each other and commit to encouraging and equipping each other to follow Jesus together.
I think a healthy church has a dynamic process of filling needs to fit the vision God has given it while also adapting its vision to accommodate the way God has gifted it.
Meaning healthy churches have these two conversations often:
Conversation 1 (initiated by the church): Hey, we need to help people feel welcome here. So, we desperately need greeters. Will you please be one? Hey, we need teachers who love kids & are willing to help teach them the Bible? Will you please be one?
Conversation 2 (initiated by the member): Hey pastor, I am really passionate about immigrants who have settled in the Kanawha Valley. Can we sit down and discuss what ministry to them may look like? Hey pastor, I am really passionate about our friends who have no place to live. Can we sit down and discuss what ministry to them may look like?
There is a symbiotic process of us coming to the church with open hands looking for ways to serve and us coming to the church with interests, passions, and gifts saying, “help me use these for Christ and his kingdom.”
As we seek to be healthier, we must share ministry more effectively. A world of opportunity awaits.
