Finding and Flourishing in Your Place in the ChurchSample

THE CHURCH IS A WHOLE MADE OF PARTS AND JOINTS

The Church is made up of parts that make up the whole, and it is the whole that gives meaning and function to the parts. Ephesians 4:16 teaches us that every member is located, gifted, and equipped for his/her unique and indispensable function and this applies to every genuine local church. Every organ in the body has a function, and it is the function the organ performs that determines its location, shape, peculiarity, and size. It is because the legs are to carry the body that the thighs are bigger than the hands.

A church can be a finger in the Body of Christ and when such a church grows to the size of a finger, she has reached her measure and is fulfilling her maximum divine potential. The five-fold ministry offices are to minister until we all come to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. If the hand grows to the size of the thigh, it becomes a disease known as elephantiasis. The reason some churches will not be as big as other churches no matter how much effort they put into it is because of where they are located in the Body and the function that God wants them to accomplish.

Some pastors are called to minister to leaders but are ministering to members. What a leader needs is not the same as what a member needs. A pregnant woman must eat more than the little child in the house. You must therefore understand your role as a pastor and as a person because the way you are to feed is different from the way your members are to feed. There are some officers in the Body of Christ whose influence in the Body cannot be ignored though people might not like them. That is determined by the scope of the joint they represent in the Body of Christ. If the joint that they represent is to reach where you are located in the Body, you have to respond to what God is sending to the Body through them.

PRAYER: I will play my part in the Body of Christ as destined by God in Jesus' name. Amen!