The Church - Disciples Who Grow and MultiplySample

God gives ministries to equip His people

REFLECTIONS:

Read Ephesians 4:11-13 and 1 Peter 2:9 and take some time to answer the following questions:

➤How do you understand the role of the different ministries?

➤What does this passage from 1 Peter inspire in you?

Someone once said that Christians generally see church as one of three things: a petrol station to fill up the tank, a cinema to get some entertainment, or a supermarket to do your weekly shop. All these ways of understanding church, however, are wrong and selfish. The purpose of the Church is to make disciples of all nations and simply to do the works that God prepared in advance for us to do (cf. Matthew 28:19 and Ephesians 2:10). The prevalence of this false understanding of the Church has no doubt been aided by the long-held belief that the Church consisted of the clergy on the one hand (those who represent the people before God) and the laity on the other (everybody else). In the New Testament, the clergy doesn’t exist. All we see is disciples who train new disciples (cf. 2 Timothy 2:2). Nobody needs to represent us before God, because Jesus has already done so (cf. 1 Timothy 2:5).

God did decide to establish certain men and women with a special calling in the Church, and Paul refers to these in Ephesians 4:11-13, namely, apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. It is not the purpose of this text to go into detail on each of these roles, but it is important to be clear that these five groups understand that they are not there to do the work in place of the rest of the group. God gave those people a responsibility, which is to equip the members of the Church, that is, to enable them to do what God asks them to do and to create the right environment to teach them to become disciples in Christ’s likeness.

Thus, in the style of community that we know today, the Church should consist of labourers whose leader, whom we generally call the pastor, should train and release destinies and callings. So let’s stop believing that, just because we pay someone’s salary, he or she should do the work for us, and let’s allow that person to do what God asks them to do, which is to equip and liberate the members of the Church so that the Kingdom of God can penetrate all sectors of society.

We must understood that there is no pecking order in the call and the presence of God in our lives. For example, an apostle is not superior to another disciple. No one is superior to anyone else. The difference lies in accountability, since we will all be accountable before God. Moreover, these callings are not an end in themselves. They exist for Him and to serve His Church. Jesus Himself said that He came not to be served, but to serve and to lay down His life (cf. Mark 10:45). Paul also made himself “a servant to everyone” (cf. 1 Corinthians 9:19 ESV). The purpose of God’s calling is for us to be able to teach others and equip our generation and those that follow to serve God.

When we accepted Jesus as our Lord and Saviour, He made us His people and our mission is to serve Him among the nations, starting with where we are. We are that nation that has been set apart and over which He has established His royal authority, not only so that we share the Good News of Salvation, but also so that we serve the nations so that they also may become disciples of Christ.

Whatever call God has placed on your life, you are responsible for serving His purposes in your generation so that His Kingdom may come, but also for equipping those around you so that they may also become more effective disciples for Christ. What calling and gifts have you received and how can you use them for others?

MY DECISION:

➤How this applies to my life:

➤My response to what I’ve learned:

➤ What you decide today will determine who and what you will become tomorrow!

Translation of an excerpt from Un disciple en marche by Luc Favre, published by Vie Victorieuse. All rights reserved.