The Bible provides a model for ministry that exists for the church to be united and growing in maturity so that it builds itself up in love (Eph. 4:13-16). As a church we have embraced something we call an Ephesians 4 ministry model. The focus of this ministry model is not in doing ministry for people, but instead equipping people for the work of ministry. As a church family made up of people from many different denominational backgrounds it is important that we all fully understand and embrace this biblical concept. This model is based upon what the apostle Paul wrote to the believers in Ephesus:
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 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 4:11–13, ESV)
We talk about equipping people for ministry a lot as a church staff because it is the driving motivation behind everything we do. My heart for each of you is to grow in depth and love for Christ (Eph. 2:19). Our part in growing in Christ is to actively engage in the ministry he has prepared in advance for us to do (Eph. 2:10).
By actively engaging the gifts God has given to each of us we grow both individually and as a church body. While there is nothing we can do to gain more of God’s love or favor, there is a need for us to grow up (Col. 1:28). The goal of participating in ministry is that we would be people who look more and more like Jesus. Serving in ministry both inside and outside the local church is the practical way that we love others.
When we are focused on investing our lives in loving others we have little time to be overwhelmed or discouraged by our personal circumstance or failed expectations of others. When we engage our lives in loving others in ministry we grow, looking more and more like Jesus.
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