“To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.” (1 Corinthians 12:7)
I used to think I was one of those people who couldn't do ministry. I had never led a Bible Study, I rarely talked to others about Jesus and I'd never seen anyone become a Christian (certainly not through my influence anyway!) I was never one of those people who got discipled by someone older and wiser for the purposes of encouraging me into ministry. It was never suggested to me that I try MTS or Bible college. I never harboured any desire to go overseas to take the gospel to the lost, the prospect of door-knocking scared me silly, and I thought that, in getting my hands dirty for the Lord, I was causing more damage than good.
But over time, God taught me to see that, in a sense, doing ministry is not about me, what I can do and what I'm good at (or not good at); it's about working with God to help him fulfill his Master Plan: the submission of everything to the reign of Jesus (Ephesians 1:10, 22). By my own strength, I can achieve nothing but through me God can achieve his purposes (“I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth ... For we are God's fellow workers.” [1 Corinthians 2:6-8]). I wasn't seeing the vision. I wasn't fulfilling my purpose in life—to glorify God (Romans 15:6, 9; 1 Corinthians 6:20). In short, I wasn't looking beyond myself.
Ministry is for everyone in the church—every single last man, woman and child. The whole body of Christ has been equipped to do ministry in some form (1 Corinthians 12:7). We are all involved in the life-long task of encouraging each other to persevere and to put on the likeness of Christ so that, on that last day, we will be able to present everyone mature, “perfect” and blameless. If you're thinking that this is a mammoth task, you're right. That's why we need everyone to help serve. We need everyone to “catch the vision” in a sense. And the more people engaged in ministry, the more others will be encouraged to do ministry too. (NB: The lack of “manpower” was probably the principle reason why I was never encouraged into ministry by individuals; I was certainly urged to do so from the pulpit.)
Below are some ideas for what you can do to further God's kingdom. I have classed them roughly into four groups: word ministries, people ministries, helping ministries and creative ministries. These are just vague organisational categories; obviously there will be plenty of overlap. This is, by no means, an exhaustive list but rather it is something to get you started; I'm aiming to show you the scope of what can be done. I'm sure you will be able to come up with more imaginative and creative ideas far beyond what I've stated here. Feel free to add them in the comments section.
You probably won't be able to do all of them but you should certainly be open to giving them a go. If you don't try something, you'll never know whether or not you're able to do it. It is also worth getting trained to do some of these things too; find someone who is good at it and ask them to pass on their expertise.
Word ministries involve the proclamation or study of God's word. Since God works primarily through his word, (“All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be competent, equipped for every good work.” [2 Timothy 3:16-17]), it is good for churches to make word ministries a priority. Everything else in the church is done in assistance of these.
There are two functions of word ministries: evangelism and edification (ie. “building up”). The former seeks to bring people who don't know Jesus into his kingdom; the latter seeks to build them up once they're there. A lot of ministries do both but some are particularly focused on one or the other.
The gift of tongues (I mean other languages) is particularly useful when engaging in word ministries in other cultures.
Word ministries include:
To assist word ministries in the evangelism and edification of people, people ministries are focussed on the building and maintenance of relationships and the more pastoral aspect of church.
People ministries include:
Helping ministries are less people-focused and yet their goal is to help people—assist the work of word ministries and people ministries. Many word ministries and people ministries would not happen without helping ministries.
Helping ministries include:
God has made humans creative and creativity can be used in a myriad of ways to do his work—not just to help people, but also to give glory and praise to God, to express our faith and give testament to his work in our lives, to evangelise, to teach, and much more. As a pre-evangelistic event, we held a concert featuring students performing or reading their work. Christians invited their friends who were quite happy to go because it was a fairly “non-threatening” affair. Profits from the entry fee were given towards the work of the gospel.
Creative ministries include:
In 2003, because Ben was doing MTS with the view of perhaps doing full-time paid ministry in the long-term, I decided to do it with him part-time. I met up with girls one-to-one to read the Bible and pray, I led a Bible study group, I taught people about writing, I taught Sunday School, I was involved in high school Scripture, I wrote articles for our weekly publication, I created PowerPoint slideshows for both our supporters' dinner and our end of year dinner ... and the more ministry I engaged with or tried out, the more I realised what could be done, and the more I realised how much I could do. Ministry is not really that hard. Look at the list of things above and write down everything you're able to do. You might be surprised at how much there is.
But perhaps you've come to the end of this article feeling overwhelmed, thinking, “There's so much to do; how can we possibly do it all?” Remember that, ultimately, it is not us who causes people to grow or turn to Christ in repentance and faith. We cannot do anything on our own strength. But we are God's fellow workers and through us he achieves his purposes. He calls us to be faithful and to make good use of what he has given us. And, in the end, he will complete his Master Plan. Just wait and see.
Karen is now at the end of her first year as a MTS apprentice with Evangelical Christian Union at the University of Wollongong.
Comments
Excellent summary and categorisation of what is easily misunderstood.
I am enjoying your site.
Bruce Chant on 19 October, 2004 6:50 PM