What is Your Philosophy on Ministry?

What is your philosophy on Ministry?

Ministry begins at home and spreads abroad.  Disciples have an immediate commitment to their marriages, families and extended families.  The biblical and spiritual principles of the local church should be evident in the immediate and extended families of believers.  In its simplest form, ministry means to serve.  As Christians we love and serve our Lord by directly sharing His love and concretely meeting the embodied needs of people.  This starts with our families as they are our most adjacent mission field.  As a husband, father, son-in-law, son, brother, nephew, and cousin, I practice the biblical mandates of evangelism and servanthood.  Fulfilling my priestly duties at home and in my family enables me to meet similar obligations as a Pastor, colleague, community activist, teacher and friend.

God gives each disciple spiritual gifts, talents and natural abilities.  The process of evolving into a genuine disciple necessitates discovery of these spiritual tools and determination to use them to honor our Lord.  As congregants utilize their time, talent, treasure and temperament in conjunction with their divine gifts in the local church, they edify the body of Christ locally, nationally and internationally.  Each disciple has a ministry in the church.  The apostle Paul parallels the anatomy of the human body to the composition of the Church.  Just as each component of the body functions with a distinct and significant purpose, each member of the Church from the Pastor to the groundskeeper must serve in his ministry with a similar focus and objective.

Ministry and mission fit like a hand in a glove.  Ministry inevitably leads to the fulfillment of The Great Commission which is the primary goal the Lord leaves with the local church.  Central to the purpose driven lives of all believers is their personal contribution to accomplishing The Great Commission.  Each believer has a responsibility to evangelize and share his resources to create a society consistent with the teachings of Christ.  The latter requirement means meeting the direct and embodied needs of people.  Effective ministry necessarily leads to missions.

Churches complete The Great Commission by implementing missions programs locally, nationally and internationally.  In Acts 1:8, the Lord directs the apostles to begin in Jerusalem, proceed to Samaria and Judea and then travel to the uttermost parts of the world to preach the gospel.  Similarly, churches’ mission programs start in their very own back yards.  Each week, I drive by an established and historic Baptist church, with more than a hundred years of history, which has experienced substantial decline in membership and programs.  The members of the church insist that they want to change and grow.  Interestingly, the church sits adjacent to a university campus community which includes nineteen thousand (19,000) students and six thousand (6,000) employees.  The church has a ripe mission field directly across its street!  It would be silly for that church to implement national and international missions programs to the detriment of ignoring the most obvious local opportunity.  Not surprisingly, a mega church in town and another church near the campus have made incredible inroads into recruiting and evangelizing members of the university community.  This example substantiates the obligation that local churches have to local missions in addition to regional, national and global outreach.  More significantly, I contend that ministry and missions are two sides of the same coin as it relates to a church’s purpose.