The Approach to Building a Church (2)

In Ephesians 4:12—For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.—Paul gives us three principles involved in Discipleship. The first is perfecting (equipping).

Second, discipleship involves service (the work of the ministry). This is the second step in the progression: the “evangelist” and “pastor-teacher” (v. 11) give Christians the tools with which they can do the work of the ministry, so they can serve God. Work is ergon, which means the result or object of employment, something to be done; so what these men are called to do is train God’s people for carrying on the task of ministry.

But what exactly is the work of the ministry? What is service? We hear a lot about these nowadays, but let’s get to the heart of the matter. Consider I Corinthians 12:5, which literally says, “There are varieties of ministries, but one Lord.” The word ministry is the Greek diakonia which speaks of labor and service and originally spoke of serving tables. It is similar, of course, to diakonos from which is derived the word “deacon.” So, as there are many members of the body (as the context clearly shows), all members, therefore, serve the body.

Consider also Acts 1:8, which is truly the most vital verse to church outreach, the verse which speaks of the commission given to every believer: “But ye shall receive power, after [i.e. when] the Holy Spirit is come upon you; and ye shall be witnesses unto me.” This truly is “the great commission.” Tragically, Matthew 28:19-20 (“Go ye therefore. . .”) is sometimes misused.  The tense of the verb is a past tense participle, which means not a command, rather a statement of fact. In other words, God is not commanding any of us to go; He is actually saying that we are already there! It’s not that we should each “go to the mission field,” rather that we are already on the field.

This is exactly what we see in Acts 1:8; we are already witnesses, already on the “mission field.” Yes, God calls certain people to go certain fields, but each of us are already on a field no matter were we are. We note again the word “teaching” (v. 20), “make disciples of.” This is far more than what is true in many of the so-called “soul-winning techniques” of today. Making a disciple is more than bringing someone to the Lord; it also involves helping them get started in Christian growth. The best way to do this is to help them find a local church in which they can be fed the Word of God.

So bringing all this together, ministry means service and service means witnessing. The true essence of service is being a witness for Christ. This is the responsibility of every Christian. The local church is not responsible for “programs of evangelism” or “evangelistic campaigns.” All this is a total turn-around from the New Testament. Individual believers are to be the outreach! That means you and me.

Is evangelism built on a multi-million dollar facility, the latest marketing technique, or some spiel we recite to manipulate someone to “believe in Jesus?” No, Biblical evangelism is one person telling another person about the only Person. True evangelism (euangellion) is telling people through our lips and life about the Lord Jesus Christ.

What then is the purpose of the local church? The local church is the training ground. This principle is one I have emphasized over and over to the folks at Grace Bible Church. The local church is where Christians are to be trained so they are equipped to serve, to be successful witnesses. There are pastors who emphasize witnessing, but the problem is they do not train God’s people adequately. They do not preach Scriptural depth that will properly equip.

With all this in mind, may we see that any “ministry” must point to the one true essence of Christian service—witnessing. We also add here that as we’ll see later in this study, a “ministry” must meet another requirement—it must be based in and through a local church.