Do Not Miss the Importance of "Each One" in Ministry

My good friend Ben Finch over at Crimson and White posted a personal and thoughtful article yesterday. It is a short chronicle of his recent ministerial life, in which he moves from a full time staff position to 'secular' employment and faithful church participation. In it he gives an example of a typical conversation and notes the typical response.

This exchange highlights, I believe, one great weakness of our churches today--a misunderstanding of the nature of Christian ministry. Gradually but surely we have relegated the idea of ministry to a professional activity. That is, we pay people to do "the ministry" while the normal believer becomes a recipient. Surely, the "professional" ministry must share in the blame for this. We have not taught well or delegated often enough to others. Oftentimes we have a need to be needed that limits and weakens the church. What we need is an expanded conception of ministry that includes every believer. In the wake of this, countless believers miss the thrill of ministry that they were designed by God to enjoy.

A key text for this is 1 Peter 4:10. "As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God's various (or manifold) grace." Peter begins by making it clear that each member of the body of Christ has received a gift of grace. The purpose of this gift is "service," which Peter considers a stewardship issue. Each one has a gift. Each one is given a gift for a reason--the privilege of service. And all of this is a matter of stewardship before God. The concept of stewardship involves faithfulness to God and it is about more than money. One reason our churches struggle is that we are bad stewards who wait for the professional to engage in ministry. All the while countless lives are unaffected by the gospel and countless Christians are unengaged. I pray that this changes today.

Thank you Ben for your candor and faithfulness. God is using you in a mighty way. Through your example I pray that many experience the thrill of ministry.