Doing the Work of Ministry

How do we "serve one another with love"? Jesus Christ repeatedly said that His Gospel message and mission was especially to "the poor, the maimed, the lame and the blind." And when He sent out his Apostles to proclaim the Gospel, He instructed them to "heal the sick, cleanse the lepers and cast out demons." So we clearly see that practical ministry to human needs is an integral part of the Gospel message. After the Holy Spirit descended at Pentecost, the Apostles were filled with Divine power to preach the Gospel, heal the sick and care for the poor.

But as the newly-formed Church in Jerusalem grew by leaps and bounds to well over ten thousand people, the Apostles had to delegate some of their authority to a new group of workers: in Acts 6:1-7 we read how the Apostles, overburdened by preaching to the masses of new believers as well as ministering to their practical needs, apointed seven men - the first deacons - to perform this practical diakonia-ministry.

Then "The word of God increased and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem exceedingly. A great company of the priests were obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7). So these seven men - soon to be just six after Stephen was martyred - couldn't effectively minister to over ten thousand people and growing: they had to in turn train others for "Doing the Work of Ministry." We read about this in St. Paul's letter to the Ephesians -

"He [Christ] gave some to be apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; for equipping the saints to do the work of ministering to the building up of the body of Christ; until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a full grown man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ" (Eph. 4:11-13).

The Apostles and other leaders in the Church including deacons are to teach and equip the other believers ("the saints") to do the work of diakonia-ministry. And the result will be the same: "the building up of the body of Christ." If we want the Church to increase, multiply and become a great company, we should first train deacons in how to do the practical ministry that Christ and the Apostles did. Then the deacons should become the trainers and team leaders of other believers to do this kind of diakonia-ministry.

This appears to be a simple concept and process, easy to understand. But the enemy of our souls strives to undermine the growth of the Church by inciting Christians to rivalry and fighting for supremacy, rather than humbly serving one another in love. We need to return to this simple idea that Christ and the Apostles taught and practiced: Doing the Work of Ministry. Let's stop fighting over territory and just talking about helping the poor and disabled, just DO what Jesus did!

(Linked to www.Hosken-News.info of 22 Nov. 2014.)