Saw a statement posted on Facebook the other day, which
said: “We will never change the
world by going to church.
We will only change the world by being the church.” This is so true -- the difference is
between “going” and “being”. You’ve
heard it said that we are human BEINGS not human doings! We are made to BE!
I think the challenge comes in the above statement --- “change
the world”. When I grew up in
church that was always a core belief – which our reason for existence was to “change”
for the better the world around us.
We frequently had missionaries coming through our church telling us of
how God was using them to change the world. We had evangelists come to our church often – and each time
they challenged us to “win lost people” to Christ.
Today, things have changed. “Stagnation” has come to many churches – we merely exist to
benefit ourselves. Look at the
sermon topics lately – “how to….” How to be financially independent – how to be
successful – how to have a good family – how to overcome this and that ……
Where
is the voice of the Apostle, setting things in Divine order–pioneering what God
is saying today ?– where is the voice of the Prophet, who calls us back to
repentance for our lethargy and lack of compassion on the lost around us? ---
where is the voice of the Evangelist who stirs our hearts for changing our
culture?
No, we hear the Pastor – the man who now assumes full
responsibility for the development of the congregation – he is the
administrator, the business genius, the “prophet, priest, and king” of the
house! Now, don’t get me wrong – I
love the Pastor – I’ve been a Pastor for the most of my 40+ years in
professional ministry.
My point is we have neglected the other “office ministries”
in the local church. Paul wrote to the Ephesians (4:11-12) and said that Christ
had given 5 gifts to the church – Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and
Teacher. God never intended the
church to be only operating from the one position – the Pastor.
I like what the Message
Bible says of this passage: “He handed out gifts above and below, filled heaven with his
gifts, filled earth with his gifts. He handed out gifts of apostle, prophet,
evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christ’s followers in skilled servant
work, working within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and easily with each other,
efficient and graceful in response to God’s Son, fully mature adults, fully
developed within and without, fully alive like Christ.”
Notice that the purpose of these office gifts is: “working
within Christ’s body, the church, until we’re all moving rhythmically and
easily with each other…”
The Amplified Bible says it this way: “His
intention was the perfecting and the full equipping of the saints (His
consecrated people), [that they should do] the work of ministering toward
building up Christ’s body (the church)”
The goal is to
minister OUTSIDE the four walls of the church building – to actually BE the
church – using our influence in every area of society to “redeem” that, which
is lost.
In order to do this,
we need ALL of the office ministries of Christ to work together:
Bring back
the Apostle!
Bring back the Prophet!
Bring back the Evangelist!
Bring back
the Teacher!
Work together with the Pastor to accomplish His purposes in the
world.
