Healthy, Growing Churches (7)

There are differences of ministries, but the same Lord. And there are diversities of activities, but it is the same God who works all in all. But the manifestation of the Spirit is given to each one for the profit of all… 1 Corinthians 12.5-7

Letter 62
Ambrose of Milan (333-397)
“We are all the one body of Christ, whose head is God, whose members we are. Some perhaps are the eyes, like the prophets. Others are more like teeth, as the apostles who passed the food of the gospel teaching into our hearts.… Some are hands who are seen carrying out good works. Those who bestow the strength of nourishment upon the poor are his belly. Some are his feet, and would that I were worthy to be his heel! He pours water on the feet of Christ who forgives the lowly their sins, and, in setting free the common man, he bathes the feet of Christ.”

The Spirit is given to the Church – and to local churches – for building believers into one body of Christ and one temple of the Lord. He does this by gifting and engaging every member in works of ministry. Those works come to us in the normal course of our daily lives – our Personal Mission Field – as well as in the coordinated efforts of the local church to be Christ to its community. The only way we can know that the Spirit is active among us is by the works of ministry church members do day-in and day-out, and the works of service the local church provides for its members and community. As we prepare for these works, as individual members and as a congregation, making plans, getting trained, allocating resources, setting schedules, and so forth, we signal to the Lord that we are gearing-up in faith for His Spirit to work in power in and through us. And as we take the first steps of ministry, the Spirit meets us in our weaknesses, engages the gifts He has bestowed on one and all, and supplies Kingdom power for us to do greater works than we have ever dared to ask or think, even greater works than Jesus Himself did (Eph. 3.20; Jn. 14.12). When you see this happening, every “joint” supplying its strength to the body as a whole, you know you have a healthy church.

How do you assess the state of ministry among the members of your church? Should you do so?

T. M. Moore

Organizing with the Spirit
The Lord Jesus is building His Church. His Word is the blueprint, His Spirit is the General Contractor, and we are all builders together of the Body of Christ. But are we doing our work God’s way, or ours? The Spirit has His ways of organizing our work, and we do well to understand as much as we can about His methods. This is the argument of Dr. Kent Miller of Michigan State University, and you can watch our Conversation with Dr. Miller, and download a free copy of his paper on the subject, “Organizing with the Spirit,” by clicking here.

The Fellowship of Ailbe is supported through the generous and faithful gifts of those who benefit from and believe in our work. Does the Lord want to use you in this way? Please look to Him in prayer over this question. You can contribute to The Fellowship of Ailbe by using the Contribute button at our website, or by sending your gift to The Fellowship of Ailbe, 19 Tyler Drive, Essex Junction, VT 05452. Thank you.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Quotations from Church Fathers are from the Ancient Christian Commentary Series, published by InterVarsity Press.