Equipping The Body Of Christ For Service

Equipping for Service - Sermon for October 30, 2022

If you have been following along for the last little while, you know that we have been talking about the gifts of the Holy Spirit to the church.

Part of the reason that we have been doing this series is so that we can be encouraged that each of us has a calling, and a purpose, and each of us has been given gifts by God, when we come to Christ, that God intends us to use for His glory, and for His Kingdom. His glory and His Kingdom.

A fairly common mindset in churches is that the pastor, or the pastoral staff are the “professionals” who are supposed to do the ministry of the church.

This is understandable, because churches are often structured in such a way as to elevate the leader of the church, as if he or she is the most important person in the congregation.

That might be fairly common, still, but if you’ve been around here at all, you probably have picked up that that is not the case with us. We don't operate that way at all.

In fact, we have a very high view of the body of Christ, and we strongly affirm what the apostle Paul says in this passage, both in word, and in the way we conduct ourselves.

Formally, our church does have a structure. I am the lead pastor of the church, and within the structure of the mission, I am also a Director.

But you’ll notice that it’s not always me up here talking to you. Pastor Arleen is our Associate Pastor.

In the formal structure, she is second to me and is in charge when I’m not here. She is also a superb teacher and preacher

Pastor Jan is our Community Outreach Pastor, and has been in this role with us since 1996.

Jan has always been a key part of the ministry of this church and she, like Pastor Arleen is very highly trusted and highly esteemed among us. She is also a really great teacher.

We also have Pastor Jonathan, who is new to us, who is our Assistant Pastor. Thank you, by the way, for the way that you have welcomed him to the church.

He seems to be really enjoying his time with us. As he spends more time with us, we will grow to appreciate his gifts as well.

And then we have our elders; Darlene Burns, who is a teaching elder, who has been with the church for around three decades. Breda Woodall who is also an elder with us as is Florence Cho. Together with the pastors, our elders provide leadership, and direction to the church.

But very importantly, the direction and leadership that we provide is done through listening. Listening to God as he gives direction, and that includes listening to how God speaks through the congregation. We are always listening.

Of course, we also have William Elson, who is my right hand man, and who overseas the conversion of this gym into a worship space every Sunday with his team, Benjie, Dave, and often Doug McMasters, and others who come in to help.

That team, and all of us, are still mourning the loss of Kirk Grimes, who was a key part of the team, and who passed away on October 2.

Please continue to pray, for all those who are really missing Kirk.

Without William, we would have terrible sound for the band and the service and the livestream and I would be even busier with all kinds of details that he takes care of for the church and for the mission.

Without Benjie we would not be able to regularly livestream our service. Without Dave, we would not be able to deal with the huge process of setting up the PA every Sunday

Anyway, that gives you a little bit of a line of sight into the formal structure of the church, which we really don’t talk about very often at all. Because far more important than our roles is our relationships, our friendships, our being co-workers for God in His Kingdom.

The folks that I’ve just mentioned are in the roles or offices that they are in in order to equip the congregation for the ministry of the church.

And we are intentional about doing this with an attitude of servant leadership. In a sense we lead from below. We do not consider ourselves in any way, higher or elevated.

Jesus modeled godly leadership when he washed the feet of His disciples, and when he said: “...Whoever wants to become great among you must be your servant, 27 and whoever wants to be first must be your slave— 28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:26b-28