Would all the ministers of the church please raise their hands? You all know I’m the minister with my name on the sign. Are there any other ministers? I see hands going up. Let’s see some more. Let’s see more and more until every hand is up. If you are in God’s family, you are called to be a minister, a servant.
Last week we started on one of my favorite Bible passages, Ephesians 4:11-16. And we moved into just a few verses that touch on some of the most important principles for how churches grow.
I often hear people say that the church should be run just like a business. And I half agree with that. We should be no less than a business, in that we should be efficient and intentional, and what people mostly have in mind when they say that, we should handle money with complete integrity.
So the church should be no less than a business. But it should be so much more. And these verses give us a chance to talk about that ‘so much more.
Last week we said that churches can grow when they know what they are supposed to do. Somebody said, “If you aim at nothing, you’ll hit it every time.” Churches that don’t know where they are going, go nowhere. And they get very frustrated while they are getting nowhere.
Can you say our mission statement with me? The mission of the First United Methodist Church of Oak Lawn is to make disciples of Jesus Christ. In our passage, Paul set the same goal, but using a different word, “maturity.” Our goal is to see every one of us become adult Christians, stable, effective, able to share their faith.
Today we come to another principle for church growth. Churches grow when they equip people for effective ministry.
Please stand for the reading of God’s word, Ephesians 4:6-11.
11 The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. 14 We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people's trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. 15 But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body's growth in building itself up in love.
God gives gifted leaders to the church, not for the purpose of doing all the work while most of the people sit and watch and are entertained, but so that every member can be equipped for ministry.
Why do we need to equip every member for ministry? Let me give you three reasons.
First, there is so much work to be done. Jesus said to his disciples, “Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest."
Is there any shortage of people out there who need to know the Lord? When God sent the prophet Jonah to Nineveh he said it was a city full of people who don’t know their left hands from their right.
And there are a lot of people around us who aren’t much better. How many thousand people in Oak Lawn are in deep financial stress right now? I’m not asking you to raise your hands here. Our culture is great at making money and terrible and managing it. And so when we offered the Financial Peace University, and a bunch of people learned God’s principles for handling their money, we were equipping people to live effectively in our world. That clearly fits our mission. And people who are always in a financial hole won’t be much good for God.
How many families in Oak Lawn are in chaos today because the parents don’t know what it means to be a Christian husband or a Christian wife and they don’t know how to give their children a Christian upbringing? A lot? Ask the school teachers who have to deal with the chaos in the hearts of the kids when they come to school. I’ve done Christian parenting classes in other churches I’ve served, where we got a video series that lead us through the principles and then we could talk together about how to be better parents and pray for each other. Families that are in relationship chaos will have their usefulness for God seriously limited.
Our culture is seeking for spirituality in almost every imaginable direction, we are surrounded by such a confusing alphabet soup of different religions and philosophies. They need to hear a clear presentation of God’s word. And we need to get that presentation clear in our own minds and they take it out of the church to the community. And that takes workers who have prepared by learning their own faith and by ordering their lives to make it happen. The harvest is ripe. The opportunities are there. We need everyone to join in and take in the harvest.
A second reason that we need to equip the saints is that the clergy just can’t do it all. I am so thankful for my seminary, where I learned so much about the Bible and how God works. But the danger of having such places is that too many of God’s children assume that since the pastor has gone to seminary and they haven’t, then they need to sit back and let the pastor do the church work for them. And that’s not possible. I think it was Bill Beaty that sent me this description of the perfect pastor.
A recent survey has compiled all the qualities that people expect from the perfect pastor:
Results of a computerized survey indicated that the perfect pastor preaches exactly 12 minutes and in that 12 minutes gives everyone in the church a full diet of spiritual food. He frequently condemns sin but never upsets anyone.
He works from 8 a.m. until midnight and is also a janitor.
He makes $60 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car, and gives about $80 a week to the poor.
He is 28 years of age, but he's been preaching for 30 years. He is wonderfully gentle and handsome.
He gives himself completely but never gets too close to anyone to avoid criticism.
He speaks boldly on social issues, but must never become politically involved.
He has a burning desire to work with teenagers, but he spends all his time with senior citizens.
He makes 15 daily calls to parish families, visits shut-ins and the hospitalized, spends all his time evangelizing the unchurched, and is always in his office when needed.
Can anyone fulfill that job description? The Methodist movement has a strong tradition of lay ministry. But we need to constantly guard against the danger of turning Christianity into a spectator religion where people figure they have hired a professional to do the work so they can sit back and watch. That’s poison to the church, and a denial of our call to make disciples. I treasure the team of leaders who work so hard for all of us in this church. But we could double their number and still have lots of good things to do.
A third reason for equipping the saints is that they dry up and die if they aren’t using their gifts and growing. Nobody likes to be involved with something that doesn’t accomplish anything, that doesn’t make you a better person. Churches who patronize their members by holding expectations to a minimum die. Churches that stretch their members and help them grow live. It’s that simple.
If you aren’t part of the solution, then you are part of the…. Problem.
How do churches equip their members?
1 Through scripture.
All scripture is inspired by God and is useful for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, so that everyone who belongs to God may be proficient, equipped for every good work.”
2. THROUGH DOING, practical experience in serving.
3. THROUGH SUPPORTIVE RELATIONSHIPS
4. THROUGH BUILDING LOVE AND COMPASSION.
If we really love our neighbors, we will be highly motivated to rise above just keeping the bills paid and the doors open and do everything we can to serve them and draw them to our LORD.
