By Laura Springer
Key Idea: Every-member ministry is the practice of serving God and loving one another using God-given spiritual gifts, which we sharpen and deepen through discipleship, in order to form the church as a community and culture that images Jesus.
In the church, ministry is part of the deal, but what is ministry? Who ministers? How are ministers equipped? What is ministry for? During 2024, we will consider what ministry is, who should minister, how believers might be prepared for ministry, and why every-member ministry is important.
Ministry is the practice of loving one another by serving with the gifts God has already given. God has given each Christian opportunities, knowledge, and skills that fit them and their community, and these gifts are most often recognized in the moments when our skills meet a need. These gifts are the overflow of the Father's generosity toward his children, given so they might serve him well. Through these grace-gifted ministry assignments, every believer ministers.
Every believer has been equipped by God for every-member ministry. As Christians in a congregation focus on Jesus, they learn to love one another better through words, actions, and intentions. Love commits to coming alongside others within our diversity and across barriers. Love dwells in unity, with hearts leaning toward one another's good. Love serves from personal uniqueness and through mutual generosity. Love thrives in a church that supports Christ-focused differences through which believers' generous giving of self, resources, and time can be seen in speech, actions, and plans.
Believers are prepared for ministry through an all-church discipleship culture that teaches from Scripture and Creation. Along with spiritual gifts, God gives believers the responsibility to learn to serve Jesus better. We learn first by soaking in Scripture, for it teaches us what Creation cannot: that our mighty God is Creator, Lord, and Savior, and his truth is everywhere. Second, we improve our knowledge and skills by studying his Creation, which not only testifies to God's divinity and power but also teaches us knowledge and skills for wise, practical living. Both of God’s books, Scripture and Creation, train us to love well in ways that fit the needs around us. His two books teach us that loving one another as a family is hardwired into our needs and only complete in our relationship with Jesus.
Serving God by actively loving one another creates a culture of unity, towardness, diversity, and generosity that images Jesus. Loving one another as Jesus loves us puts first what Scripture puts first: love God, love people, and teach others to do the same. By loving one another, we become a family in which every member serves, and every member gives and welcomes honest evaluation. In this way, we become a congregation that supports particular people serving Jesus in particular ways as siblings in God's one family. We become a community serving those around us in ways that fit our lives, locale, and limits.
We are commanded to love one another, and we can all love others by filling the needs we see. God expects us to strengthen and encourage one another toward Christlikeness, and we can all help one another know Jesus and his creation better. God expects us to serve one another, and every believer, from youngest to oldest, newest to most mature in Christ, can actively love their siblings in Christ. God expects us to be a ministering community.
