Ministry Matters

Apostolicity should not be confused with arrogance and assumption. True prophecy is not salted with presumption and pride. I am fully at one with Alan Hirsch, when he compares the fivefold APETS ministry of Ephesians 4 to a spectrum of giftings that are latently present in any man or woman of faith. But I have to say that the only name I want to be know by is that of a servant: a minister of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Both the words 'mission' and 'ministry' come from the one Greek, New Testament word: 'service'. That  great exemplary passage, Philippians 2, speaks of the example of Jesus Christ to us all, in emptying Himself, taking the form of a servant, humbling himself and being obedient. And calls us to do the same.

So here is a suggestion. Let's try just calling ourselves 'ministers', 'servants'. Let's stop examining our navels and whispering the question to the mirror, 'am I an apostle, prophet, evangelist, teacher or pastor?' Let me abandon self-affirmation and manifest such gifting as it pleases the Lord to manifest through me in service of others, in humility and submission to the collective discernment and decision of my peers.

Radical, eh? Or maybe just wise, as our forefathers thought when they called themselves but 'ministers of the Gospel'.