Lot's of churches have "every member is a minister" as a slogan. But there's a crucial difference between that slogan and "every member ministers".
The first is a spiritual identity, but doesn't require action. Sure, we'd like you to take action--we're preaching sermons about it, right? But that's not what that slogan focuses on. It focuses on a received position. Sound like your church members? (By the way, I totally agree with that theology--upon salvation, we do receive through grace a new spiritual identity, including being a minister of God's gospel.)
The second goes a step further--it's a behavior description.
What is your church more oriented towards? Establishing theological principles or engaging in ministry activity? Behavior or belief?
We do need both and I think we should work on both (this blog is about evaluating our beliefs). But James says faith without works is dead (James 2.) Maybe you could paraphrase it to say that members who don't minister aren't really ministers?
Does every member minister in your church? (Before you write this off as a pipe dream, consider that we literally have every member minister every week on Sunday in our church. Yes, that is one of our value statements, but it's also an accurate description of a normal Sunday gathering.)
The first is a spiritual identity, but doesn't require action. Sure, we'd like you to take action--we're preaching sermons about it, right? But that's not what that slogan focuses on. It focuses on a received position. Sound like your church members? (By the way, I totally agree with that theology--upon salvation, we do receive through grace a new spiritual identity, including being a minister of God's gospel.)
The second goes a step further--it's a behavior description.
What is your church more oriented towards? Establishing theological principles or engaging in ministry activity? Behavior or belief?
We do need both and I think we should work on both (this blog is about evaluating our beliefs). But James says faith without works is dead (James 2.) Maybe you could paraphrase it to say that members who don't minister aren't really ministers?
Does every member minister in your church? (Before you write this off as a pipe dream, consider that we literally have every member minister every week on Sunday in our church. Yes, that is one of our value statements, but it's also an accurate description of a normal Sunday gathering.)
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