“I WILL BUILD MY CHURCH”

This thought is dedicated to the Ekklesia... the called out ones... the mystical assembly of all the redeemed...all who have been purchased with the Blood of the Lamb… the members of “His Body which is The Church.” Ekklesia must be understood two ways in scripture, The Church “big C”, just described, and the church “little c”, the individual assemblies of the redeemed gathering together at any point in time. These churches make up “The Church.” The Church is the leaven of the Kingdom of God, ceaselessly spreading God’s Kingdom through the dough of humanity. Stripped to its spiritual essentials the church functions as a purveyor of God’s Kingdom through “the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry”, which builds up the Body of Christ – The Church. “Equipping”, translates the Greek word katartismos which means to make fit, prepare, train, perfect, and was originally used for setting a bone during surgery. God does not want His Church to be out of joint! The “work of ministry” is the enterprise of each member of the church who are “joined and knit together by what every joint (i.e., person) supplies” to work effective when “every part (i.e., person) does its share”, growing spiritual maturity as it builds itself up in love. Equipping the saints covers a lot of ground including teaching/mentoring spiritual growth, empowering to minister, encouraging ministry, providing a forum for ministry development, and providing essential help including facilities, equipment and resources. Individual ministry is identified, developed and released within the nurturing environment   of the church sanctuary, moving out into the marketplace as spiritual leaven when it has matured.

 Every blood bought saint of God has a personal ministry... something to contribute to the Kingdom of God, for we were “created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them.” When these personal ministries are quenched and grieved rather than nurtured, ignored by a misplaced focus on rigid liturgy and the “One Man Show” syndrome, spiritual growth of the church ceases as an attainable reality. Notice the key adjective modifying growth... “spiritual”, we are not just talking about getting people into a building here. The real measurement of church effectiveness is not church size... quality trumps quantity every time in God’s Kingdom, but rather the effectiveness of the equipping of its saints for the work of ministry. Why do people become so prideful and elated simply from getting humans into a building?  Man driven church growth becomes a stronghold that burns out pastors while filling the pews with lukewarm Self-centered “Christians” that God has already said He will spew out of His mouth. God’s mandate to the church is to “go and make disciples” – spiritually mature Christians – not go and make converts. Focusing on church growth... size, rather than growing spiritual maturity through the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, is simply a prideful form of godliness that denies the power of equipped saints to leaven the world.

GO AND MAKE DISCIPLES

(Matt. 16:18, 28:19; Eph. 2:10, 4:11-16; 2 Tim. 3:5; Col. 1:24; Rev. 3:16)