Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called – Eph. 4:1
The Christian life is not merely one that adheres to a set of laws or guidelines, but is, literally, a calling. Christ has placed a calling on every believer’s life to live in a manner that expresses the transformation that took place at salvation.
In part one of this series we shared Ephesians 4:11-13 as a model for church growth. That model is based on the idea that the work of the church leadership is to “equip the saints (the other church members) for the work of ministry,” and the work of the saints is to use their “equipping” to go out and reach the world for Christ. That is a fairly straightforward philosophy of ministry, but in order to make it work, it is necessary to grasp exactly what that equipping consists of?
Of course, there are many different ways this equipping process could be characterized, but we have found that using a worldview paradigm gets us quickly to the very heart of the matter. Using this paradigm, there are three broad categories that need to be addressed, with multiple topics in each category. The three categories include: 1) worldview training, 2) discerning one’s ministry calling, and 3) developing one’s ministry. Let’s take a look at what this would involve.
Worldview Training
A worldview is a person’s belief about how reality is structured – that is, what is real and not real. Obviously this is quite important, because if a belief is not real (is a fantasy) it cannot be used to truthfully evaluate things that relate to living life.
There are four big-picture worldview categories: Theism, Naturalism, Far Eastern Thought, and Animism. Each of the four are completely exclusive, meaning that they all contradict each other. Only one of them can possibly represent reality, and all of the others necessarily do not. Thus, anyone who holds beliefs that are based on one of the three that are not true, are living by beliefs that do not represent reality.
Of course, everyone believes that their beliefs represent reality, so there must be a way to evaluate one’s beliefs to find out if that is actually true. As Christians, we are convinced that our beliefs represent that truth. But just believing it is not enough; we also need to know “why” what we believe is true and why other beliefs are not. This knowledge provides us with some very important tools. As such, there are five things that Christians need to grasp and master as it relates to worldview beliefs:
1) What is worldview and what are the worldview possibilities?
2) What is the Christian worldview?
3) How do we express Christian worldview beliefs out in society?
4) What are the essential beliefs of those who are not Christians?
5) How do we share Christian worldview beliefs with people who are not believers?
Let’s now give a brief answer and explanation of these five.
First, we need to understand worldview concepts because they provide us with confidence that we actually do live in reality. In the pluralistic world we live in, with so many people touting their beliefs as true, we need to have a way to be sure that our beliefs are right. An understanding of worldview gives us that confidence.
Second, a knowledge of worldview gives us a profound understanding of the essential core of our Christian beliefs. It is very difficult for individuals to be confident in their beliefs without a solid grasp of what they are.
Third, worldview knowledge gives us the tools to live out our faith in the real world. By knowing our beliefs, we have the ability to not only be confident that the moral road we walk is true, but also that the personal relationship we have with God is objectively real. This relationship is what gives us the power to faithfully live out our faith.
Forth, worldview knowledge gives us an essential understanding of the other belief systems that we confront out in the world. It is easy to become confused and lose confidence when talking with people who hold other beliefs if we have no idea what they are talking about, and no understanding of their worldview foundation.
Finally, a knowledge of worldview gives us the ability to confidently share our faith with people who have other beliefs. We can not only be confident that we know what we and they believe, but also “why” what we believe is true and what they believe is not.
For all of these reasons, worldview knowledge is a critical element of equipping that needs to be incorporated into a church’s discipleship program. It can also be confidently stated that without this knowledge, it is very difficult to truly accomplish the work of God’s kingdom out in the world.
Discerning One’s Ministry Calling
A second category of equipping that needs to be addressed has to do with helping believers discern their ministry calling. The concept of clergy and laity in the church has become so ingrained in the thinking of most Christians that the distinction is now largely accepted as “the way things are.” But that distinction is not a biblical concept. In New Testament theology there is no priestly class. All believers are called to ministry.
For that to make sense, though, we need to understand what the New Testament teaches regarding ministry. It seems that most people think of ministry as the work associated with “the church.” But that is much too narrow a definition. Ministry actually has to do with accomplishing the full scope of God’s the purpose in the world. It has probably been best defined in Matthew 28:16-20; the Great Commission. There, believers are told to go out into the world to make disciples. This is not an “in the church” calling, but an “in the world” calling – and it is given to all believers, not just to “clergy.”
But there is another concept that also plays into the mix – that of the Body of Christ. In 1 Corinthians 12:12-31, and other places, the Bible speaks of the church using a “body” metaphor. The idea is that Jesus, as the head, directs the body in what it should do. The body, then, in its relationship to the head, goes out and does the will of the head.
But the body is not spoken of as a monolith. Rather it is made up of many parts, with each part having its own unique role to play in the work of the body. And in explaining the metaphor, the apostle Paul indicates that each believer is a body part. The implication is that every believer has a part to play in the accomplishment of the will of the head. That is, every person is a minister with a mission, and is called to go out into the world to do a unique work to touch the lives of people who don’t know Christ.
So the biblical distinction is not between “clergy and laity,” but between the head and the various kinds of work the body parts are called to do to accomplish the will of the head. We have already seen in Ephesians 4:11-13 that the purpose of those called into church leadership is to equip the saints for the work of ministry. That is the calling of those members of the body. So then, what about the calling of everyone else? Their calling is be become equipped to carry out the work of God in the part of the world in which they live.
Sadly, most Christians do not think in those terms. Most have bought into the “clergy/laity” dichotomy. It is time to break from that.
As such, every believer needs to be thinking about their ministry calling as much as any pastor or missionary thinks about theirs. How can a believer who is a doctor, plumber, lawyer, banker, artist, politician, merchant, or who serves in any other occupation, go into the world and accomplish the purpose of the head? That is each body part’s (each person’s) unique calling that must be discerned. And once it is discerned, every believer needs to be equipped to carry it out. The equipping not only involves becoming proficient in their profession out in the world, but also proficient with the gospel so that at appropriate times and in appropriate ways, each believer is able of accomplish the purpose of Christ in the world.
Developing One’s Ministry
One more thing needs to be addressed. It is not enough to simply gain the knowledge and skills necessary to be a faithful disciple. And it is not enough to recognize God’s calling on one’s life. One final step must be implemented – to actually carry out the calling in real life.
It sure would be nice to be able to give a formula for developing one’s ministry out in the world, but God simply did not create the world in a way that allows for it to happen that way. While it is possible to identify various ministry categories, the actual work of ministry is unique to every individual. The reason this is so is because the calling is to make disciples, and every disciple maker and every disciple that gets made is a unique individual. There are different life circumstances, different professions, different cultures, different personalities, different interests, and this list could go on and on. As such, the personal qualities and situations of individuals who want to be faithful making disciples, and those of the people a disciple-maker is trying to reach, are all unique and require a customized interaction. There are situations where it is possible to actually be direct and up front when interacting with other people (for a whole host of different reasons), but there are also situations where one must be more indirect and discrete – and every shade in-between.
The thing that must be grasped in this arena, though, is that the calling and the message do not ever change. God has called every believer to go out and do the work of ministry, and the message we share is the same no matter the circumstances. What we are dealing with here, then, is a matter of methodology for expressing the calling and delivering the message, not the calling and message itself.
At this point, each individual must be both intentional and creative. The intentionality provides the motivation needed to make sure one is faithful in expressing the gospel in their world, while the creativity helps individuals figure out the appropriate way to fulfill their calling in their particular circumstance.
Conclusion
In the course of Christian history, a powerful, but unbiblical, tradition has become established in the church that has hindered its growth and put a damper on the spiritual development of a large percentage of Christians. That tradition is associated with the divide between the clergy and the laity.
The biblical approach is that the purpose of the clergy is to equip the saints for the work of ministry, and the purpose of the laity is to go out into the world and make disciples. Sadly, that has gotten twisted so that the very meaning of ministry has been changed – it has come to mean the work within the confines of the church organization rather than what is done out in the world. With that, it has become primarily the job of the clergy to do the ministry, and the job of the laity to simply cheer on the clergy in their task.
If we want to see the church really grow, it will be necessary to move back to a biblical model. If that happens, we will see again what happened in early Christian history when the Christian faith exploded around the world. If things continue as they are, we will continue to get what we are seeing now – the slow growth (or decline) of the church, and very low levels of spiritual maturity in believers.
It is my firm belief that God wants the church to experience explosive growth so that the entire world can be reached for Christ. For that to happen, it will be necessary for all Christians to take seriously their calling from God, become equipped to accomplish the calling, then go out into the world and touch the lives of those who don’t know Christ.
© 2018 Freddy Davis