Every Person Is A Minister, But Not All Ministry Is The Same

“But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.”
Acts 6:4

At our church we believe that every person is a minister, but that doesn’t mean every ministry is the same. In the New Testament church, you see several different types of ministries, but everyone is involved as ministers.

In the early church, the explosive growth had led to some big problems. One of the biggest problems early on was the care of the widows. The Apostles had their hands full just trying to get the message out, so they decided to fix the problem by naming the first church deacons. People like Stephen and Phillip were chose to serve the widows, while the Apostles would devote themselves to prayer and the ministry of the word.

A couple of things to notice here, the first is that the ministry to the widows was important and they didn’t want to leave it undone. It was a needed and worthwhile ministry. They saw the need and then they brainstormed as to how to best meet that need. Their reasoning must have been something along the lines of, we all don’t need to be preaching all the time, so let’s find some guys who can serve practically by helping the widows.

This is an important thought, even though we are all ministers, we are not all called to do the same ministry. Some of us minister by serving others practically, while others may be administrators or preachers or something else. Serving others in this way doesn’t mean that you are less than those who minister by proclaiming the word. The early church didn’t think so and neither did the Apostle Paul later on.

“On the contrary, the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and on those parts of the body that we think less honorable we bestow the greater honor, and our unpresentable parts are treated with greater modesty, which our more presentable parts do not require. But God has so composed the body, giving greater honor to the part that lacked it, that there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another.”
1 Cor. 12:22-25

In fact, Jesus, himself, would actually turn what we think as hierarchy on its head. He would say things like the first will be last and the last will be first. When faced with two ambition brothers, he said that in order to be the greatest of all, you would need to be the servant of all.

Our typical ambitious drive to be someone doesn’t get you far in the kingdom unless your ambition drives you to serve others and humble yourself. So there is no super status for those that are pastors or teachers or prophets. Those who do the ministry of the word are serving, just in a different way.

The big question is this, what is your ministry? What is God asking you to do? If you can’t answer that, you should start praying about it and looking for godly opportunities. The other thing to remember is that you aren’t looking for a title or a position. Godly opportunities most often don’t come with a title. If you are looking for a title, you need to reexamine your heart and humble yourself. Real ministry comes from the heart, not from the desire to get a title.

The next thing to notice about this story in early church history is that even though Stephen’s role was one of practical service, that doesn’t mean he stopped sharing the good news when he was given opportunity. We see that he ended up being a martyr after giving an amazing sermon drawing references from throughout Israel’s history. This was all after he was called to be a deacon and serve the widows. He never stopped sharing!

Some of us love to serve practically, but we use that as a cover to just hide. We don’t want to share the gospel, it makes us uncomfortable, but in the early church, everyone shared the gospel. It was their commission, so even though the Apostles were going to devote all of their time to that mission, the rest of the church didn’t stop sharing. In fact, in the Book of Acts we see that the deacons never stopped sharing the gospel even though they were called to serve tables. 

This should encourage us to do the same. Regardless of whether we are an electrician, a lawyer, a sales person, or whatever you do, we should be bold in proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God.

Prayer - Lord, help me to discover the gifts and talents you’ve given me and to use them for your kingdom. Reveal my heart to me and expose any pride or sinful desires. I want to serve you from a place of love and acceptance. Amen.