What do we learn from the early church - as we read the book of acts, we find similar struggles to our own present day ones...
Acts 6:1-7 reflects the troubles that come with dynamic growth...
The new testament solution is always the same - responsibility for the community is to be shared - within the Body of Christ.
Consider how the models have changed over time... here is the presentation that I used to summarise the development of the Body of Christ model in scripture: Willing to Serve Presentation(32k)
Or you could right-click and "Save as" to download the presentation.
As someone who has worked closely with a number of Ministers and people in full time ministry, I feel it is important for us to realise that we all have an important role to play in spreading the good news of Christ. Although "full-time" ministers work long and hard to share God's love with their community, they are often restricted to the "four walls" of the church and offices; there is little time to actually get out into the community as they are busy with pastoral care, councelling, sermon prep, course planning etc. We, the average Jo and Jane, do however have plenty of opportunity to reach out into the community - in our homes, places of work or study, social gatherings, among family and friends; not only are we able to serve with our spiritual gifts but we have the opportunity to share our stories and pass on the message of Christ's love in a way that aids ministry and our Ministers. We are all called to share our story, we have a way to reach out that is unique and may well speak volumes to someone and will most probably mean a lot more to that person than a sermon will do. Lets not leave everything up to those in Full-till ministry, they simply do not always have the time and opportunity.
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