The Essential Activity of Christian Ministry - Essay Example

?What is the Essential Activity of Christian Ministry? Table of Contents Introduction 3 Education, Discipleship and Spiritual Formation 3 Comparing and Contrasting the Essential Activities of Christian Ministry 4 Key Priority among of the Essential Activities of Christian Ministry 5 Relation between the Essential Activities with Worship 6 Conclusion 7 References 9 Introduction Christian ministry is regarded as the activity and obligation of the local church for meeting its biblically delineated directives towards humanity. It has often been argued that the main purpose of Christian ministry is to simply educate people about Bible, to promote discipleship of Jesus Christ and to spread religious formation among the people in the local community. It has been ascertained that there exists certain similarities as well as difference between the above mentioned aspects of education, discipleship and spiritual formation (Bridges 2006). Correspondingly, this paper intends to critically discuss the various essential activities performed by the Christian ministry and will come up with illustrating the most vital activity among the aforesaid three dimensions. Education, Discipleship and Spiritual Formation Education, discipleship and spiritual formation are considered among the essential activities performed by the Christian ministry. Education, in this context, means producing discipleship among the people who worship Jesus Christ. One of the primary aims of the Christian education is to develop discipleship among people. Furthermore, discipleship in Christianity is regarded as the relationship between the Lord with His disciples. Contextually, it can be firmly related as a relationship between the teacher and student or as a relationship between the master and learner. A true disciple is argued to be one who abides by all the teachings of Jesus and spread the acquired knowledge to other people. On the other hand, spiritual formation is an attempt directed towards deepening faith in Lord and furtherance of spiritual enhancement amid the community (Glandion, 2012). It is also regarded as the means through which life can be led with spirituality and prosperity. All these aspects are considered to be among the important or essential activates performed by the Christian ministry as its essential activities (Hinkel, 2012). Comparing and Contrasting the Essential Activities of Christian Ministry All the above mentioned aspects are similar to each owing to the reason that all of them work towards stimulating the augmentation of human faith in God. It has been observed in this regard that education, as an activity of Christian ministry not only signifies Christian learning but also used to develop discipleship among the people who worship Jesus. In this context, spiritual formation of people includes some of the traditional methods of discipleship like fasting, Bible reading and prayer among others. Correspondingly, the activity of Christian education follows a predetermined format while the activity of spiritual formation changes with the quest of people to find Lord and His guidance. It has been observed that Christian education is considered to be head knowledge while spiritual formation is considered as knowledge gained straight from heart. Simultaneously, there also persists a considerable difference between discipleship with Christian education as well as spiritual formation. In the realm of Christianity, discipleship is admitted to be quite challenging as compared to spiritual formation and education activities. In contrast to Christian education and spiritual formation, discipleship is regarded as a continuous process wherein a follower of Jesus is firmly involved in introducing other people to Jesus as Savior and Lord. Unlike education and spiritual formation, discipleship requires commitment to the greatest extent so that the teaching of God can be duly followed and conveyed to other people in the most convincing manner. The above discussed aspect also depicts that these concepts of education, spiritual formation as well as discipleship are quite similar in their definition but are different in their root source (Barna 2013; Mitchell 2010). Key Priority among of the Essential Activities of Christian Ministry It can be observed from the above discussion that all the activities of the Church are interrelated with each other as they are taken up to achieve the common goal through Christian Ministry. However, it has often been argued in this context that it shall only be fruitful when all the three activities are accomplished with equal positivity. Eventually, all these activities are interdependent which makes it quite challenging to focus on each of the activities in an isolated manner. It is thus believed that all these activities are equally important to the ministry as Jesus had Himself mentioned these aspects in His teaching. Christian education is considering as the first attempt through which the sense of love towards Lord is expected to be developed among people. It further attempts to convey information in a structured manner so that maximum knowledge can be provided to people about Lord which will encourage them to live in light of scripture. Education is also regarded as the way through which teachings as well as values of Jesus can be promoted among the people. It has been ascertained that in order to attain discipleship, people need to develop utmost love for God and His teachings, which can only be possible through proper education. It has also been affirmed in this regard that adequate knowledge and motivation can encourage people to stand by the teachings and values of God which can only be possible with the assistance of Christian education delivered through Christian Ministry (United Church of Christ, 2013). Thus, with reference from the above discussion it can be affirmed that Christian education is the ultimate activity performed by Christian Ministry that further leads to the accomplishment of discipleship and spiritual formation. Thus, education accords topmost priority for the Christian ministry among other two aspects of discipleship and spiritual formation. Relation between the Essential Activities with Worship It has been observed from the above discussion that Christian education leads to the deliverance of effective discipleship as well as spiritual formation. However, it will be worth mentioning that all the essential activities of the Christian ministry have one common goal i.e. to influence people to worship the Lord with a positive attitude towards God. Education provides people with the basic knowledge about Lord and His teachings which develop love and commitment among people towards God and influence them to live better lives influenced by spirituality. Furthermore, discipleship develops a relationship between followers and the Lord which again lead to worship. Similarly, spiritual formation encourages people towards Bible reading for strengthening their faith on Lord which further lead to worship of God. Thus, it can be affirmed that all the three activities of Christian ministry are essential aspects that develops faith on Lord and foster growth and peace in the lives of people through spirituality. Conclusion From the overall analysis, it can be summarized that all the three activities of the Christian ministry are related with each other as they have the common goal to be attained i.e. to make the life of people better through spirituality persuading them to follow the teachings of God. Unarguably, it can be stated that all of these activities are quite important for the Christian ministry. However, Christian education can be regarded as the most significant activity of Christian ministry owing to the fact that the other two aspects (i.e. discipleship and spiritual formation) cannot be realized without the proper insights and knowledge to this particular activity. Accordingly, Christian education can be regarded as the source that leads to effective discipleship and spiritual formation which is also an essential activity of Christian ministry. Nonetheless, all the three activities are related to each other and are vital for accomplishing the collective goal towards developing adequate commitment among people towards God as determined by the Christian ministry. References Barna, George. Growing True Disciples: New Strategies for Producing Genuine Followers of Christ. United States: Doubleday Religious Publishing Group, 2013. Bridges, Charles. The Christian Ministry. United Kingdom: Oxford University, 2006. Carney, Glandion. “Spiritual formation.” A Disciple’s Guide (2012): 1-33. Hinkel, Deborah K. “Spiritual formation and discipleship major evaluation.” Lancaster Bible College, (2012): 1-20. Mitchell, Michael R. Leading, Teaching, and Making Disciples. United States: CrossBooks, 2010. Schner, George P. Education for Ministry: Reform and Renewal in Theological Education. United States: Rowman & Littlefield, 1993. United Church of Christ. “The "whys" of Christian education.” Partners in Education United Church of Christ (2013): 1-3. Read More