Foundation and Paradigm for Ministry - Literature review Example

Foundation and Paradigm for Ministry Total Number of Words: 2,501 Introduction Developing a paradigm for God’s ministry is important since it will serve as a guide on how each Christian should manage and govern the churches of God. To be able to effectively construct and discuss the foundational paradigm of a church ministry, it is best to read through the book of Acts. Basically, the book of Acts should serve as the main foundation when creating a paradigm for God’s ministry since this particular book in the Bible clearly discuss the historical founding of the Christian church including how Paul was able to spread Christianity throughout the Roman Empire. Aside from the book of Acts, some personal insights coming from Tidball (2008), Dever and Paul (2005), and Wiersbe (2007) will also be considered throughout the entire discussion. Foundational Paradigm of a Church Ministry The main purpose of creating a church ministry is to preach the word of God (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 33) as well as the gift of Salvation. Basically, it is important to teach the unbelievers about God’s words because it can serve as the main foundation of their future or long-term spiritual life as a human being. Eventually, it is God’s words that will enable each person to develop faith in God (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 35). With regards to the main purpose of building a church ministry, perhaps some people would ask questions like: (1) Who is God?; (2) What is the gift of Salvation all about?; and (3) What does Jesus Christ has to do with the gift of Salvation? Specifically the term ‘salvation’ is all about God’s grace given to each person who believes in Jesus Christ as their personal savior. It is also under the book of Acts that clearly guides us how each one of us can receive the gift of Salvation. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved – you and your household” (Acts 16:31). It means that anybody who believes in the name Jesus Christ will be forgiven for his sins (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 26; Acts 10:43). In line with this, Peter who was one of God’s apostles mentioned that we should all repent, ask for the forgiveness of our sins, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ before we can all receive the gift of the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:38; Dever & Alexander, 2005: 26, 105). The term ‘repent’ means that each one of us should feel sorry or regretful of the wrong doings we have done in the past. Under Acts (3:19), it was mentioned that repent or feeling sorry for the wrong deeds we have done in the past is not enough to wipe out all our sins since it was also mentioned in this particular verse that each one of us should also “turn to God”. So, how can each one of us literally turn to God? What should be the main foundation of each ministry? Peter and God’s other apostles said that “we must obey God rather than men!” Basically, the only way to learn more about what God wants us to do is to constantly read the Bible (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 81). Aside from the need to accept and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, God also has given each one of us the authority to preach God’s word or the Gospel such that Jesus Christ is the only one who was appointed by God to be the “judge of the living and the dead” (Acts 10:42; Dever & Alexander, 2005: 81-89). In the process of continuously reading the Bible, each one of us can have better thoughts and ideas on what is being expected from each one of us. For example, our prayers together with the acts of helping the poor are considered as an offering before God (Acts 10:4). In fact, the mere act of praying strongly reflects our own trust and dependency on God (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 35). Likewise, God also expects people not to judge others by calling them “impure” or “unclean” (Acts 10:28). So, what is it about Jesus Christ that God wants us to preach people? First of all, God expects each one of us to believe that Jesus Christ was resurrected after he was crucified on the cross (Acts 2:31-36). Since “God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and power” (Acts 10:38), each one of us is expected to continuously teach and proclaim the wonderful news about our Lord Jesus Christ. It means that the best paradigm for God’s ministry should focus on the need to continuously teach people about Jesus Christ and the importance of living the rest of their lives under His rule and within his Kingdom (Acts 31-38; Tidball, 2008: 15). What is it that we need to strengthen the foundation of our ministries? In line with this, Dever and Alexander (2005: 26) said that the main foundation of each ministry should be “God-centered”. At all times, the local churches should be built on God’s words (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 27). So, why is it important that we create a God-centered ministry for our local churches? How come that an effective ministry should be one that is formed through “incarnation” and not by “imitation” (Wiersbe, 2007: 12)? Basically, the answer to this particular question is to enable us to spread and multiply God’s word and character to each and every believers and worshipers of God (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 26). Likewise, it is basically God, through the Holy Spirit, who is expected to work on the will of each person based on what will give Him pleasure (Wiersbe, 2007: 12). In the process of making each Christian able to develop a God-like character, attitude and beliefs, then, we can say that the ministry of God was built on a strong foundation or paradigm that is in accordance to God’s will and expectations. Even though it is clear that the church ministry should focus on teaching people about Jesus Christ and how we can actually receive Salvation through Christ himself, Tidball (2008: 15) mentioned that the people behind the ministry and how these people are exercising their rights and duties within the ministry significantly affects the ministry in terms of its context. In Acts (5:29), it was clearly stated that “we must obey God rather than men!” Some people are inherently manipulative and hungry of power and fame. Because of the mistake of choosing wrong people to become elders or deacons, some ministries are most likely to fail. This clearly explains why there are some churches around the world that are able to comply with what God expects the ministry to be but not the others. According to Denver and Alexander (2005: 21), the goal of each ministry is to strengthen our faith in Christ. To build a successful and effective ministry, the foundation of each ministry should be built on the Gospel of Christ (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 21). It means that it is only through “His glory and wisdom” that men can build an effective ministry (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 26). As we all know, the mission that God has given all of us is sacred and that the success of a ministry is one that does not cause the erosion one’s faith in the ministry and God (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 21). In line with this, Tidball (2008: 14) in the book entitled “Ministry by the Book: New Testament Patterns” highlighted not only the importance of “ministry” and “pastoral leadership” within the churches but also the need to keep all churches and ministry of God united at all times (Tidball, 2008: 14). Furthermore, Tidball (2008: 22-23) also mentioned that disciples are actually group of ‘learners’ who closely observe the lives of their pastor leaders (i.e. elders and deacons) as their teachers in churches. With this in mind, one can say that the best ways to strengthen the ministry’s foundation is to carefully appoint pastors who will be assigned to teach people about God’s words. Since the kind of elders or pastors in the church could strongly affect the ministry’s contexts, it is best to carefully assess the qualities, abilities, character, and other qualifications of the person before appointing him as one of the few church leaders (Dever & Alexander, 2005: 137 - 148). Wiersbe (2007: 7) who wrote the book entitled “On Being a Servant of God” is another famous person who had worthy words to say about what a ministry should be and how each and every church leader, a pastor or a believer should be like when it comes to serving the Lord. According to Wiersbe (2007: 11), excellent training in preaching is not enough to effectively lead a church or a ministry since it requires to know by heart the principles behind God’s words and eventually have a clear vision before the elders and deacons are able to effectively lead the church well. For us to be able to minister just the way God would like us to minister or preach God’s words is to follow the way each of God’s apostles had ministered in the past. In line with this, Wiersbe (2007: 13) highlighted the importance of personally knowing ‘the divine resources’, compassionately know the basic human needs, and allow God to use you in channeling His resources so that eventually, God can be glorified. Reflection Changes in My Personal Outlook During this Course Before taking this course, I used to have a very strong attachment to the material world. Because of my twisted perception in life, I ended up spending most of my time at work in order to earn more money to support my day-to-day needs. Taking this course had significantly changed my personal outlook especially with regards to my relationship with God. After going through the book of Acts, I realized that God do not practice favoritism nor judging people based on their social or financial status in life. In fact, what is important to God is how we accept Christ as our personal savior, repent our sins, how we build a long-term relationship with God through prayers, how we preach His words such as his promise of Salvation and eternal life, including how we can slowly transform characters the way it represents or resembles God’s characters among others. In the past, I was not aware of the difference between choosing a ministry that is in accordance to God’s will and a ministry that was formed out of imitating what people expects a minister to be like. After reading the book of Dever and Alexander (2005), I was able to gain more insight about the pastors’ role in preaching, the importance of being God-centered, the truth about the Gospel, the importance of preaching and praying, and why there is a serious need for each one of us to assess the qualifications, character, and ability of a person to become appounted as an Elder. Scriptural Foundation for Ministry prior to Taking this Course I have been one of the active church goers in my place before I decided to take this course. Although I do read some biblical scriptures from time-to-time, I cannot 100% say that I had a very strong scriptural foundation with regards to what ministry really is. Therefore, taking this course has really been so helpful to me in terms of widening my knowledge and understanding of what a true ministry should be like. Other than reading through the book of Acts, the books of Tidball (2008), Dever and Paul (2005), and Wiersbe (2007) was very useful in terms of allowing me to develop a strong scriptural foundation that will work well for a ministry. Using certain biblical verses or scriptures from the Bible, the books that were written by Tidball (2008), Dever and Paul (2005), and Wiersbe (2007) allowed me to a series of reflection with regards to what is really going on in the ministry of some churches. As such, some of the insights given by these authors made me realize that not all churches are technically built on God’s word. Therefore, each one of us should be able to learn how to detect faults that are present within the ministry. In doing so, it is possible for each one of us to protect ourselves from people who disguises to be God-like but in reality they are not. Implementation of Some Insights Learned from this Course To date, I have not implemented anything I have learned from this course since I am still in the process of reflecting on what a ministry should be like and what it should not be like. Recently, I have learned that within a God-centered ministry, the divine resources should be able to meet what humans needed (Wiersbe, 2007: 19). To be able to meet the human needs, becoming selfless is necessary. Therefore, within the next few days, I intend to make it a habit to look after the interests of other people more than my own personal interests. In general, the four (4) different kinds of human needs include: (1) physical needs; (2) emotional needs; (3) financial needs; and (4) relational needs (Wiersbe, 2007: 20). By making it a practice to help other people with their personal needs, I can prepare myself to be worthy of being able to manage God’s ministry in the future. Using the authoritative power that will be given to me through future appointments, I can be one of the few people who will use authority and leadership skills to help other people meet their personal needs rather than satisfying my own needs. By helping other people with their personal needs, I can actually come up with a memorial offering before God. Conclusion The book of Acts together with the books written by Tidball (2008), Dever and Paul (2005), and Wiersbe (2007) teaches us about the best paradigm for God’s ministry. Basically, the best paradigm for God’s ministry is one that is God-centered. It means that the church leaders such as the Elders and Deacons should at all times be guided purely by God’s words. Through the works of the Holy Spirit, the church people should work together in terms of spreading the word of God. As such, the ministry should be able to convert more non-believers to accept Jesus Christ as their personal savior, repent their sins, be baptized, and learn to obey God’s words at all times. In the process of obey God’s words; members of the church should also learn to be God-like in terms of their character, attitude, and actions. The church leaders are commonly observed by the followers. To maintain the integrity of the church, people who were appointed to be the Elders or the Deacons should set a good example of what a Christian life should be like. Basically, the attitude and behavior of each Elder and Deacon can build or destroy the integrity of the ministry. Therefore, each one of us should be very careful when it comes to appointing anybody to become the church leaders. References Dever, M., & Alexander, P. (2005). The Deliberate Church: Building Your Ministry on the Gospel. Whaton, IL: Crossway Books. The Holy Bibile, New International Version. (1996). The Zondervan Corporation. Tidball, D. (2008). Ministry by the Book: New testament Patterns for Pastoral Leadership. IL: Intervarsity Press. Wiersbe, W.W. (2007). On Being a Servant of God. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books. Read More