After years of working with pastors and church leaders I have seen time and time again that there is a question that drives the thinking of most of these ministry leaders. The question is, “How do we minister to our congregation?” It’s not that this question is overtly asked. Rather, it dominates by default, and as logical as this question is, I want to suggest that it’s the wrong question. I would even go so far as to say that it’s an unbiblical question, at least in terms of what should be considered the priority of a church’s ministry.
I fully understand that those of us in the body of Christ, especially those of us who are members of a particular visible church, are to love and care for each, that we are to bear one another’s burdens, and that we are to count the perspectives of our brothers and sisters in Christ more valuable than our own. Even so, to allow ministering to the congregation to be the driving force behind how the ministry of a church is shaped is to miss the primary purpose of the church.
What is the primary purpose? Simple: the primary purpose of the church is to reach the lost. Jesus said, “For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” (Luke 19:10). Jesus said, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life,” (John 3:16). Jesus said, “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,” (Matthew 28:19). Jesus said, “But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth,” (Acts 1:8).
The question that church leaders should be asking is not, “How do we minister TO our congregation?” The question is, “How do we minister THROUGH our congregation to reach the lost in the community around us and beyond?” This shift from TO to THROUGH will completely reorient a church’s ministry in the biblical direction of reaching the lost. As the lost are reached, the churches doing so will grow, and they will grow through conversion and not through transfer. This is the kind of growth featured throughout the Book of Acts, and it’s the kind of growth that both reflects and establishes true health in the church.”
Congregations must be shifted by their leaders to be on the giving end of ministry and not allowed simply to sit on the receiving end. Paradoxically, the more a congregation gives itself away for the sake of the lost, the more that congregation will receive in terms of ministry satisfaction and, most importantly, the pleasure of the Lord.
