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Last week I left you with a few questions:
Are pastors the only people within a local church body that are able to accurately articulate the gospel? Are pastors the only people within a local church body that have a responsibility to accurately articulate the gospel? Does laity have a responsibility to participate in ministry besides inviting people to Sunday, midweek, or holiday worship services?
What are your answers to those questions? My answers to those questions are no, no, and yes.
Prior to my mission trip to China I was planning on using my gifts to pastor a local congregation. Now I find myself not wanting any part of that. After that mission trip I just wanted to work a “regular” job and witness to my coworkers, whom I already spend so much of my lifetime around. I mean, preachers do not have to be pastors do they? I can still be effective in administering the gospel outside of the building of assembly can’t I? No, I do not have to pastor, and yes I can be effective in administering the gospel outside of the assembly building.
I am in no way making an indictment against pastors who are in what we have dubbed as “full-time” ministry, but I am making an indictment against the layman. It seems like the layman’s expected involvement in ministry is asking people around you to come to worship service and then let the pastors do the rest. Why can’t laity, the ones who really know the individual or family, articulate the gospel to them? Why can’t laity articulate how the Old and the New covenants connect with one another? Why can’t the layman articulate how we got the Bible and speak on its authority? Why did I have to go to bible college to learn what I learned in bible college? (I digressed with the last question)
Forget all of the debates on church government – according to the scriptures, I believe all followers of JESUS CHRIST are involved in the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18) and we all are ambassadors for CHRIST during our time here on Earth (2 Corinthians 5:20). No matter where you fall in the church government chain of command, there is real ministry for you to be involved in, regardless of where your salary comes from. No matter your earthly occupation, you have a heavenly occupation of ambassador for CHRIST that employs you every day of the week.
Does everyone have to be a great expositor of the word of GOD? No. I understand that we all have different gifts (Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, Ephesians 4), however I believe we should all be equipped to lead someone through the very scriptures that we claim to live by. We can articulate why we love our car, why we love the school our children attend, or why we love our smartphones – is it too much to ask someone to be able to articulate why we love JESUS, from the scriptures?
When Paul went to Berea preaching the gospel, those of Berea “searched the scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so” (Acts 17:11). They were making sure Paul wasn’t just making things up; and many of them believed, because what Paul spoke was from the scriptures. So, I’m not talking about articulation for articulation’s sake, but articulation specifically from the scriptures.
Witnessing in the workplace really makes too much sense. How is it that we can spend so many hours, weeks, years, and sometimes decades around people and never share the gospel in some form or fashion? I am not saying that you have to go around and preach the gospel to every person on your job, but I am challenging you to question what you are doing, as a layman, with your time of employment here on Earth.
Is it really possible for you to work with people for a considerable amount of time and they not even know you are a Christian, or that something is different about you? Does your witness end at people knowing you claim Christianity? These are questions that I have to continually ask myself. Will you join me in asking these questions while looking in the mirror?
Grace and peace.
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