women’s ministries: your own philosophy · 2019-05-14 · women’s ministries: your own...

Ministering to Women in the Church

Transcript - ML505 Ministering to Women in the Church © 2019 Our Daily Bread University. All rights reserved.

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LESSON 24 of 24ML505

Women’s Ministries: Your Own Philosophy

Ministering to Women in the Church

This is lesson 24, our final lesson, and it is going to be “Learning to Establish Your Own Philosophy of Women’s Ministry.” A major assignment for this course is for you to write your own philosophy of women’s ministry. It needs to be adapted to your special focus, your ideas about where you will fit into the body of Christ. In this lesson, I want to help you establish some basic concepts concerning a general philosophy of ministry.

We read in Exodus 18:17–18 these words: “The thing that you are doing is not good. You will surely wear out, both yourself and these people who are with you, for the task is too heavy for you; you cannot do it alone.” Jethro’s ancient warning to his son-in-law has lost none of its cogency in the present world. Faced with an onslaught of needs and a barrage of demands, the servant of God is tempted to jump, Moseslike, on a treadmill of activity. But as Thomas Carlyle observed a century ago, “Nothing is more terrible than activity without insight.”

Unless service for the Lord is guided by biblical insight, it will be frustrating and possibly even destructive. A biblical philosophy of ministry can help determine one’s priorities and shape her activities. According to The Random House Unabridged Dictionary: “Ministry involves the service, functions, or profession of a minister of religion; the body or class of ministers of religion; the clergy.” Now even though this reflects a popular usage, it greatly distorts biblical truth. Ministry is not the activity of a spiritual aristocracy or the work of a professional class. Rather, it is the lifestyle, responsibility, and privilege of every believer. A philosophy of ministry that fails to recognize this fact can’t be truly biblical.

On the other hand, a rejection of a spiritual aristocracy must not lead to the opposite extreme—a spiritual anarchy that fails to recognize the differing gifts Christ has given to members of His church. The New Testament uses several terms to express the

Lucy Mabery-Foster, PhD Experience: Professor of Pastoral Ministries,

Dallas Theological Seminary (1990-2002)



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concept of ministry. Every believer is a slave—the Greek word is doulos—of the Lord Jesus. People in the ancient world despised slaves, since it meant living without freedom under the authority of another. Believers, however, rejoice in the dignity of being the Lord’s slaves. In Job 1:8, “Have you considered My servant Job?” Paul said in 2 Corinthians 11:23, “Are they servants of Christ? . . . I more so; in far more labors, in far more imprisonments, beaten times without number, often in danger of death.”

Every Christian is privileged to be a bondservant of Christ. As Galatians 1:10 says, “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a bond-servant of Christ.” And Galatians 5:13 says, “For you were called to freedom, brethren; only do not turn your freedom into an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.” John 16:2 says, “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.” Such service is the visible display of worshiping faith.

Another vital aspect of ministry is embodied in the concept of the priest, as described in Hebrews 9:21. But the believer’s ministry is also one of spiritual service, as a spiritual servant, because she is a believer-priest. This priesthood for the believer displays itself in evangelism, as Romans 15:16 says, “to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles, ministering as a priest the gospel of God, so that my offering of the Gentiles might become acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit.”

Financial sharing is another area, as Romans 15:27 says, “For if the Gentiles have shared in their spiritual things, they are indebted to minister to them also in material things.”

And last of all, the practical service, as Philippians 2:17 says, “But even if I am being poured out as a drink offering upon the sacrifice and service of your faith, I rejoice and share my joy with you all.” And Philippians 2:30 says, “because he came close to death for the work of Christ, risking his life to complete what was deficient in your service to me.”

The most important word used in the New Testament, which describes the believer’s ministry, is diakonia. This word is used most frequently to describe the spiritual activity of believers, and it differs radically from the world’s value system. The word refers to menial and mundane activities, such as waiting on tables and caring for household needs—activities without apparent dignity.



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Since such service necessarily involved dependence, submission, and constraints of time and freedom, the Greek regarded diakonia as degrading and dishonorable. Service for the public good was honored, but voluntary giving of oneself in service of one’s fellow man is alien to Greek thought. The highest goal before a man was the development of his own personality. Well, doesn’t that sound like our culture today? A culture that is focused on self-actualization and self-fulfillment will find little value in servanthood.

In looking at Greek history, we can find that in Greek eyes service was not very dignified. Ruling and not service was proper to a man. The formula of the sophist said, “How can a man be happy when he has to serve someone?” This expresses the basic Greek attitude. Service acquires a higher value only when it is rendered to the state. For the Greek in his wisdom and freedom, there can certainly be no question of existing to serve others.

Judaism had no philosophy of ministry involving our New Testament word diakonia. The eight occurrences of this word in the Septuagint are unimportant theologically. Judaism, however, adopted a philosophy of service not unlike that of the Greeks. If service was rendered at all, it was done as an act of social obligation or as an act to those more worthy. A superior would not stoop to become a servant. Such an attitude which conforms so closely to man’s natural prejudices causes the Lord’s example and His teaching to stand out in brilliant contrast. Even though Judaism in the time of Jesus knew and practiced its social responsibilities to the poor, it was usually done by giving alms, not by giving service. That’s why the beautiful story of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:30–35 stands out in stark contrast to that culture.

The New Testament introduces a radically new attitude towards ministry. Diakonia is not the activity of a lesser to a greater but is the lifestyle of a follower of Jesus Christ. Serving pervades the New Testament, not merely in the frequency of the word’s usage, but in the constant reoccurrence of attitudes and examples of service. The word diakano occurs 37 times, diakonia 34 times, and diakonos 29 times. It is modeled on the pattern and command of the Savior and represents the practical outworking of God’s love, especially towards fellow believers. Ministry is not the activity of an elite class, but the mutual caring of a band of brothers and sisters. Such service is personal and practical, rather than institutional.



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A diakonos is one who by choice and position has come to be under the authority of his or her master and who therefore serves others in love and gratitude. The Lord Jesus is our model. He is the Source of the entirely new attitude toward diakonia found throughout the New Testament. By the way He lived and the words He spoke, He instituted a new attitude towards service, and His model provides the basic ingredients for a philosophy of ministry.

Gary Inrig names at least six New Testament passages which show the principles of diakonia that Christ taught His disciples. Let’s look at these principles:

1) The first principle is the ambition of a servant. Mark 9:33–37 says:

And they came to Capernaum; and when He was in the house, He began to question them, “What were you discussing on the way?” But they kept silent, for on the way they had discussed with one another which of them was the greatest. And sitting down, He called the twelve and said to them, “If anyone wants to be first, he shall be last of all and servant of all.” And taking a child, He set him before them, and taking him in His arms, He said to them, “Whoever receives one child like this in My name receives Me; and whoever receives Me does not receive Me, but Him who sent Me.”

The Jewish society certainly raised the issue of greatness more directly than our present culture would. We are more subtle, even though we think the thoughts nonetheless. Christ wasn’t rebuking the desire for greatness, but He transformed the concept of greatness. God’s approval, not man’s applause, is the only adequate standard of evaluation. How believers serve others—not how others defer to them—is the measure of greatness. Jesus illustrated this principle in two ways. First of all, He lovingly and gently reached out to embrace a child. Children had little public status in Judaism; and Christ therefore modeled the sensitivity to the ignored and lowly—an act which would receive no acclaim from the power brokers of Israel.

Secondly, Christ called His disciples to welcome such children in His name. A child has no influence at all. A child cannot advance a person’s career or enhance a man’s prestige. A child cannot give us things. It is the other way around. A child needs things. A child must have things done for him or her. The child is typical of the person who needs things, and it is the society of the person who



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needs things that we must seek.

The mark of a servant is that he or she serves not the influential but the needy in the name and for the glory of the Lord Jesus. Ministry involves a choice of service in the lowest place out of an ambition to be great in God’s eyes and to know His approval.

2) The second principle is the choice of a servant. In Matthew 20:20–28, the mother of James and John went to the Lord and asked Him to seat her two sons in positions of prominence in His kingdom—a request which inspired the jealous anger of the others, who shared a similar preoccupation with rank and greatness. But Jesus replied, “You do not know what you are asking.” He then said,

The rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and their great men exercise authority over them. It is not so among you, but whoever wishes to become great among you shall be your servant, and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave; just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.

Jesus taught them three things about service: (1) Greatness in His kingdom is not patterned after Gentile rule and domination. (2) Ministry and spiritual greatness involves doing the work of a servant (diakonos), and taking the role of slave (doulos). It is a position which is chosen, not imposed. The Lord was not merely saying that service is a way to greatness. Rather, in His kingdom, service is greatness. (3) The third thing that Christ taught them through this is that Christ Himself is the model of service. His purpose in His incarnation was not to have people serve Him, but to serve them. His diakonia extended even to death.

When Christ says, “and whoever wishes to be first among you shall be your slave, just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and give His life a ransom for many,” He was emphasizing that His voluntary choice of service, which involved suffering and death, provides the pattern for all of His servants. So, in one succinct sentence, He summarized not only His life but also all of Christian ministry.

3) The third principle that we see is the relationships of a servant. In Matthew 23:8–12, Christ said,

But do not be called Rabbi; for One is your Teacher, and you are



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all brothers. And do not call anyone on earth your father; for One is your Father, He who is in heaven. And do not be called leaders; for One is your Leader, that is, Christ. But the greatest among you shall be your servant. And whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted.

Jesus drew a dramatic contrast between the lifestyle of the Pharisees and that of His disciples. Having portrayed the rabbis’ love of position and prominence, He totally repudiated any such pattern for His people. The church can have only one Head, one Lord, one Teacher.

All ministry ultimately comes from the Lord through believers who are brothers. Therefore, disciples are to recognize that the greatest is a servant, and such service involves self-chosen humbling: “whoever will humble himself.” This is not aesthetic self-abnegation, but spiritual self-giving for one’s brothers and sisters. Self-humbling brings the promise of divine exaltation, but a person who chooses self-exaltation will experience the discipline of humility. Christian ministry is thus to be the service of brothers and sisters to one another under the lordship of Christ. It is based on self-chosen humbling to service and repudiates any notion of self-exaltation.

4) The fourth principle that we see is the nobility of a servant. Luke 22:24–27 says:

And there arose also a dispute among them as to which one of them was regarded to be greatest. And He said to them, “The kings of the Gentiles lord it over them; and those who have authority over them are called ‘Benefactors.’ But not so with you, but let him who is the greatest among you become as the youngest, and the leader as a servant. For who is greater, the one who reclines at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who reclines at the table? But I am among you as one who serves.

The disciples apparently entered the upper room repeating a familiar argument, that of greatness. Behind their selfish argument were two assumptions of the ancient world: the right of authority and the privilege of age. Those in authority took titles, such as the “august one” (Augustus), Benefactor: Ptolemy III and Ptolemy VIII both called themselves Benefactor. “He who deserves adoration” is another title that Augustus and Tiberias, as indicated by inscriptions on coins found at Caesarea Philippi, took those terms to themselves: “he who deserves adoration.” The



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privilege of rank was to be served by all lesser men. The privilege of age was to be waited on by those who were younger.

The Lord, by serving His disciples and washing their feet, utterly rejected such assumptions, natural as they may seem. In His church, the older serves the younger, and the leader becomes a servant. The Head of the church established the pattern. As Morris observes, “Jesus is not saying that if His followers wished to rise to great heights in the church, they must first prove themselves in a lowly place. He is saying that faithful service in a lowly place is itself true greatness. Jesus taught the nobility of lowly service as a man surrenders all assumptions about rank and privilege. In the kingdom of God, service is not a stepping stone to nobility. It is nobility—the only kind of nobility that is recognized.”

5) The fifth principle is the paradox of service. As the time of Jesus’s death drew nearer, John 12:23–26 recorded that He said,

The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified. Truly, truly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the earth and dies, it remains by itself alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world shall keep it to life eternal. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall My servant be also. If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.

That was the essential paradox of His life. He could not save the seed, which was His life, and still see fruit. To hold onto one’s life, to live selfishly seeking to save one’s life, is to waste and lose that life. To serve is to hate one’s life, as it were—to walk away from self-love as a life pattern. But it is, in fact, to invest life to keep it for eternity. This principle shows that an essential feature of a servant is that he or she follow the Master. For a believer, this means obedience to a life of self-denying sacrifice. The paradox is that when a servant follows his or her Lord in suffering, they share with Him in glory. This sacrificial service also involves honor from God, for He said, “If anyone serves Me, the Father will honor him.”

So ministry is self-giving and sacrificial, involving death and hating one’s life as a servant keeps following his or her Lord. But service is the secret of life, for it produces fruitfulness, an unwasted life, and divine honor.

6) The sixth principle is the reward of service. Luke 12:37 shows us a neglected truth about service: “Blessed are those slaves whom



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the master shall find on the alert when he comes; truly I say to you, that he will gird himself to serve, and have them recline at the table, and will come up and will wait on them.” Service is graciously rewarded by God. Nothing could more clearly underline the truth that grace and love lie at the heart of Christian service.

The second truth comes from chapter 17:7–10, where we see that service is obligatory, and a disciple observes no praise for going about his or her duty. Even the finest service establishes no claim on God, since believers are, at best, “unprofitable servants.” But God is gracious. In fact, He is so gracious that besides receiving the service of faithful, alert servants, He even reverses roles and actually serves His servants, as Luke 12:37 showed. From the words of our Lord, we see some basic truths about Christian ministry:

1. All ministry is the Lord’s ministry. Believers serve Him. He is doing the work as the model servant, and the disciples must therefore model and follow Him. Service is intrinsic to discipleship.

2. We see the key to servanthood is a voluntary act of humbling. Diakonia is chosen, not imposed, and involves a repudiation of self-centered living.

3. Service, done to others in the Lord’s name, is service to the Lord Himself. The motive of such service is love for Christ.

4. The manner in which the service is performed involves sensitivity to those in need. The supreme value is not a position of influence or gifts of prominence, but a servant heart which sees the needs of individuals.

5. The task of a servant is to do his master’s will. He is to follow his Lord in carrying out instructions with faithfulness and diligence.

6. The reward of a servant is certain, but not necessarily immediate. It comes from God, not men.

After the Gospels, the rest of the New Testament enlarges on the pattern of ministry embodied by the Lord Jesus. We can see in the apostolic description of our word diakonia, principles which are foundational to a biblical philosophy of ministry.

First of all, we see that all ministry shares a common pattern. In Colossians 1:7, we can see a useful framework for considering the essential components of ministry. It says, “Just as you learned it



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from Epaphras, our beloved fellow bond-servant, who is a faithful servant of Christ on our behalf.” The Lord Jesus, as head of the church, is the source of ministry.

In addition, we see in Colossians 1:23, Paul referring to the hope of the gospel. The gospel determines the shape of ministry. Then Paul wrote, in verses 24 and 25, about “His body, which is the church,” of which he was made a diakonos. So the church provides the sphere of ministry.

Christ is the source of our ministry. Every believer enjoys a unique ministry given by the risen head of the church. While their gift comes from the indwelling Spirit, and their effectiveness comes from the sovereign will of God the Father, their ministry is from the Lord. For, as 1 Corinthians 12:5 says, “There are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord.” In other words, an individual believer fits into the body and functions as the Head intends. Because every believer possesses a God-given ministry, each can speak with Paul of “the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus,” as Acts 20:24 reveals.

Ministry is both from Him and for Him, and a believer’s motive should be to please Him in all things. The Christian can then serve with a sense of liberty and dignity. He or she ministers by divine calling “as a fellow worker of God.” As 1 Corinthians 3:5 says, “What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.” Such a recognition gives us both an exalted and yet humbling perspective on service, which produces both rejoicing and endurance. As a result, suffering becomes an authenticating mark of a true servant of Christ, a reflection of the principle that a servant is not greater than his or her Lord. Since Christ, in His life of service knew suffering—He knew opposition and humiliation—His disciples must not expect exemption.

Furthermore, a God-given ministry requires faithfulness, such as Ephesians 6:21 revealed about Tychicus. “But that you may also know about my circumstances, how I am doing, Tychicus, the beloved brother and faithful minister in the Lord, will make everything known to you.” This quality, which is required before the Lord and entrusts a person with a significant responsibility, is referred to in 1 Timothy 1:12, which says, “I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has strengthened me, because He considered me faithful, putting me into service.” This quality will be seen particularly by obedience to the truth of God, as 1 Timothy 4:6



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says. “You will be a good servant of Christ Jesus, constantly nourished on the words of the faith and of the sound doctrine which you have been following.”

Christ, then, is the source of ministry, the One to whom believers owe allegiance and who puts them into service. Ministry requires loyalty to the Lord Jesus in whatever sphere He assigns and a recognition that He alone is the source of strength and enables for service. Graciously, He sets forth the pattern of service and also strengthens those He calls. The shape of our ministry will be determined by the gospel. To exalt personalities is wrong. What matters is the message and, ultimately, the Master.

John Stott makes a distinction concerning the preposition used all through the first parts of 1 Corinthians. In 1 Corinthians 3:5, which I read, Paul was saying that they were “servants through whom you believed.” This preposition is significant, because it points out that we are not servants from whom you believed—as if those ministering were the authors of faith. Nor are we servants in whom you believed—as if those ministering were the objects of faith. Instead, we are servants through whom you believed. The agents through whom God works are the instruments by which He arouses faith in the hearers of the Word.

Each servant has a different task assigned to him or her, but the Lord works through each. A servant of the gospel recognizes that he has no right to alter or reshape the message, nor is his or her function to impress people with their wisdom. Since we are entrusted with the message of reconciliation, we stand in the world as ambassadors for Christ. To fulfill His ministry, we must give the Word, and we must do the work of evangelists. A good servant is one who is controlled by God’s truth and communicates it to others. Every believer should be able to say with Paul in Ephesians 3:7, “I became a servant of this gospel, by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of His power.” Servanthood means an absolute loyalty to God’s revealed truth, a recognition that all ministry must be based on God’s Word and a commitment to share God’s Word.

It also means a determination that all glory goes to the Master. For, as 2 Corinthians 4:5 says, “For we do not preach ourselves but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your bond-servants for Jesus’ sake.” In this kind of servanthood there is true authority, because it is the authority of the Lord, and the church provides our sphere or ministry. Paul said in Colossians 1:25: “Of this



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church I was made a servant according to the stewardship from God bestowed on me for your benefit, that I might fully carry out the preaching of the word of God.” This produced in Paul an overwhelming desire to bring every believer to maturity in Christ by proclaiming Christ and pouring himself into the lives of fellow believers.

True ministry is intensely people-centered. Paul honored the household of Stephanus in 1 Corinthians 16:15 because they had “devoted themselves for ministry to the saints.” Their authority came because they joined in the work, and they were faithful in that labor. A leader worthy of recognition has a servant’s heart. Besides being the sphere of service, the church is based on the work of service. As Ephesians 4:12 says, “for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of the body of Christ.”

Ministry is not something that is carried on by a select few for the benefit of others, nor is it merely an occupational task. Saints do the work of service, and every believer is part of the ministry; nor is the ministry limited to certain tasks, such as preaching or counseling or administering. Ministry is all that believers do for one another in obedience to the Lord. According to 2 Corinthians 3:6, all ministry is new covenant ministry, for it says, “who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant, not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life.” The theme of 2 Corinthians 2:14 all the way through 7:4, is the nature of this new covenant ministry.

There are several things that would be helpful for us in seeing how this ministry is described. First of all, it is a ministry of the Spirit. New covenant ministry does not depend on human resources or enablement. The flesh cannot carry out a spiritual ministry. Second Corinthians 3:5–6 says, “Not that we are adequate in ourselves to consider anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God, who also made us adequate as servants of a new covenant.” And 2 Corinthians 4:7 says, “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, so that the surpassing greatness of the power may be of God and not from ourselves.” The indwelling and enabling of the Holy Spirit is essential for ministry and provides the basis of a servant’s confidence, as 2 Corinthians 3:4 says. “And such confidence we have through Christ Jesus toward God.” And 2 Corinthians 4:1 says, “Since we have this ministry, as we received mercy, do not lose heart.”



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Griffith Thomas said, “In all Christian work, there are three elements absolutely indispensable: the Spirit of God as the power, the Word of God as the message, and the servant of God as the instrument. The Spirit of God uses the message by means of the servant.”

Second, it is a ministry of grace. The new covenant transcends the old covenant. Paul contrasted the two covenants in 2 Corinthians 3:7–18 to show that new covenant ministry is motivated by grace, not by law or legalism. The power for such ministry is God’s gracious provision, and the message believers bring to others is one of grace, not law. Ministry must be controlled by God’s grace, or it is not Christian ministry at all.

Third, it is a Christ-centered ministry. The essence of the new covenant is intimate fellowship with the Lord Jesus. Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” The essence of ministry is spending time in the presence of the Lord, being transformed by the Holy Spirit, and proclaiming to others the glory of Christ and Christ Jesus as Lord, as 2 Corinthians 4:4–5 reveal. As 2 Corinthians 3:16 says, salvation comes “whenever a man turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” We are changed when we behold Him. This Christ-centeredness also produces divine enablement to live above the circumstances, since believers recognize that their goal is, as 2 Corinthians 4:10 says, “the life of Jesus also may be manifested in their body.” The supreme motivation of all new covenant service is to be pleasing to Him (2 Corinthians 5:9).

The fourth thing is that it is a ministry of reconciliation. New covenant ministry is concerned with the world, for the believer has received, as 2 Corinthians 5:18 says, “the ministry of reconciliation,” by which he or she stands in the world as Christ’s ambassador, pleading with the lost to be reconciled to God. Ministry must not become closed within the church. The church does not exist for its own convenience, but for the promotion of the glory of Christ into the world. So service in the church must ultimately promote ministry in the world by announcing God’s work of reconciliation in Christ.

Fifth, it is a ministry of integrity. New covenant ministry is consistent with the character of Christ. It repudiates unworthy methods and refuses to accept pragmatic results as justification



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for illicit means. The new covenant ministry is supernatural, not manipulative. This determines the way believers handle God’s Word. Second Corinthians 2:17 says, “For we are not like many, peddling the word of God, but as from sincerity, but as from God, we speak in Christ in the sight of God.” This will also determine the way believers handle people. Chapter 4:2 says, “But we have renounced the things hidden because of shame, not walking in craftiness or adulterating the word of God, but by the manifestation of truth commending ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God.” The new covenant ministry also influences the way believers handle circumstances. Second Corinthians 6:3–4 says, “giving no cause for offense in anything, in order that the ministry be not discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in affliction, in hardships, in distresses.”

All ministry is based on spiritual gifts. The fact that Christ, the head of the church, has given believers spiritual gifts through His indwelling Spirit is of crucial importance to the biblical concept of ministry.

Remember, the New Testament does not present ministry as a specialized position occupied by a select few. Gifts are God’s provision for serving each other, as 1 Peter 4:10 says. “As each one has received a special gift, employ it in the serving one another as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” In the next verse, Paul appears to be dividing the gifts into major categories of speaking and serving gifts. And he also spoke of a particular gift of service in Romans 12:7. Service takes place by means of spiritual gifts which shape and define a person’s ministry. The spiritual gifts are a stewardship for which believers are accountable to God. We fail in our stewardship if we do not exercise our spiritual gifts properly. In Colossians 4:17, Paul exhorted Archippus to “Take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.” One’s ministry is to be used to equip the saints for mutual ministry.

As leaders in the church, we must make it a priority to build up other believers so that they too may participate in ministry. A ministry does not exist for its own sake, and no elite class should carry on the ministry while others passively observe. Every believer is divinely gifted, and certain people are called by the Lord to function as enablers and equippers. All ministry is mutual ministry, and the body of Christ grows only, according to Ephesians 4:16, “from whom the whole body, being fitted and



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held together by that which every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.” All ministry should be loving service. Because the Lord is the model of ministry, love is essential.

The New International Dictionary of New Testament Theology defines service as “work done for another, either voluntarily or compulsory, the benefit of which will accrue to the one for whom it has been done.” The New Testament is filled with examples of individuals who served in practical ways, lovingly caring for the needs of others. Paul names many servants of God who assisted him, without whose help his ministry could never had the impact that it did. They were fellow workers with him and the Lord. All service done in love is valued by God. All ministry is to be to the whole person.

In the New Testament, our word diakonia is often used in connection with financial contributions to believers. It describes Paul and Barnabas’s journey to Jerusalem with a collection from Antioch. Later Paul made the collection for the believers in Jerusalem such a priority that he invested years of time and risked his life in the process. This activity is referred to as “ministry to the saints.” The care of widows is described as ministry. Also, caring for Paul’s physical needs was a ministry. For Paul to break away from his ministry of church planting to devote himself to meeting financial needs of believers gives an important balance to a biblical concept of ministry. Nothing could more clearly indicate that ministry is not confined to preaching and teaching. Ministry must be controlled by the Word, but it must be concerned with the whole person, not just with the soul.

As we begin to prepare the philosophy of women’s ministry papers, I would like for you to utilize your handouts and your class notes. And I would like for you to formulate a philosophy that will be meaningful for you in your unique path of service. I want you to draw upon Scripture to support your philosophy, because I think that we have learned throughout this course whatever we do must be firmly grounded upon the Word of God, not upon our own efforts.

I want to read just a brief portion of a couple of papers that students have done in the past to kind of give you an idea of formulating your own ministry paper. This one starts out with a quote from 1 Corinthians 10:31. “So whether you eat or drink or



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whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.” Starting with part 1, “A Biblical Philosophy”:

Paul declares that his primary goal in ministry is to glorify God. Further, he does not want to cause either believers or unbelievers to stumble in their understanding of God and His message. Therefore, Paul bends his lifestyle to meet the needs and culture of the people to whom he is ministering. His secondary goal, then, is to seek the good of those under his ministry. [And she gives a quote.] Finally, his example in all of this is the ministry of Christ (1 Corinthians 11:1).

Regardless of where God places me in ministry, my highest goal is to bring glory to Him. This I will achieve primarily by seeking the good of others, which can only be done through divine wisdom gleaned from the Scriptures and through divine love bestowed by the Holy Spirit. The primary word used for minister in the New Testament is diakonos [which we’ve discussed]. It seems that there are three aspects of ministry providing the foundation upon which individual methods and styles of ministering are built.

First, for whom are we ministering? God is the One who calls us into ministry. Therefore, we are sent by Him. Secondly, what is the content of our ministry? Our message is the gospel of reconciliation, of bringing people to the good news that Christ paid the price for their sins so that God’s justice is satisfied.

And, thirdly, to whom are we going to minister?

I want to conclude by reading an excerpt from a man’s paper in his concept of the role of women in the church. He says:

The question is: what is the role? The answer cannot be from social convention, since Scripture tells the church not be conformed to the world; nor by emotional prejudice, for the Christian is to use reason; nor by ecclesiastical tradition—many extremes of the early Fathers have been corrected through the centuries. Nor by ecumenical relations, for we should not be guided solely by what other churches are doing. Nor by practical needs; the shortage of men for the ministry in some denominations forcing the consideration of women for ministry. Nor by state pressure, as may be the case where the state church exists. Rather, the question must be settled by reference to Scripture only. Furthermore, it must be answered by an appeal to the whole of Scripture. We must assume its harmony, since it is God’s Word. In Paul’s writing, we


Christ-Centered Learning — Anytime, Anywhere

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Women’s Ministries: Your Own PhilosophyLesson 24 of 24

have some of the noblest words ever written about women, not only compared to the rest of the Bible, but in all of literature. Paul asserts equality of the sexes for centuries before his time, as in Galatians 3:28, “in Christ there is neither male nor female.”

I want you to form your own philosophy of ministry to women. I want you to use all the things that we have incorporated in these lessons and develop your own unique style and present where you’re going to be as the role of women in ministry.

women’s ministries: your own philosophy · 2019-05-14 · women’s ministries: your own...

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