What is Ministry?

“I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God…” 1 Corinthians 3:6-9 KJV

God’s call unto salvation is the greatest invitation ever offered to any people. To experience God’s amazing grace and redemption through the cross of Jesus Christ is unparallel to anything else in life. The cross event enables us to experience the effect of God’s ministry to humanity—salvation from sin and granting of eternal life. This reality is clearly stated in Romans 6:23, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.”

It is important to understand that God’s call to salvation is not a call to merely come sit in a church or religious gathering to solely soak up some spiritual teaching. Learning how to walk in the newness of life in Christ is a must, for therein one learns about how to live for God and how to serve others. But one major aspect of salvation is our responding to God in service.

God not only calls us by grace into salvation, but He also empowers us to serve, within the community of faith and the community around us. Thus, God's call to salvation is also a call to service or doing “ministry.” Ministry is most often understood in the technical sense of the term, meaning work of those called to what is known as “ordained” ministry. But doing ministry is the work of all (Acts 8:1, 4; Ephesians 4:11, 12).

God's call to salvation is also a call to service.

In the Gospel of Mark 2:1-12 is the story of a paralyzed man who received forgiveness of his sins and healing of his physical ailment. It is a theologically rich story contrasting the faith of four persons in Jesus' ability to heal against the skepticism of the Scribes of Jesus' authority to forgive sins. Because Jesus is the Christ, he has both, the authority to forgive sins and the ability to heal sicknesses.

You may say, "Ok, I get that; but what does this passage have to do with ministry?" Embedded in this story are a few points about ministry and the magnitude of its possibilities:

Doing the Work of Evangelism

In the Apostle Paul’s final words to his pastoral protégé Timothy, he gives Timothy several imperatives or commands. One of them is, “do the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5).

The execution of evangelistic effort is a multi-faceted enterprise. In other words, evangelism is not one-dimensional or one-sided. It has many forms or may employ different methods that work together toward its objective of winning souls to Christ. For instance, God used Paul to plant and Apollos to water (1 Cor. 3:6). They each had a role in the process of God causing the work to grow.

There is a three-dimensional model, called the 3 P’s of evangelism, that depicts three levels of responsible action in the ministry of evangelism—presence, proclamation, and persuasion. The evangelist’s role varies at each level, yet each level is a vital and integral part in evangelizing the gospel.

The first level is presence. This level is foundational to the other levels of evangelism because it prepares the pathway for furthering the work of evangelism. It is at this level that we show the love and good works of the gospel by letting our light shine and sprinkle the salt of savory saints (Matt. 5:13-16). This level is where we let our presence be felt and known particularly outside the four walls of the church into the community. The goal is helping and loving people—feed the hungry and homeless, provide clothing, visit the sick, advocate for the hurting, helpless and social justice. This level is the music of gospel; witnessing in warmth. Presence evangelism enables people to feel and see the “good news” of the gospel. It has been said that “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Additionally in our post-modern society, people won’t come to church until we show we care first.

Presence evangelism is the music of the gospel, whereby people feel and see the “good news” of the gospel.