A Gift for Today...continued

Ministry Gifts for Today

The ministry gifts are and should be about function but it would seem that man has turned them into a position to be held rather than a service to be performed. Surely the reason behind this is the type of church structures that flourish at the moment.

It would seem that the church not only recognises them as a position or office to be held but also creates them into a hierarchy based on the Greek tradition of the most important being named first.

Before looking at church structure there are perhaps two sides of the coin to be examined in the debate over whether a ministry gift is a position or a function.

It is clear that any of the ministry gifts are a function.
That they are recognised by the local church first and then maybe wider.

The gift man should not be looking to further his or her career or searching for status or position. They should be simply and solely seeking to serve.

The local church has a responsibility to recognise the gifting, and then to release and encourage the gift man. The way that the church is structured will then stipulate how that local church fulfils it responsibility.

I have listed some models of structure below:

The Military Model - speaks of a hierarchy - general, colonel, captain, sergeant, corporal, and at the bottom the private. The task is vital, people expendable, casualties inevitable. The Military model looks for enemies to fight and creates heroes, personality cults. It shoots those who don't obey.
The Business Model - speaks of managing people - creates experts that make others feel inadequate. The task is vital, with success and failure being the benchmark of a person's worth. It dismisses the failures and promotes the successful. It looks for markets to compete in and others to compete against, the outcome being rivalry, division. Where the strongest win sounds like a jungle.
The One-Man Band Model - speaks of autocratic rule. All interaction within the church is centred on the leader, he alone exercises decision making and authority for determining policy, procedures for achieving goals and relationships, control of rewards and punishments. Any emerging gift is seen as a threat and is actively discouraged or required to leave.

All of these three models can exist without God. All are fundamentally flawed. The danger is that they may in part replace God with man. Man then becomes the 'infallible' apostle, or the book becomes God.

1 Sam 8:6 - 7 "But when they said, "Give us a king to lead us," this displeased Samuel; so he prayed to the LORD. And the LORD told him: "Listen to all that the people are saying to you; it is not you they have rejected, but they have rejected me as their king."

The consequences for spiritual gifts are enormous, they are deemed unnecessary and are quickly dispensed with to retain the status quo.

The Family Model
Look at a New Testament model

Matthew 6:9 " Our Father in Heaven".
Ephesians 3:14-15 "For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name".
Matthew 12:48-50 "He replied to him, who is my mother, who are my brothers?
Pointing to the disciples, he said here are my Mother and my brothers. For who ever does the will of my Father in Heaven is my brother and sister and mother".

Jesus did not neglect his physical family, providing for his mother's security as he hung on the cross.
NO - Jesus was pointing out that spiritual relationships are as binding as physical ones, and he was paving the way for a new community of believers (the church) our spiritual family.

Family is the model that God ordained - it speaks of living together in harmony, sharing, order and discipline, relationships, security and value for the individual. It speaks of the privilege of working for the family, for father. It allows for love, compassion and affection for family members. Family encourages, releases and supports those the Father has called to a special task. There are no court-martials or resigning of commissions in the family, you are in the family by birth. By the blood of Jesus Christ, his crucifixion, we are in the Family of God.

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