The Christian has no other creed than the humble creed “Jesus is Lord.” Because of this, the Scriptures declare unequivocally that there is no other foundation for authentic Christian ministry than Jesus.
When Christians build ministry on human personality it is something other than Christian.
When Christians build ministry on clever strategy it is merely human, not divine.
When Christians resort to mechanisms of power and control over others, such ministry neither ennobles our fellow human nor reflects God’s beautiful glory. Such ministry is like a flickering fluorescent bulb as compared to God’s warming, faithful sun.
Strictly speaking, Christian ministry can only be done in Jesus’ name. To say this is to say that we do it in the same manner as Jesus would do it.
Jesus gave gifts to each and every believer. When Christian ministries institute structures or policies that hinder the use of such gifts they can not be ministering in Jesus’ name.
Are there only a few believers in a church of 5,000 members that have the gift of teaching? If there are more than a few, let them teach. Must a team of 4 people dictate to a “teaching team” of 20 people exactly what they are to say or not say? Such control is not what Jesus intended when he created his new wondrous family, the Church. Indeed, such power is intoxicating and dangerous because it dulls our sensibilities to the wonderful diversity God has in mind for his people.
Let us let others think differently than we do. Let us let them speak differently than we do. The world needs this kind of freedom and so does the body of Jesus.
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