Equipping the saints

And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, - Ephesians 4.11-12

God didn't leave things to chance when it came to laying out plans for His church. He gave the members of the body gifts to serve Him. Then He gave a few jobs to certain offices.

Sometimes we get the idea that it is the job of these church offices to do the bulk of the work. Part of that I think is from a comma in the hold King James that made it look like the jobs of the officers were:

For the equipping the saints

For the work of the ministry

For the edifying of the body of Christ

But that doesn’t seem accurate from what I have read and studied.

What is more accurate is this. God gave the offices listed so that they could 'equip the saints to do the work of the ministry and to edify the body of Christ.

We sometimes get the notion that it is up to the pastors and missionaries and evangelists and other 'official' offices to do the bulk of the work. But in actuality those in these positions are to give the church the tools to do the bulk of the ministry.

Now this really makes sense. As a pastor I am never going to be able to minister to the needs of the people that folks in our church can reach out to. I can't reach their neighbours and co-workers and associates like they can.

But they can. All people need are the tools. The word of God has the tools. All we need is to make sure everyone is equipped. The ministry is not just for the ministers – it is for all of us together.