![]() ![]() True spiritual growth comes when each of us - not just the prominent members on the stage - does our part. Now you are Christ's body, and individually members of it. Not a business.Īnd if one member suffers, all the members suffer with it if one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. This is how the Apostle Paul thought and wrote about the church. Christ has given leaders to ensure the proper oversight, integration, and equipping of the saints in this pursuit. Integrated ministry doesn't happen by accident. Likewise, the ministries of the church ought to be integrated. If the respiratory system has problems the whole body has problems. ![]() If your circulatory system stops working you better believe the rest of the body will feel the effects. If the evangelism ministry disappears, the music ministry doesn't notice.īut the systems of a body aren't disconnected or independent. If the prayer ministry shuts down, the children's ministry is unaffected. They are disconnected and independent from the rest of the body. When we do have programs organized by spiritual giftedness they often operate as isolated systems. When we don't need spiritually gifted individuals, we just need warm bodies, there is a problem. Much of business-church experience is maintaining programs. (For more on this, read our article available here.) They just serve the system.īut the church isn't a business. The workers aren't important individually. They need people to pull the levers, push the buttons, and keep the machinery humming along. Many successful businesses thrive on stripping away the individuality and uniqueness of their employees. They are bound together whether they like it or not. Together they can do more than either could ever do alone. Each member is different, important, and unique. It grows, reacts, hurts, and succeeds together. (Ephesians 4:4-7)Ī body is sensitive to changes. But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ's gift. There is one body and one Spirit, just as also you were called in one hope of your calling one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all. We are supposed to employ our individual gifts through serving one another and the world in love. To succeed in our mission God gifts the members of the body. We are called to be integrated with one another. The body and its members aren't independent. In all of its complexity it is still unified. ![]() ![]() Let’s dig a little deeper into the glorious truth of how the gifts are supposed to be integrated in the body of Christ. When a proper view of spiritual gifts is held, we can celebrate the diversity of gifts instead of bickering and being annoyed by them. Any focus, emphasis, or teaching on the gifts that contributes to disunity in the body is in direct violation of the purpose for which they were given by the Holy Spirit. Understanding the true purpose of spiritual gifts demonstrates the tragic irony that so many conversations about the gifts cause disagreements and disunity instead. The true purpose of the spiritual gifts is to bring about unity. In order to build up the church, these gifts must be used by those who have received them in love for the edification of the saints and for the evangelization of the world. These gifts are given to build up the church of Jesus Christ. What is the true purpose of spiritual gifts? Each and every spiritual gift that is given by the Holy Spirit to members of the body of Christ is in accordance with the same purpose. Yet, in the midst of many of these discussions, the main purpose of the spiritual gifts is completely forgotten. People can’t always agree on the definitions of what the gifts actually are or even whether all of the gifts are still valid and active for today. Conversations, and sometimes arguments, are had over the nature and number of gifts. A lot of opinions are shared about spiritual gifts. ![]()
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