But as you launch ministries and design processes and prepare sermons, remember that you have people at various places spiritually. In other words, at what stage of spiritual development are the people to whom you are speaking? In most churches, you will have a mixture on Sunday morning. The Pastor is the primary culture-creator in a church, and every leader creates culture within their ministry by sharing and living out some key values. Take some time to write out a list of the theological and cultural values that are most important to you as you lead your church. The second question is a question about values. Our theme is helping people develop their lives to the fullest. We do that in each stage and segment of their lives. We attract and win members, develop them to Christlike maturity, then mobilize them for ministry in the church and a life mission in the world. We’re in the disciple-development business. That’s what Ephesians 4 is all about, which says that we’re all built up into maturity for ministry and for mission. The business of the church is developing disciples who live effective lives for God’s glory. That’s a principle of life that applies directly to ministry. And the more you focus on what you’re trying to do, the less energy it takes to do it. There are eight components to ministry that help us to focus our efforts. So we need to evaluate our ministries and ask, “Is there order? Are we getting the maximum return out of the ministries that we have?” In other words, God wants order in his church. Two thoughts… First it says the body is a unit made up of many parts, which are arranged by God. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” 1 Corinthians 12:12-18 (NIV) And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many. For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body-whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free-and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. “Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. Sometimes we are more strategic about our grocery lists than our approach to ministry. Therefore, we need to think through what ministry is all about. How we’re leading in the core of our churches has to do with life-changing, eternity-consequential decisions. Ministry is too important to be done haphazardly.
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