What Leadership in the Church Should Look Like! - Ephesians 4:7,11-13


Ephesians 4:7,11-13 "But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. 11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, 12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ."

 As we have said the overarching purpose of Paul's letter to the Ephesians is to emphasize the unity we have in Christ.  As he says earlier in the chapter, 

 "There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to one hope when you were called;5 one Lord, one faith, one baptism; 6 one God and Father of all, who is over all and through all and in all." 4:4-6

 You can see all the "one's" in there.  And now Paul turns to the idea of the gifts that are given to each believer.  Paul says Jesus apportions to each of us spiritual gifts.  Therefore, we have differing amount of gifts.  The word "grace" here is used in terms of gifts, not the more general sense of the free gift of salvation by grace through faith.  And then Paul goes on to describe the gifts given to the leadership of the church.  These five gifts are not all of the spiritual gifts, as you can see in 1 Corinthians 12-14, but the are essential to a well functioning church.  They are the key aspects needed for a church to grow and be spiritually healthy.  

 And the primary purpose of all five of these gifts is to build up the body for the work of the ministry.  Notice these people are not to do ALL of the work of the ministry, but to EQUIP others for the work.  This principle is often lacking in many churches.  Pastors can become the "paid professionals" to do the work of ministry, whereas the members sit on the sidelines and get fed spiritually and that is about it.  You know what happens when you are only fed and don't work out.  We don't want to become a "flabby" church!   

 The bottom line is that all believers are called to work for the building up of the church.  Some of the gifts relate to leading believers to great maturity.  I.e. Prophetic gifting, preaching and teaching.  Other gifts are to help the church grow by reaching new people for Christ.  I.e. Evangelist  But there are a host of other gifts that support the building up of the body.  I.e. Service, administration, healing, craftsmanship.

 One thing you will find in most growing churches are these principles being lived out and modeled in the congregation by both the leaders and the other members. After all, if you plan to grow numerically you will never be able to sustain the numerical growth unless all the members are working together to meet the needs of the congregation as it is sent out to reach the lost.  

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