Our growth as individuals and corporately as a body is the work of God and God alone. He alone deserves the credit for our maturity in the faith. The means by which that growth comes about, however, might seem quite human to us, but it is nevertheless the work of God. (Phil. 2:13) These means of His grace are played out on the personal and corporate level, producing personal and corporate growth. Both types of growth are interdependent on each other; we grow personally when we are actively participating in Christ's body and the body grows as we grow personally. The ministries of Growth and Equipping are where the growth of the individual takes place in the corporate setting.
Far from duty and routine, our work in the Kingdom of
God, both in terms of serving to equip the saints and
in reaching out to the lost world, flows from our gratitude
towards God and our joy in Christ. We are each called
to serve in our world, as Christ served in His. God who
calls us is also the God who empowers us, therefore our
service is not in our strength, but by the power the Holy
Spirit. And as we engage in the work which God prepared
in advance for us to do, our satisfaction in Christ is
made more complete, both individually and corporately.
The Ministries of Outreach and Service
are opportunities for us to act out our faith by telling
the good news and serving others, bringing to its fullest
the joy we have in Christ. |
