THE WAY OF THE MINISTRY

"but if I am delayed, I WRITE SO THAT YOU MAY KNOW HOW YOU OUGHT TO CONDUCT YOURSELF IN THE HOUSE OF GOD, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth."
1 Timothy 3:15 (NKJV)

"PAY CAREFUL ATTENTION TO YOURSELVES AND TO ALL THE FLOCK, in which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to care for the church of God, which he obtained with His own blood."
Acts 20:28 (ESV)

• It is not enough to have the anointing on your Life in the work of ministry.

• Anointing will draw people to your ministry or church, but you have to know what to do in order to keep the people whom the anointing HAS drawn.
• You have to know the way to grow them in the knowledge of the Word of God that they may become vital instruments in the hands of God.
• There are principles that can help the progress of your ministry assignment: ministering in power, relating with a Spiritual father, seed-sowing, and others.
  OPERATING the principles mentioned above and others are not enough, you need the know-how about the developing of the people given you by God.
  TO GROW a Church takes more than having the anointing on one's Life.

• You should pay attention to THESE important points:

• You have to know your mandate—the core VISION GIVEN you by God.
  EVERY minister who is given the assignment to pioneer a new work should know the pattern that is given them with which to build: "...as Moses was divinely instructed when he was about to make the Tabernacle. FOR HE [God] SAID, "SEE THAT YOU MAKE ALL THINGS ACCORDING TO THE PATTERN SHOWN YOU ON THE MOUNTAIN" (Hebrews 8:5).

• You have to be strong in your leadership:
  "If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. IF GOD HAS GIVEN YOU LEADERSHIP ABILITY, TAKE THE RESPONSIBILITY SERIOUSLY...." (Romans 12:8).
  A LEADER of the Ministry should be a good administrator: you may be heavily anointed, but if you are not a good administrator you may find it difficult to keep the people whom the anointing on your LIFE has brought.
  HOW you address the people, the way you treat them and care for them are important, if they would want to be under your Leadership.
  HAVING a strong anointing on your Life does not eliminate these important factors.

• As your work Or church started growing, you have to create sub-ministries: groups and units, that every member would belong and through which they could serve and be served.
  EACH person in the Church would be mobilized to belong to one group Or another.
  THEY would be taught to pick and join the groups WHICH they would be able to serve and be served.
  THROUGH this pattern: the group would serve as a fellowship for each individual. NO MATTER the size of the Church, either Big Or small, they would all feel belonged, by being part of a particular group which is also known as fellowship.
  CREATION of the sub-ministries will enhance the growth of the entire Church, it would also give an opportunity to everyone to use their gifts to serve—those who will be working in the groups would be known as lay-leaders.
  THIS will give the opportunity to the main Pastor to pay attention to the Word and Prayer (Acts 6:1-6).
  THE larger the Church, the more the numbers of the sub-ministries Or groups the Church has.
  WHEREVER this system is adopted and practiced, the Church Or the organization cannot but experience All round growth; both spiritually and numerically.
  THIS system was the one that Jethro did counsel MOSES to adopt, which he did, and it really helped his ministry and Leadership:
  24 So Moses heeded the voice of his father-in-law and did all that he had said. 25 AND MOSES CHOSE ABLE MEN OUT OF ALL ISRAEL, AND MADE THEM HEADS OVER THE PEOPLE: rulers of thousands, rulers of hundreds, rulers of fifties, and rulers of tens" (Exodus 18:24,25).

• You will need to mobilize the lay People, train them in order to equip them for the work of ministry, and deploy them to serve at the various sub-ministries that you may have created.
  THE foremost assignment of everyone called into five-fold ministry is: "FOR THE EQUIPPING OF THE SAINTS FOR THE WORK OF MINISTRY, for the edifying [building up] of the body of Christ" (Ephesians 4:12).
  THOSE WHO are called into the ministry offices are not to do the work by themselves alone, but they are to equip the saints, the people of God, in order to do the work.
  A LEADER or minister who failed in this would have his work plateaued, because there is a limit to what an individual can do alone.
  WHEN the numerical strength of your work, ministry, gets to a particular level, you may not be able to oversee the work alone.
  THE APOSTLES had a similar challenge in the early Church (Acts 6:1-7).
  HOWEVER when the APOSTLES delegated the work to some of the people whom they have taught, the Scripture says: "THEN THE WORD OF GOD SPREAD, AND THE NUMBER OF THE DISCIPLES MULTIPLIED GREATLY IN JERUSALEM, and a great many of the priests were obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7).
  AND Likewise MOSES when he was trying to do the work alone, and Jethro his father in-law saw what he was doing, he knew he was going to have problems in his leadership assignment.
  JETHRO who was elderly, and happened to be an experienced and seasoned leader, gave Moses a counsel, and the leadership pattern that would be of help to him in his work (Exodus 18:13-26).

• Another thing is, you need to make your ministry culturally relevant.
  YOUR ministry should be relevant to the culture of the particular society or the group of people who are at the place where your ministry is being run Or operated.
  THAT is why it is important to know those whom God wants you to reach for Him:
  18 and saw Him [Jesus] saying to me, ‘Make haste and get out of Jerusalem quickly, for they will not receive your testimony concerning Me.’ 21 Then He said to me, ‘DEPART, FOR I WILL SEND YOU FAR FROM HERE TO THE GENTILES' ” (Acts 22:18, 21).
  READ: Acts 22:17-21; Galatians 2:7-9

• Pay attention to win the unchurched.
  YOU should reach out to the unchurched in order to experience the numerical growth you desire:
  "But you should keep a clear mind in every situation. Don’t be afraid of suffering for the Lord. WORK AT TELLING OTHERS THE GOOD NEWS, AND FULLY CARRY OUT THE MINISTRY GOD HAS GIVEN YOU" (2 Timothy 4:5).

• Note: I have met some founding ministers WHO pay attention to having more anointing on their lives, because they thought having more anointing would make them succeed in their works.

• The anointing will draw crowd TRULY, it is an advertising force, but you will need the know-how before you could succeed in taming the crowd that the anointing has BROUGHT to your Church or MINISTRY.
  IF you do not know how to keep the people, The church would eventually plateaued.

• Starting a new work of ministry is not a small task, however, it worth whatever effort put into it, because the results and the rewards are of eternal values.

• As a leader of God's people, pray and lay hands on relevant material that can help in building you up for the assignment at hand.
  MAKE yourself available for TRAININGS: be an apt pupil, that is, develop the ability to learn and understand.
  A QUEST for knowledge is of paramount IMPORTANCE in the work of ministry.

"STUDY AND DO YOUR BEST TO PRESENT YOURSELF TO GOD APPROVED, a workman [tested by trial] who has no reason to be ashamed, accurately handling and skilfully teaching the Word of truth."
2 Timothy 2:15 (Amp.)

• You will not fail in Jesus' name.
Peace!