The Church today is under assualt from many regions, but one area that concerns me greatly is the assualt on the role of preaching and teaching in the Church. There are many who look at the preaching ministry with some embarrasement. They think that it is somehow an outdated mode of ministry and that it should somehow be replaced with more modern modes of communication; modes more suited to our attention deficit, entertainment addicted culture. What these individuals fail to grasp is that the preaching/teaching ministry in the church is not a form of minsitry it is a function of ministry.
We see in Eph 4:11-16 that God has a specific goal for the Church. I will sum it up this way. God wants and has determined that the church will be unified in its faith in Christ and in its intimate knowledge of Christ. He has determined that, when all is said and done, the Church will have a perfect unity rooted in the truth of who Christ is and what our relationship with him consists of.
With this goal in mind, God gave the Church offices of ministry. The apostles and prophets were given to bring God's special revelation to the Church. That done we are left with Evangelists and Pastor/Teachers. Both have the responsibility to proclaim or preach the good news. Evangelists preach to the lost and Pastor/Teachers preach to the Church. In practical terms the roles can overlap but the end result is that they preach or speak the truth in love so that the Church will grow into maturity and Christ-likeness.
The preaching ministry is God's means to accomplish his will for the Church. Until the Church is made perfect we will always need the proclamation of the gospel. Without it, how can the lost be saved and the Saints be equipped?
They can't.
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