The ministry of the congregation

Ok, I'm gonna be blatantly honest here, these are not my ideas or thoughts. I've been reading a lot of books lately and this has cropped up more than once. These thoughts came from Barbara Brown Taylor and a sermon from Stuart Carlton. It's the idea of the ministry of the congregation of the church and the potential impact.

The first point is this, ministers can only effect the community so much. They are limited to their sphere of influence within the walls of the church. The congregation on the other hand, are the hands and feet of the church. They are out in the community everyday, working side by side with non believers. They have a lot more contact with the world outside of the church than ministers do.

Secondly, it is the minister's obligation to provide the congregation the means of getting out into the community with God by their side. The way ministers do this is to teach, pray and disciple their congregations during worship, bible study and prayer times.

The greatest need for every church or ministry is for more prayer. There simply isn't enough of it, because we are called to pray without ceasing. It's the constant connection with God that gives us the strength and guidance that we need. The point was made in the sermon I mentioned is this: that a praying church is a growing church. If we are all truly seeking God's will and his face, then he will direct our steps and move in incredible ways.

I think my biggest point is this: We're all in this ministry together. Ministers are not just limited to seminary graduates, and we can all be full time ministers. In light of what has happened in Louisanna, Mississippi and parts of Alabama, its time to remember that we're all servants of God. We can all do a little something to help these people out.