Have you heard these phrases? Teamwork makes the dream work? There’s no “I” in team. Team – Together Each Achieves More. If you ever played sports or worked in a corporate environment, you’ve probably heard these and more. They’re trite sayings to remind you that just about everything you do is for a team of people around you. Each one of us are individual contributors to the whole. Some teams have a lot of dysfunction. Some have superstars who do the bulk of the work. Others function very well together like a well oiled machine. Groups of people working towards the same goal with the same vision and core values can accomplish exponentially more than any individual ever could. Yet, somehow, we think the ministry of the Church should be done by a few while the rest of us sit back and watch.
Have you heard these phrases around church? That’s the pastor’s job. I’m not comfortable witnessing. I’m not a minister. I don’t work here. If you’ve ever asked people to do things around a church, you’ve probably heard these. Somewhere along the way, we lost sight that we are one body working together to achieve the Great Commission. We let pastors do the work of the ministry and the church by themselves “because it’s their job.” Nothing could be farther from the truth. Yes, pastors work for the church, and many even have staff who work there too, but they are not the only ones who are supposed to be doing the work of the Church. If you belong to the Body of Christ and are involved with a local church body, you are part of a team and have responsibilities in the work of the ministry.
Ephesians 4 is one of my favorite chapters in the Bible. It’s so rich and full of things that jump off the page to me. If you’ve been in church long, you’ve heard of the five fold ministries listed in verse 12. God gave us apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers, and that’s where we usually stop reading. However, verse 13 tell us why He gave them to us. It says, “And their calling is to nurture and prepare all the holy believers to do their own works of ministry, and as they do this they will enlarge and build up the body of Christ” (TPT). Their calling is to equip you, yes you, to do the works of ministry. You are a minister if you are a Christian. Read that again. We are all part of the ministry team and we each have a role to play in the enlargement of the Church. Sitting on a pew doing nothing and just attending church are not an option because you are part of the teamwork that makes the church work.
Photo by Hannah Busing on Unsplash
Devotions by Chris Hendrix 
As a former pastor (music & religious education), I can testify to the fact that when the church staff does almost everything less ministry gets done.
Case and point: Vacation Bible School. The first two years I was employed by the church my wife and I led the Bible School—along with a core group of volunteers. For year three, a church lady stepped up who had directed VBS before, more people volunteered and attendance doubled.
Great example. It’s true across the world. What an incredible fact you mentioned about how the more church staff does, the less ministry gets done. People wonder why we’re not as effective as we should be as the Church. This is why. People want the responsibility of ministry to fall on the church instead of themselves. It’s time we all got involved in the ministry of the church.
Amen