The Church is a gift from God – to the world as well as the people of God. The Church is “the light of the world” and we are to “let our light shine in the world so they may see our good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mat 5:14-16). In a real sense, the hope of the world is in the Church. It alone has been commissioned to instruct the world in righteousness. If the Church fails in its duty, there is no hope for the world.

God uses the Church – it is His instrument for saving the world and making it the Kingdom of God. The Church is a beacon to the world. A nation will only be as good as the Church is a beacon to it. As Israel was to be an example to all the nations around it, so the Church today is to be an example, a light, and as salt to the unbelieving world around it.

God has promised to work through His Church. The Church is the organ through which He communicates His truth and message. Paul constantly referred to his receiving and imparting what God had revealed to him. So, if we “neglect to hear the church” we are to be treated as heathen (Mat 18:17). God does not work in isolation from His people, He works through His Church and people.

So, the basic and fundamental ministry of the Church is to preach the glorious gospel to all and sundry. After dealing with the gifts in the church at Corinth, Paul reminds them “of the gospel I preached to you which you received, in which you stand ... For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures” (1 Cor 15:1-3).

But secondly, the Church is fundamentally a gift to the saints of God. Paul tells the Ephesians that God gave apostles, proph­ets, evangelists, shepherds and teachers “to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ” (Eph 4:11, 12). The ordained leadership is to minister to the universal catholic body of believers so that they are better equipped to carry out their individual ministries, in the home and in the community, as well as in the church itself.

Our Confession states it like this: ‘Unto this catholic visible church, Christ has given the ministry, oracles, and ordinances of God, for the gathering and perfecting of the saints in this life, to the end of the world; and does by His own presence and Spirit, according to His promise, make them effectual thereunto.’ (Chapter 25, para 3)

Each believer has at least one gift, which he or she is to use for the benefit of the whole community of believers. Paul under­stood this when he wrote to the church at Rome. He thanked the many members in that congregation, both men and women, for their service to him and Christ’s cause. He was grateful for the ministry of “Phoebe, a servant of the church... (who) has been a patron of many and of myself as well”, as he was of “Prisca and Aquila ... who risks their necks for my life” and “Persis who worked hard in the Lord” and the many others he mentions by name (see Rom 16:1-16). It is part of the Church’s task to teach, not only doctrine, but the practical application of it in daily life, to the saints.

The whole body of Christ must exercise its particular gift as Paul teaches in Romans 12 and in 1 Corinthians 12. In speaking of the many members in the body of Christ, he says that “the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ ... having gifts that differ ... let us use them” (Rom 12:4-6). The gifts that God has given to His children must be used.

We need one another and part of the minis­try individuals have is to encourage and strengthen one another in the Lord. We must not ‘look down’ on or despise any member of the body of Christ thinking that his or her service is not essential to the whole body. Paul reminds us of this when he said “The eye cannot say to the hand ‘I have no need of you’, nor again the head to the feet ‘I have no need of you’”. He warns us “the parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable” (1 Cor 12:21, 22). No Christian is bereft of a gift which the body of Christ needs. The ordained ministry therefore must realise the various callings of the membership within the congregation and seek to equip each member accordingly.

Now the nature of the ministry that the Church has, is spiritual. It has to ensure that whatever work the believer is engaged in, there are spiritual elements in it which he must observe. Every calling must be to the glory of God, so in our attitudes, our motives, our reactions, our responses to whatever situation we may be facing, we are first and foremost, servants of Jesus Christ. His commands over run every other duty we may be asked to perform.

The Church has a tremendous responsibility to teach and preach the Word of Christ. Each believer must be more and more conscious that ultimately, his labour is for the Lord in whatever work we may involved, and be able to say with Paul:

I do not account my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God.Acts 20:24