by Robert J. Young
©, 2001, Robert J. Young
[permission is given to reprint with credit noted]

True or false?

• Every believer is a minister.
• Every ministry is important.
• Our ministries are interdependent.
• There is a specific ministry for you which is a unique expression of your shape--spirituality, heart, ability, purpose, and experience.
• The power for ministry is God's, not ours.

The answers are all "true." You are a minister--God has called you to serve. He has uniquely equipped you as a part of the body of Christ so that you can contribute to the work of this church what others cannot. The effectiveness of the local church of which you are a part depends upon your working together as God places you, sets you, and tempers you together with other Christians in his body, the church. No one body part is more important nor more honored than another. All are important. The ministry God has given you to do he will empower and enable you to do. The church is divine, not human. The church is his, not yours.

Churches must focus on the ministries available to them--resources, opportunities, open doors, willing hearts. Churches must consider God's purpose for each specific congregation. Churches should seek to develop a "2020 vision." What are the ingredients in that vision? What does God have in store for the church where you worship in the next two decades? What might the church become for him and his cause in 2020? What is God's plan for developing a mature church? How many members? Doing what? Reaching whom? Touching how many mission fields? Influencing? Challenging? Celebrating? Leading? How? Who? Where? When?

The greatest obstacle we face is thinking too small. Today we will try to think big. Because our God is big. Because the cause is big. Because what is at stake is big. Because God's purpose for us is bigger than we know. This is spiritual, exercise, hard work. How big can you think? How big can you become? How big can we become? God knows. Let's find out!