Foundation Of Ministry – Danny Polglase

The meaning of words

Ministry is a word used by Christians to describe all kinds of different activities that contribute to the growth of God’s Kingdom. It’s the translation (via Latin) of the Greek word diakonia which, in its original context, meant ‘table service’. Early Christians applied this word to a broad range of activities, becoming voluntary servants of one other and the communities they belonged to.

Christian ministry is labour (physical, mental, spiritual) performed by individuals with a holy desire to serve others. This kind of service is most often seen in local churches, where members take on responsibilities that contribute to the ongoing health of the body. The English word for these service roles is ‘deacon’ (from the Greek word diakonos), and while some denominations apply this word to a formal position and many others do not, the work itself always relates to serving others in the name of Christ.

For some individuals, however, serving as a deacon does not satisfy the depth of their devotion to Jesus. And so there is another, stronger word that New Testament writers used to describe the nature of their service: They were not simply a diakonos, but a doulos of Jesus—his slave or bondservant.

While servants (diakonoi) worked according to assigned tasks, bondservants pledged their entire life and future, making themselves available at all times to the commands of their master. In the same way, individual Christians can become a doulos of Jesus, forfeiting their life to become a willing slave of his desires—even (and especially) at great personal cost.

God’s Kingdom is staffed by voluntary servants and slaves who imitate the example of their Servant-King Jesus. Both can be called ‘ministers’ due to their service of others; only the level of intensity differs between each role. Servants are motivated by a desire to serve out of the overflow of God’s grace upon their lives, while slaves are driven by a compulsion to obey the commands of Jesus irrespective of the impact upon their income, reputation, comfort, or security.

I am a doulos of Jesus. My life belongs to him, and my daily activities are subservient to his standing order that I build up God’s kingdom through the medium of music and song.

This reality has influenced my life choices, and I’ve consequently disadvantaged myself in the world to remain available for Kingdom work. Being misunderstood is the price of my service and I pay it without regret; as is true for every doulos of Christ, I must speak the things I’ve heard (Acts 4:19-20), knowing that my sacrifice does not go unrewarded (Mark 10:29-30).

Partners and co-workers

The New Testament presents ministry as the offering of an individual—a unique combination of personality, skills, and convictions. Ministry can be emulated, but never replicated; it is, like salvation, a deeply personal and non-transferable piece of Christian identity. But what strategies are available to those whose ministry is (or grows to become) larger than the work of a single person? How should ministry be ordered so that it remains honorable to God while also having maximum impact for the Kingdom?

The temptation is to create new organisations with a corporate identity, appoint people to official roles and responsibilities, delegate work to voluntary helpers and/or paid employees, and comply with any registration requirements mandated by the state. This is the usual growth pattern for medium and large-scale Christian ministry work, with which I held general agreement until I read the work of the well-known Chinese martyr Watchman Nee. In Chapter 7 of The Normal Christian Church Life, Nee elaborates on the Biblical blueprint for relationships between ministry workers, beginning with their relationship to Jesus. He writes:

The Lord is the Head of the Body and not the Head of any organization; therefore, whenever we work for a society, a mission, or an institution, and not for the Body alone, we lose the headship of the Lord. (The Normal Christian Church Life, pg 71)

The basis of Nee’s assertion is the lack of hierarchy in New Testament Christianity—a social structure that was expressly forbidden by Jesus (Matthew 20:25-28)—and he astutely observes that the evangelistic and ministry work of the early apostles was accomplished through mutual partnerships, not by the formation of companies, organisations, or other social arrangements with a legally ‘incorporated’ identity. (Modern corporate law can be traced back to the Roman legal system, and early church leaders would almost certainly have felt pressure from Roman authorities to give legal legitimacy to their Christian activities).

The New Testament provides many examples of the apostles’ approach to group ministry:

Greet Prisca and Aquila, my fellow workers in Christ Jesus (Romans 16:3 ESV)
Timothy, my fellow worker, greets you… (Romans 16:21 ESV)
Not that we have dominion over your faith, but are fellow workers for your joy… (2 Corinthians 1:24 NKJV)
As for Titus, he is my partner and fellow worker for your benefit. And as for our brothers, they are messengers of the churches, the glory of Christ. (2 Corinthians 8:23 ESV)
I have thought it necessary to send to you Epaphroditus my brother and fellow worker and fellow soldier, and your messenger and minister to my need (Philippians 2:25 ESV)
Jesus, who is called Justus, also sends greetings. These are the only Jews among my co-workers for the kingdom of God, and they have proved a comfort to me. (Colossians 4:11 NIV)
So if you consider me your partner, receive him as you would receive me. (Philemon 1:17 ESV)
Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers. (Philemon 1:23-24 ESV)
For they have gone out for the sake of the name, accepting nothing from the Gentiles. Therefore we ought to support people like these, that we may be fellow workers for the truth. (3 John 1:7-8 ESV)

The text in bold is the translation of two Greek words—koinonos, meaning partner, and sunergos, meaning co-worker or fellow worker (and once also sundoulos in Colossians 1:7, meaning fellow servant). A key point to understand is that the prefix sun (pronounced ‘soon’), means ‘with’, ‘alongside’. Ministers are slaves of Christ, but partners of one other. They are never ergates (a hired worker or employee), but always sunergos; co-workers of equal standing who serve alongside one another without asserting domination or control. Nee says it best:

‘We need to emphasize this fact, that the apostles worked in association with others, but their companies were not organized. Their relationship one to another was only spiritual. They loved and served the same Lord, they had one call and one commission, and they were of one mind. The Lord united them; therefore, they became fellow workers. Some were together from the outset; others joined at a later date. They were one company, yet they had no organization, and there was no distribution of offices or positions. Those who joined them did not come in response to some “Help Wanted” advertisement, nor did they come because they were equipped by a special course of training. On their journeys the Lord so ordered circumstances that they met; He drew them one to another, and being of one mind and one spirit, linked together by the Lord, they spontaneously became fellow workers. In order to join such a company there was no need of first passing an examination, or of fulfilling some special conditions, or of going through certain forms or ceremonies. The Lord was the One who determined everything. He ordered; man only concurred. In such groups none held special positions or offices; there was no director, or chairman, or superintendent. Whatever ministry the Lord had given them, that constituted their position. They received no appointments from the association. The relationship which existed between its members was purely spiritual, not official. They were constituted fellow workers, not by a human organization, but by a spiritual bond.’ (The Normal Christian Church Life, pg 72)

In Christianity today the word ‘ministry’ is often associated with the various goals and activities of churches and other Christian organisations, such as a ‘men’s ministry’, a ‘counselling ministry’, or the ‘worship ministry’. These ministries are run by volunteers and employees who establish and then follow (formally or informally) operational guidelines, formats, and formulae; if an individual leaves, the ministry can continue because its identity exists separate from the contributions of its members. But this model has departed from the New Testament pattern in which larger-scale ministry ventures were only ever built upon the voluntary partnerships of independent ministers, and where the success of these partnerships depended entirely on the willingness of participants to hear and obey the Holy Spirit:

‘God’s servants must work together in companies, but there is a kind of co-working which is to be avoided, that is, co-working in a man-made organization which restricts its members so that they cannot really respond to the leading of the Spirit. When workers are entirely subject to the direction of men, then their work is not the outcome of a spiritual burden placed on them by God, but merely the doing of a piece of work in response to the dictates of those holding higher positions than they.’ (The Normal Christian Church Life, pg 74)

‘God does not wish the power of organization to take the place of the power of the Holy Spirit. Even though there is no central control, provided all the workers follow the leading of the Spirit, everything will run smoothly and satisfactorily, and there will be the coordination of a body.’ (The Normal Christian Church Life, pg 76)

My ministry approach

Within most Christian organisations today, ministry is an activity restricted to members and invited guests. Often, a person is required to demonstrate loyalty and/or subordination to an organisation before being permitted to exercise their ministry gifts—resulting in a power imbalance that requires ministers to obey additional ‘heads’ other than Jesus alone.

As a minister of Christ, I follow the New Testament precedent of partnership.

This means that to achieve the mission Jesus has set me as an individual, I choose to partner with other ministers to accomplish mutually beneficial outcomes that align with my overall purpose. This model favours equality, respect, trust, reciprocity, freedom, collaboration, and interdependence; it rejects the temptation to control (or be controlled by) others due to suspicion, distrust, dishonour, hierarchy, and institutionalism.

If my desire for partnership is disregarded or rebuffed; if it’s unreciprocated or if there is a mismatch of operational ideals and ministry principles, then it may be difficult for me to form constructive relationships with other individuals or ministry groups. But if, in the course of my ministry activities, the Lord joins me to others who understand and echo this desire for dynamic spiritual partnerships that overcome the relational deficiencies of the institutional ministry model, then I’m excited to follow where he leads!

Practical examples of partnership

To avoid sounding overly idealistic, here are some practical examples of how the partnership model can be applied in real-world ministry situations:

An evangelist partners with local pastors to hold a series of crusades among unreached people groups. Each member of the planning group respects the unique contributions of the other members, without asserting control over the group for personal gain.
A skilled musician partners with multiple churches to provide music for worship services, rotating between churches every month. The musician is a partner to all congregations, but a member of none.
A trained counsellor attends a local church and counsels clients on site. The partnership matches the counsellor’s need for space with the church’s ability to provide a room at no cost.
A group of Christian performers partners with a venue owner and financial investors to hold a free concert that shares the gospel to a non-Christian audience. The partnership contains a complex mixture of participants, some who contribute practically and others who support the work from a distance.

Partnerships are a flexible, adaptable way of ministering to the ever-changing needs of the world around us. They allow large-scale Kingdom work to prosper, while respecting the unique and personal relationship each minister has with the Lord Jesus. Partnerships are my preferred paradigm for ministry work, and I will pursue these relationships for any and all opportunities, in agreement with the Lord’s will.