Thursday, May 12, 2011
Antioch ministry staff...
The church at Antioch was one of the most vibrant and active in the entire book of Acts. It is one of the few congregations where we know something about their ministry staff. They had 5 prophets (preachers) and teachers (see Acts 13). Two of them are well known: Barnabus and Paul. And those are the two they kept on the road doing mission work.
5 preachers on one staff. I wonder how they shared the pulpit. Did they take turns? Did they rotate by the month? Did they have multiple services? More to the point, is that the secret to their incredible growth?
We at Southern Hills are like most churches I know. We have 1 preacher. We have a large ministerial staff but they are not primarily teachers and preachers. They minister to us. They administer programs.
We are seeing a renewed emphasis on outreach thru our various programs, but they are still about us. We take care of ourselves. Some parts of me likes this because I do want our children and our young people to have faith. And I am not sure our parents are taking responsibility for that. Of course, if we didn't have professional staff, maybe they would.
Or maybe Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen were a youth minister, children's minister, and worship minister at Antioch. Paul was the missionary in residence and Barnabus was surely the main preacher.
Or maybe they were all prophets because the most important thing for a supported church staff is to teach and preach the Word.
Maybe they didn't care who was the main preacher. Maybe they didn't care about their titles. Maybe they just taught and preached about Jesus. And they grew.
So does that mean anything for the church today? Hve we gone about it all wrong? Should our ministers actually be preachers and teachers?
Not sure I know the answers. I just want to be sure we occasionally ask the question.
Your thoughts please.
5 preachers on one staff. I wonder how they shared the pulpit. Did they take turns? Did they rotate by the month? Did they have multiple services? More to the point, is that the secret to their incredible growth?
We at Southern Hills are like most churches I know. We have 1 preacher. We have a large ministerial staff but they are not primarily teachers and preachers. They minister to us. They administer programs.
We are seeing a renewed emphasis on outreach thru our various programs, but they are still about us. We take care of ourselves. Some parts of me likes this because I do want our children and our young people to have faith. And I am not sure our parents are taking responsibility for that. Of course, if we didn't have professional staff, maybe they would.
Or maybe Simeon, Lucius, and Manaen were a youth minister, children's minister, and worship minister at Antioch. Paul was the missionary in residence and Barnabus was surely the main preacher.
Or maybe they were all prophets because the most important thing for a supported church staff is to teach and preach the Word.
Maybe they didn't care who was the main preacher. Maybe they didn't care about their titles. Maybe they just taught and preached about Jesus. And they grew.
So does that mean anything for the church today? Hve we gone about it all wrong? Should our ministers actually be preachers and teachers?
Not sure I know the answers. I just want to be sure we occasionally ask the question.
Your thoughts please.
