The Body Of Christ Working Together - Part 2
"...in consideration of the roles God has given elders and deacons, you will always help the body to function and work together most effectively when you are focused on being a member who serves faithfully, as unto the Lord."
Why are there different roles within the church, and how does this relate to church members working together for God's glory?
Well, last week, we began a two-part series looking at how the body of Christ works together. The first point reminded us that God has given us various gifts within the church so that His people can work together in unity and in dependence upon one another.
The second point then, is...
God has given various roles within the church, so that as His people work together, they are spiritually led, fed, protected and cared for.
The primary way in which God administers this is through the offices of elders and deacons. These are those who lead and serve in the local church, providing oversight for the members as they carry out the work of ministry.
We see this clearly spoken of in Ephesians 4:11-16, which says…
[Ephesians 4:11-16 ESV] 11 And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, 12 to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 13 until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, 14 so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. 15 Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 16 from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.
So the body is built up through qualified and gifted leadership. It’s important we understand how these roles work within the church, and our relationship to them.
Firstly, it will be a blessing to your leaders if you can do all you can to make their job easier. This might be as simple as thinking about what you bring and when you bring it to them. For example, you don’t really want to tell your pastor right before the service about the problems you're having with the piano, or why you need to take two Sundays off next month. This can really throw off his focus on the message he is thinking about preaching. I guess I’m speaking from experience on this, out of compassion for my fellow pastors, as I think of all the random, distracting things that people sometimes like to bring up right before you preach. Of course, people will still do this, and we manage this as pastors, but as one who is serving in the church, you can certainly help to minimise this.
Also, it’s good to be aware that for those who serve in various roles in the church, there will sometimes be people who may try to get to the leaders through you. In other words, they may try to use you to influence the leaders towards something they want to see happening in the church, but they don’t want to go to the leaders themselves. If that happens, just politely encourage those people to go directly to the leaders.
So, in consideration of the roles God has given elders and deacons, you will always help the body to function and work together most effectively when you are focused on being a member who serves faithfully, as unto the Lord. And also as a member who has a respectful and supportive relationship with your leaders. The more that people in the local church see it this way, and live this way, the more effectively that church will work together, doing God’s work, in God’s way, for God’s glory!
I hope this short series on how the body of Christ should work together has been helpful for you.
[Return to The Church Piano Player Website]
This blog post was written by pastor and pianist Kris Baines, from The Church Piano Player. Kris lives in the UK with his family, having recently moved back from New Zealand where he worked as a pastor for the past 26 years (also leading worship/worship teams). Kris has also spent over 35 years writing, recording, and performing music and is now bringing all that combined experience together to help equip church piano/keyboard players.
Check out the church piano player website for more information on online courses by Kris Baines.
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