Ephesians 4:11 could very well read "and He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers, and some as helps, and some as dispensers of mercy, and some as administrators." Then we would be in harmony with the twelfth chapters of Romans and First Corinthians.

It is definitely not scriptural that there are four elevated ministries whose role is to produce lesser ministries. The goal of all ministry is to build the believers to maturity. One reason all the gifts and ministries are not working is that we tend to elevate some as being "ministers" in a special sense. The believers in America love to give such "ministers" their spiritual proxy while they occupy themselves with making money, their hobbies, professional sports, and other items of interest.

Another error we have made is that of overemphasizing the ministry of evangelism, saying we all are evangelists. Since we define evangelism only as reaching the unsaved we almost completely neglect the goal of building the members of the Body to maturity. If you want a shock, search the New Testament and find out how many times the term "evangelism" is used.

The emphasis of the Epistles is on building the believers to maturity, not on sending them out to "minister to the lost." Read the Epistles and see if this is so.

Like the educators of the public schools in America, we need to go back to the drawing board and think about our goals. We have made our goal getting everyone we can into our church building. This is not the goal. The goal is to build the members of the Body of Christ to maturity.

Your assembly and my assembly will never achieve God's purpose for its existence until each member is operating the grace of ministry given to him or her. Do you feel the fourth chapter of Ephesians supports my statement?

Until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fulness of Christ. (Ephesians 4:13—NIV)

The above is the goal of all ministry: that each member of the Body of Christ attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity as measured by the stature of the fullness of Christ.

Unity of the faith does not meant we all believe the same doctrine or theology. It refers to the way we make the decisions of life. If we present all of our decisions, great and small, to the Lord Jesus for His will to be done, then we are in total unity with all other members of the Body who give over their decisions to the Lord.

But if we make some decisions according to our own ambitions and agendas, then we come in conflict with those who give over their decisions to the Lord and also with those who live according to their ambitions and agendas, pleasures and lusts.

We all shall come to the knowledge of the Lord and the unity of the faith that is in Jesus when every decision we make is of the Lord. Then, and only then, there is no conflict, no division.

To be continued.