Jesus Centered Equipping Ministries

Biblical Counseling talks a lot about equipping the church to do the work of the ministry.  This is not some new catchphrase today.

It is a Biblical truth found in Ephesians 4:11-16

"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, 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, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.  Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, 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."

PRAYER RESOURCE:

Today, on this year's National Day of Prayer, it is especially important to remember this equipping statement.  This year's theme is UNITY and the verse is Ephesians 4:3 "Making every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace."  As we pray for our country and specifically for "the next great move of God in America," (taken from www.nationaldayofprayer.org/theme_and_verse) let us remember that real, eternal life change comes from God through Jesus Christ as the Holy Spirit works in and through the church.  This work in and through the church is done as individuals work together for God's glory.

• Pray that we along with other God-glorifying, Gospel-focused, Bible-preaching churches would equip church members to share the Gospel and make disciples.
• Pray that we would walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which we have been called (Eph. 4:1)
• Pray that we remember that the truth of Ephesians 4:3 is rooted in the truth that there is one body and one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all who is over all and through all and in all (Eph. 4:4, 5)
• Pray the saints would be equipped "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 fulness of Christ." (Eph. 4:13)  
• Pray that we would love others (Luke 10:25-37; 1 John 3:14-17), love our enemies (Matt. 5:43, 44)
• Pray that churches in the United States of America would remember to pray for our country, but even more than that, we would remember the context of this year's theme verse.  Paul, while imprisoned by the government, tells the church to maintain the unity of the Spirit which comes because of Christ for God's glory.  

ONLINE RESOURCE:

Several years ago the Biblical Counseling Coalition posted a series of articles entitled Equipping Counselors in Your Church.  I would encourage you to read at last the last post "Why We Need to Equip and Be Equipped."

Here is a link to the article

 biblicalcounselingcoalition.org/2013/04/30/why-we-need-to-equip-and-be-equipped/

In this post, I included one of the seven responses to each of the questions

Why Must Ministers Equip?

Equipping magnifies Jesus’ cosmic victory over evil. Paul’s reference to Psalm 68:18 in Ephesians 4:8 puts Jesus’ incarnation and ascension into focus as the mission to save the church and defeat evil. In Ephesians 4:10, Jesus is said to “fill all things,” which is a reiteration of Ephesians 1:22, where He is exalted over His enemies as the church’s ruler. Further implications of Jesus’ victory over evil are seen in Ephesians 6:10-20, the armor of God passage based on the warfare language of Isaiah 11:4-5 and 59:17. Equipped ministers (and all believers) stand on the edge of eschatological battle against evil knowing victory is immanent (1 Thessalonians 5:8-9). The days are evil, live Spirit-filled (Ephesians 5:16).

Why Must Members Be Equipped? 

Being equipped forces you to grow in holiness and hatred of sin. Paul describes that the church is able to live united because ministers equip the congregation to do the work of the ministry which binds all believers together in Christ (Ephesians 4:1-16). He then describes implications of a united church. Believers live holy together by putting away sinful living and putting on their new life (Ephesians 4:17-32), live together in love (Ephesians 5:1-6), living in light (Ephesians 5:7-14), and living wisely (Ephesians 5:15-6:9). Equipped members can help bring about the holy, loving, and wise church that Christ intends for his people to have.

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