Every Member Minister/Missionary

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I've often heard it debated as to whether we should use terms like minister or missionary to describe every Christian. According to biblical instruction and wisdom, the answer would suggest that we can have specific roles identified as minister or missionary while recognizing that we all have some responsibility to be ministers and missionaries. Take, for example, that God clearly established a priesthood in Israel. But, He called the nation a "kingdom of priests." This language has also been applied to the church in the New Testament. We are all called to make disciples, and we are all a kingdom of priests. We are all gifted by God to do some ministry and serve as agents of His mission.

Let's take a look:

• The Great Commission (Matt 28:18-20) – Jesus claims His rightful authority as the Head of the church. So, whatever words follow are not intended to be a suggestion, a best practice, or something to get around to when we feel like it. Instead, these words tell His closest followers what He wants them to be about doing after His ascension. So, what is it? Make disciples, baptize those disciples, and teach those disciples to obey His commands. It just so happens that "making disciples" is one of His commands that every disciple is responsible to obey. Every church member is an agent of this mission.
• The Work of the Ministry (Eph 4:11-12) – Paul tells the church at Ephesus that leaders were given to the church to "equip the saints for the work of ministry." Did you catch it? He didn't say to do ministry; he said to equip the saints, aka members of the church, to do ministry. What does he mean by ministry? The context implies that he means that the members of the church are responsible to serve one another in such a way that it edifies, builds up, and grows the church in maturity. Do you know what we call people who do ministry? Ministers.
• A Royal Priesthood (1 Peter 2) – As God's new covenant people in Christ, we are liaisons to him. We are reflections of His glory and representatives of His authority. But Peter doesn't make a distinction between church leaders, vocational church workers, or anyone else. This is true of everyone who comes to Jesus Christ, "the stone the builders rejected, but that God has made the cornerstone." The context surrounding this new identity demonstrates that there are implications for this both inside the church as we strive to love one another and outwardly as we apply this to our lives in front of the world. Every member of the church is a minister intended to serve God's people in love, and every member of this new covenant family is a missionary sent to shine as light in a dark world.

Every member of the church may not be a missionary that relocates to another city or another nation to serve the mission there. But every member of God's church is an agent of God's mission in this world. And though every member may not fill a vocational role often referred to as a "minister," God has given every member of the church ministry to do.

Our sentness in ministry and mission has little to do with our circumstance and vocation, but is directly related to our newness in Christ.

This is another reason that a healthy church membership process is so important. The only people responsible for Christian ministry and mission are Christians. Without a healthy membership process to identify one another, who do we hold accountable to it?