8 Words Describing God’s Grand Vision for the Church
As I consult for local churches, I repeatedly hear the concern that “our church seems to be going in a million different directions.”
I address that concern in in chapter 13 of Gospel-Centered Counseling: How Christ 
Changes Lives.
What Only the Church Can Do
We need a biblical imagination that perceives the big story God is writing and our role in it as the church. We need to understand what the church has to say and do that no other institution can say and do.
That starts as we understand together:
- The résumé of Jesus
- The résumé of pastors/teachers/leaders
- The résumé of God’s people
The Résumé of Jesus: The Church as a Jesus-Centered Community
Before the apostle Paul provides the ministry description for pastors and God’s people in Ephesians 4:11-16, he reminds us that Jesus is the Head of the church. Paul spends the chapters and verses leading up to Ephesians 4:11-16 showing why Christ has the right to write our ministry description.
- He is our Redeemer in whom our full salvation is complete (1:1-14). We should surrender to His will for His redeemed people.
- He is seated at God’s right hand ruling over everything with all authority, appointed the Head over everything for the church which is His body (1:15-23). We should follow His directives for the church.
- We are His workmanship, created in Christ to do the beautiful work prepared for us from all eternity (2:1-10). We should want to know what He prepared pastors and people for.
- He is the chief cornerstone upon whom the whole building (the church) is being built (2:11-22). We should follow His architectural drawings for the church.
- He is the revelation of God’s grace toward which all time and eternity have been moving (3:1-14). We should yield to His infinite wisdom for His people.
- His love for us surpasses all knowledge (3:15-21). We should submit to His calling on our lives.
- He ascended higher than all the heavens in order to fill the whole universe (4:1-10). We should listen to the Creator, Sustainer, and Ruler of the universe.
Christ has every right to write our ministry description.
The Résumé of Pastors/Teachers/Leaders: The Church as a Teaching Hospital for Soul Physicians
In Ephesians 4:11-16, Paul highlights the Bible’s most powerful, focused vision statement for the church. This passage offers God’s ministry description for church leaders and for every member. By distilling the essence of God’s call, Christ’s vision captures our imagination and motivates the shift in ministry mindset that changes everything.
Most pastoral search committees would be thrilled to read a candidate’s résumé that demonstrated the ability to preach, counsel, and administrate. Most seminaries would be delighted if graduate exit interviews indicated that pastoral ministry students perceived that their seminary training equipped them for preaching, counseling, and administrating. Being equipped to do the work of the ministry seems to be everyone’s ideal goal for church leaders.
Everyone but Christ. His pastoral ministry description demands the ability to equip others to do the work of the ministry. If seminaries followed Christ’s vision for pastoral ministry, they would focus on training trainers. If pastoral search committees desired in a pastor what Christ desires, they would throw out every résumé that failed to emphasize experience in and passion for equipping the saints.
Instead, we listen to modern church culture that screams, “The pastor is the preacher, care-giver, and CEO!”
It’s Time to Listen to the Head of the Church!
It’s time to listen to the Head of the church. “It was he who gave some to be … pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service…” (Ephesians 4:11-12a).
Christ’s grand plan for His church is for pastors/teachers to focus on equipping every member to do the work of the ministry.
Paul launches verse 12 with a tiny Greek word (pros) translated by an even smaller English word (“to”) with giant meaning: with the conscious purpose of, in order for, for the sake of, with a view to. The word indicates the future aim and ultimate goal of a current action. That is, by definition, a vision statement—Christ’s grand vision statement for every pastor/teacher.
8 Words That Describe Every Church Leader’s Calling from Christ
What is the future view, the future vision to which Christ sovereignly gave His church pastors and teachers? Paul says it succinctly:
“To prepare God’s people for works of service.”
These eight words must be every church leader’s reason for existence.
One central word—“prepare”—must capture every leader’s passion for ministry. “Prepare” comes from the word for artist, craftsman. Local church leader—your special craft, your opus is people, equipped people, disciple-makers. Your spiritual craft or gift is to help others to scout out their spiritual gift, identify that area of ministry, and empower them to use that gift.
A church is a community of gifted people, not merely a community of people with a gifted pastor.
In Paul’s day, people commonly used “prepare” in the context of conditioning an athlete. Local church leader—you are a spiritual conditioning coach. Your job is not to play all the positions on the team, but to coach every player on the team, to strengthen their spiritual condition so they are able to do works of service. This fits perfectly with how Paul uses the word prepare—to train someone so they are fully fit and mature enough to complete their calling.
The leader’s calling is to help God’s people to fulfill their calling.
These weren’t just words for Paul. He made making disciple-makers his personal ministry description—Colossians 1:28-29. He made equipping equippers his personal ministry practice—Acts 20:13-38. Christ’s grand vision so captured Paul’s ministry mindset that at the end of his life he passed onto Timothy the vision of equipping equippers of equippers—2 Timothy 2:2. The baton of equipping passed from Christ’s hands, to Paul’s hands, to Timothy’s hands, to the hands of reliable disciple-makers who passed it on yet again.
Let’s not drop the baton. Let’s keep Christ’s grand vision alive and moving into the future.
A Teaching Hospital for Soul Physicians
Caring churches often talk about the church as a “hospital for the hurting.” I agree with that mindset, but I’m convinced it will not become a reality unless church leadership envisions the church as a teaching hospital for soul physicians.
In any quality teaching hospital, experienced physicians mentor physicians-in-training through on-the-job training. In any Jesus-centered church, experienced soul physicians equip soul physicians-in-training through giving and receiving biblical counseling in community.
The Rest of the Story
For an introduction to what the church as a teaching hospital looks like, we need to ponder a third résumé. Join us in our next RPM Ministries blog post as we’ll explore The Résumé of the People of God: The Church as a Community of Grace Sharers.
Join the Conversation
How do churches change when they followed Christ’s 8-word résumé for church leadership?: “To prepare God’s people for works of service.”
RPM Ministries: Equipping You to Change Lives with Christ’s Changeless Truth
