Our role in the body of Christ

After I was converted to Christ as a young man, I was associated with a Christian ministry that emphasised evangelism, teaching that we are 'saved to save'. I enthusiastically threw myself into evangelism, sharing Jesus with strangers on the road, giving tracts, writing letters to my relatives and friends, etc. But at the end of two years I realised that not even one person had come to Christ! I was devastated, questioning my own salvation. I asked God about it, and what I understood was that my spiritual gift was not in evangelism. Later I realised that my role in the body of Christ was as a minor teacher and a counsellor, sometimes prophetic when I taught, and sometimes receiving words of knowledge when I counselled people. In trying to carry out evangelism, I was trying to do what I was not equipped to do but what others in the body were to do. I understood that if I focussed on doing what the Lord had enabled me to do, that was what would please the Lord. At the same time, I learned to respect others who were carrying out other functions.

"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age" (Mt.28:19,20). This is not just about evangelism, but bringing people out of darkness into the light of Christ and nurturing them to grow up to the mature stature of Christ (Ep.4:13). All of us cannot do all of these tasks. But when each of us carries out the small things that we can do, the church, as a whole, will be able to carry out this commission.

But what we see often is that many leaders are engaged personally with some particular aspect of the work of God, and they want everyone else to do what they like to do. So we see churches that have a favourite theme, whether it is Bible study, prayer meetings, evangelism, church planting, deliverance, healing, or social work. Those who have other gifts in the church are not generally recognised by these leaders, and some strong leaders even ask them to leave, seeing them as those who oppose the move of the Spirit! But don't we need every part of the body to work together? "If the whole body were an eye, where would the hearing be? If the whole were hearing, where would the sense of smell be?" (1Co.12:17).

In the human body, all the different members work together in harmony. But in the body of Christ it is challenging to work together with those who see things differently. The solution many people choose is to group together with those who are like them and be separate from others! But it is easy to see that each member in the body has to receive something from the others and also give something to the others. But each separate group will grow up lacking something, and may also go to extremes in what they do. But when we grow together, we can grow with balance, nourishing one another.