Shared Ministry

Christian Ministry Booklet Four

PART FOUR

SHARED MINISTRY

The Christian Church throughout the world has undergone considerable change in many areas of its life. This is particularly evident in those churches where renewal has occurred. Renewal has taken on many forms: changes in church structures, worship and liturgy; new models of leadership, styles of community and forms of ministry. These signs of renewal are particularly apparent in the changing attitudes toward MINISTRY which has occurred over recent years. For many years the ministry was seen more as a profession entered into by means of the ecclesiastical vocational processes of theological training, ordination and parish appointment. But people today are rediscovering the Biblical perspectives and principles on MINISTRY which describe ministry not as an office but as a function of Christian fellowship.

Ministry from this perspective is described in terms of the Church as the ministering body of Christ, where all people involved in koinonia, fellowship created by the Holy Spirit, participate in what has been called every-member ministry, SHARED MINISTRY. Charismatic renewal has been largely responsible for encouraging this pattern of ministry within the life of the Church through its emphasis on every-member ministry, community experiences of the Spirit and spiritual gifts. Through the communal gatherings of koinonia, the Church is able to provide the environment or context in which SHARED MINISTRY can be fostered and encouraged.

The life of the early church in its experiences of community, koinonia, has a great deal to teach us about koinonia as the communal basis for SHARED MINISTRY. Christian community for the early disciples was based upon their SHARED experiences of the Spirit, through which they were baptized into one body and by which they entered into every-member ministry. For our churches to become the ministering body of Christ as depicted in the New Testament church, where SHARED MINISTRY featured prominently, we need to rediscover the importance of koinonia and the SHARED-experience of the Spirit it brings. Through such koinonia, our togetherness will be transformed into the visible, vibrant expression of Christ's love to one another and to the world.