A short teaching block from our weekly Friends of BPC email. Updated each week.
Intentional Ministry: Part 1
We’ve been thinking about what a pastor is for, and what Christian maturity looks like. This week, I want to ask: how do we actually get there?
The answer is this: intentional ministry. Unless training is intentional, it probably won’t happen.
Most of us drift. We do what’s in front of us. We respond to the urgent and neglect the important. That’s as true for a pastor as it is for anyone. The antidote isn’t more activity. It’s a clear sense of where we’re heading, and a pathway for getting there.
At BPC, I want to think carefully about the pathway. Not as a program, but as a shape for how we walk alongside people. The idea behind Connect, Grow, Serve is simple: after connecting to God through faith in Christ, a key way we grow is through a growth group, and a key way we serve is through a ministry team. Those aren’t the only ways, but they are the most common ways we can grow.
This isn’t about ticking boxes. It’s about the gospel doing its work, as we engage with God’s word and depend on Him in prayer. Jesus didn’t just preach to the crowds. He walked with twelve, invested deeply in three, and sent them out to do the same. It would be wonderful if that kind of intentional, relational ministry became the culture of BPC.
Read about it for yourself: Ephesians 4:11–16; Acts 2:42–47; Colossians 1:28–29
Adapted from MTS Ministry Paper 0.01 The Ministry Training Church. mts.com.au/resources/ministry-training-papers/