“And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ; 14 that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting, 15 but, speaking the truth in love, may grow up in all things into Him who is the head—Christ— 16 from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by what every joint supplies, according to the effective working by which every part does its share, causes growth of the body for the edifying of itself in love.” (Eph. 4:11-16)
“Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God.” 2 Corinthians 5:19-20
“Above all, keep fervent in your love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins. Be hospitable to one another without complaint.” 1 Peter 4:8-9
As most evangelical churches have drifted into a church-centered bias with regard to giving, they have also mistakenly assumed that to “equip God’s people for works of ministry” means to recruit them and train them to run church programs.
The biblical truth is that “the ministry” is not only in the church gathered, but also, and primarily, to live their own lives, to love their own wives or husbands, raise their own children, make their own livings and to love their own neighbors and to participate in the civil state for the glory of God. Doing these ordinary things extraordinarily well is what suits a man for any larger ministry in the church of God as an Elder or Deacon.
With this in mind, we equip each member of our church to live as an Ambassador for Christ and to devote his or her own household to serve as an Embassy of God’s Kingdom where guests may “taste and see that the Lord is good.”
This embassy-style hospitality may express itself in various ways— in hosting an open table at meal times, or an evangelistic study group, or a support group to address some on-going need, or to offer a comfortable guest-room to travelers, or even, when space allows, to host one of our congregational gatherings as a Neighborhood Church.
Every Christian home should serve as an extension facility of a local church. In our church, such embassy-style hospitality is one of the main events for which we equip our members to serve God.