Does God Give Us An Ordained Way Of Doing Ministry?

Below is a quote from an article I wrote for Heidelblog, for the full article you can click here.

All local church ministry ought to be concerned with carrying out an ordinary means of grace philosophy of ministry. This is not a personal opinion but a biblical mandate. My thesis might sound too strong, intolerant, or even inflexible. You might be turned off from reading further. Or, perhaps you are intrigued, either because of agreement’s sake or out of a desire to dissect this article. Let me invite you to consider the following: God’s “Plan A” for all ministry to all types of people in all eras of history and among all cultures is that his people minister to others using the ordained means of grace…

The means of grace are characterized well by Louis Berkhof: 1) They are instruments, not of common but of special grace, the grace that removes sin and renews the sinner in conformity with the image of God. 2) They are in themselves, and not in virtue of their connection with things not included in them, means of grace. 3) They are continuous instruments of God’s grace, and not in any sense of the word exceptional. This means that they are not associated with the operation of God’s grace merely occasionally or in a more or less accidental way, but are the regularly ordained means for the communication of the saving grace of God and are as such a perpetual value. 4) They are the official means of the Church of Jesus Christ by which the Holy Spirit works and confirms faith in the hearts of men.

For the full article, click here.