Ephesians 4:11-13 declares an extraordinary picture of the Church.
By the Holy Spirit’s inspiration, Paul states that when we get the functions of the apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to work together, the church will become a body that demonstrates the fullness of Christ. This is extraordinary because it means that Jesus’ extraordinary ministry sets for us the pattern that we should expect to attain to.
Envision a church that serves the needy with the multiplying power of 5 loaves and 2 fishes; a church that can speak restoration of destiny into billions who are living the same shame-driven life as the woman at the well; a church so full of authority that it can compel even the most hardened criminals to repay 4 times of what they owe; a church that solves the world’s most difficult economic problems through the deep wisdom of sacrifice, forgiveness, and mercy.
The bible gave us the revelation and insight to take such a vision to reality. And in the path to that reality lies the challenge of bringing unity to the functions of apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. It seems that God’s underlying mandate for us distills down to how each of these functions, in their distinctive personalities and sometime conflicting temperaments, can cover each other in grace – to maintain the unity of the Spirit through the washing of each other’s feet.
We will continue to press forward MTC 2016 by pressing into this mandate – to strive after that extraordinary picture of the Church by building the unity within the functions of the apostle, prophet, evangelist, pastor and teacher. It would be our honor to step together with you into the fullness of Christ at MTC 2016.