Servant Ministry
Calvary Wolfeboro
43 Mill Street
6:30-8:30pm, May 6th, 2015
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, firm and secure.” -Hebrews 6:19
AGENDA
1. Distinctives of Calvary Wolfeboro
Godʼs Word, The Holy Spirit and the “Early Church”
2. Serving in The Body
Finding your fit
3. What is Servant Ministry?
“On Being a Servant of God” by Wiersbe
“This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, firm and secure.” -Hebrews 6:19
CALVARY WOLFEBORO
DISTINCTIVES
THE MODEL OF THE EARLY CHURCH
IT’S PRACTICE
“And they devoted themselves to the apostleʼs
teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of
bread and the prayers.”
Acts 2:42
THE MODEL OF THE EARLY CHURCH
IT’S STRUCTURE
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the
evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to
equip the saints for the work of ministry, for
building up the body of Christ... ”
Ephesians 4:11-12
THE MODEL OF THE EARLY CHURCH
IT’S STRUCTURE
Leadership
1. Elders/Bishops (presbyteroi/episkopoi)
Pastor/shepherd responsible for:
-care and feeding (practical emphasis of “elder”)
-governing and oversight (practical emphasis of “bishop”)
2. Deacons(diakonoi)
Spiritual Leaders responsible for:
-administrative oversight of ministry
-overseeing care for the needy
THE MODEL OF THE EARLY CHURCH
IT’S STRUCTURE
Leadership Qualifications
1. Elders/Bishops (presbyteroi/episkopoi)
Godly Character, Able to Teach, Mature in Christ/Proven,
Good reputation with outsiders.
2. Deacons(diakonoi)
Godly Character, Mature in Christ/Proven.
ref. 1 Timothy 3
SERVING IN THE BODY
SERVING IN OUR BODY
Disposition, Discipline, Experience, Talent, Skill, Passion
Disposition - Personality
Discipline - Personal Improvement
Experiences - Good and Bad
Talent - Natural ability
Skill - Learned through discipline
Passion - Often a result of experience
Common to all
SERVING IN OUR BODY
“For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the
members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ.”
1 Corinthians 12:12
Disposition/Gifts
Discipline
Experiences
Talent/Fruit
Skill
Passion
This is who you are
SERVING IN OUR BODY
Spiritual Gifts
“Now there are a variety of gifts, but the same Spirit; and
there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there
are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who
empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the
manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.”
1 Corinthians 12:4-7
Spiritual Gift - a manifestation of the Holy
Spirit in and through a believer for function
within the body.
Unique to Believers
SERVING IN OUR BODY
Your Fit
Disposition
Passion
Spiritual Gift(s)
Discipline
Experiences
Your Fit
Skills
Talents
You
The Body
WHAT IS
SERVANT MINISTRY?
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
JESUS, THE PROTOTYPE
WHEN HE HAD WASHED THEIR FEET AND PUT ON HIS
OUTER GARMENTS AND RESUMED HIS PLACE, HE SAID
TO THEM, “DO YOU UNDERSTAND WHAT I HAVE DONE
TO YOU? YOU CALL ME TEACHER AND LORD, AND YOU
ARE RIGHT, FOR SO I AM. IF I THEN, YOUR LORD AND
TEACHER, HAVE WASHED YOUR FEET, YOU ALSO
OUGHT TO WASH ONE ANOTHERʼS FEET. FOR I HAVE
GIVEN YOU AN EXAMPLE, THAT YOU ALSO SHOULD DO
JUST AS I HAVE DONE TO YOU.”
John 13:12-15
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 1
Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human
needs through loving channels to the glory of God.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 2
Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human
needs through loving channels to the glory of God.
Distributors not manufacturers
The same Jesus who fed 5,000 with a few loaves of bread
and some fish is working in the world today.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 3
Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human
needs through loving channels to the glory of God.
True servants of God help others whether they themselves
get anything out of it or not.
“Nothing is so deadening to the divine
as an habitual dealing with the outsides of holy things.”
-George Macdonald
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 4
Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human
needs through loving channels to the glory of God.
People Matter
God is as concerned about the servant as He is the service.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 5
Ministry takes place when divine resources meet human
needs through loving channels to the glory of God.
“Whatever you do, do it all to the Glory of God”
1 Cor 10:31
“If you can explain what is happening, God didnʼt do it.”
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 6
His grace is sufficient
Whatever God calls us to do we can do with His help.
“He who calls you is faithful; he will surely do it.”
1 Thess 5:24
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 7
Serve Christ Above All
“For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as
Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesusʼ sake.”
II Cor 4:5
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 8
Godʼs Plan for us
God has a specific plan for each of His children and He wants
to share His plan with us and help us fulfill it.
“For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good
works, which God prepared beforehand,
that we should walk in them.”
Ephesians 2:10
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 9
Character
People are like trees. The shadow of the tree is reputation,
the fruit of the tree is personality. But the roots of the tree are
the most important part - character.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 10
Godʼs Goal for us
Godʼs goal for our lives is
Not money but maturity
not happiness but holiness
not getting but giving.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 11
People, People, People
Few [local] churches divide over doctrine
“In essentials unity, in non-essentials liberty, in all things charity”
- Augustine
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 12
A Sense of Humor
If you want to know what people are really like find out what
makes them angry, what makes them weep, and what makes
them laugh.
laughter is a lubricant that helps people work better together.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 13
Hand to the Plow
1. Our work is supposed to make us grow.
2. Weʼre always being measured.
3. Each job prepares us for the next one.
4. the Lord may move us when He sees weʼre ready.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 16
Learn from mistakes
Failure: “The path of least persistence.”
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 17
A word to the Silver Saints
The older we get and the longer we serve the Lord, the more
we need to work at being contemporary and not becoming
dusty relics in a religious museum.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 18
A word to the young
1. Never take down a fence until you know why it was put up.
2. If you get too far ahead of the army, your soldiers may
mistake you for the enemy.
3. Donʼt complain about the bottom rungs of the ladder; they
helped to get you higher.
4. If you want to enjoy the rainbow, be prepared to endure the
storm.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 19
Never stop reading
Readers are leaders
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 20
Striking the balance...home and church
As long as the home and the church are being built with the
same spiritual tools(The Word and prayer), and on the same
spiritual foundations(love, truth, and discipline)there ought to be
no serious conflict.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 21
Joy
Donʼt let your joy be stolen. Focus on these joys:
1. Pleasing the Lord
2. Growing more like Jesus
3. Helping others come to know Jesus
4. As you serve, nothing happens to you except what
God ordains.
5. Fellowship
6. Eternal reward
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 22
The Centrality of Godʼs Word
Godʼs Word must be central for:
1. It reveals the person of God
2. It renews the mind
3. It strengthens faith
4. It cleanses lives (like water and light)
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 24
Loyalty
Loyalty to the Lord and His people isnʼt pictured by a blender
where all of us are homogenized and poured out. Itʼs more
like an army that knows where the enemy is and who the
commander is, and that stand heart to heart and shoulder to
shoulder, intent on one gaol: victory.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 25
The Ups and Downs
“To be a true minister to men is always to accept new
happiness and new distress, both of them forever deepening
and entering into closer and more inseparable union with each
other the more profound and spiritual the ministry becomes.
The man who gives himself to other men can never be a
wholly sad man; but no more can he be a man of unclouded
gladness.”
-Phillips Brooks
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 26
Responsibility
“For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so
that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in
the body, whether good or evil.”
II Cor 5:10
All responsibility without joy will crush a person and turn
Christian service into slavery. But all joy without godly fear will
make that servant shallow and immature.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 27
Feelings
Everyone has bad days...
Base your service on obedience, not feelings.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 28
Forgiveness
Remember to forget.
If youʼre nursing a grudge,
expect to pay some big doctorʼs bills.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 29
Stewardship
Far too many Christian workers arenʼt faithful in their
stewardship, and theyʼre hoping nobody will find out.
WHAT IS SERVANT MINISTRY?
“On Being a Servant of God”
Warren Wiersbe
CHAT 30
God Is For Us
The best of all is God is with us.
“And if God is for us who can be against us?”
Romans 8:31
SERVING IN OUR BODY
Some Practical Tips
Take a personal inventory
Spiritual Gift Assessment
sga.heartland.cc
Look for need/opportunity
Start serving
SERVING IN OUR BODY
Opportunities Right Now
Children’s Ministries
Firstline Ministries
Parking, Greeters, Ushers, Hospitality
SERVING IN OUR BODY
Next Steps?
Ministry Application
calvarywolfeboro.org/serve
Ministry Interview
Individual Ministry Training