The Original Model of Ministry

Once we have begun to develop that personal relationship with the Lord and understand that He desires the same kind of relationship, we have the foundation and framework necessary for us to step into the original and true model of ministry.

True ministry is an extension of our relationship with the Father. After all, Jesus’ ministry on earth was just a reflection of His relationship with the Father . . . can ours afford to be any less?

John 5:19 says that Jesus only did what He saw the Father doing. Jesus would often withdraw to solitary places and pray (Luke 5:16) in order to maintain and develop His connection with the Father. He lived in a place of constant communion with the Father to such a degree that He was led exclusively by the desires of the Father’s heart.

When the Father’s heart moved, Jesus moved. This act of obedience and love often resulted in miraculous signs and wonders as He moved to meet people’s needs. Everything that happened in Jesus’ life and ministry came because of His connection to and His relationship with the Father.

Ministering out of a relationship with the Father is the original model of ministry. Everyone in the Bible who ministered to others—from Adam to Jesus—had this type of relationship with the Father, and it is the Father’s foundation for birthing a ministry.

In ministering out of our relationship with the Lord, we become channels through which the Father can touch the world. We are simply believers following the Lord, having all these other things (character and spiritual development, signs, wonders, healing etc.) follow us as a result (Mark 16:17) of our obedience and the faith that flows from our relationship with the Father.

There is no striving in the flesh to attain results in this form of ministry, as nothing is done out of our own strength or selfish motives. When we walk in obedience to the Father, the result of our obedience is in His hands, and our own realization and understanding of the Father’s love for those being ministered to amplifies.

As I was thinking and meditating on this type of ministry one day, the Lord spoke to me and said, “You are called to obedience, and I get the glory for the results. I am responsible for the results. It’s your job to plant specific seeds in obedience as I direct you.” He then gave me First Corinthians 3:7 as a confirmation of His Word to me, which says: “So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God, who makes things grow.”

When I heard Him say this, I felt a wonderful sense of comfort and relief as I realized that we don’t have any kind of standard that we are responsible to uphold when it comes to the results that we see in response to our obedience. Understanding this can relieve a lot of stress, particularly if you are a “results-oriented” type of person.

To know that we are called to obedience and not results is a wonderful feeling, because as long as we’ve followed His instruction, we know the results are in God’s hands, rather than the results being limited by our own unworthiness or ability. This is an awesome shift of responsibility for the results that take place, and is one that can free us from the fear of failure!

The nice thing about the results being in God’s hands is that it levels the playing field as everyone can obey the Lord. We don’t have to be global evangelists, apostles, pastors, and preachers before we see the Lord change things because of our obedience. Obedience brings power to the people, as the simple act of “Yes, Lord, I’ll do it!” manifests God’s power in our lives.

Acts 6 records the story of Stephen, a man chosen by the apostles to help wait on tables so they could devote themselves to prayer and ministering the Word (Acts 6:2–4). The number of new disciples in Jerusalem had increased rapidly and the apostles realized that they couldn’t possibly personally attend to all of the new convert’s needs. They couldn’t do all of the practical and administrative work of the ministry, in addition to the work of praying and ministering the Gospel. So they decided to turn this responsibility over to others who were “known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom” (Acts 6:3). The result of this was that the apostles appointed Stephen as one of the first of a group of seven who were to help them by working as a servant to take care of some of the practical needs of the people.

Stephen’s position of service didn’t afford much recognition. He didn’t conduct major crusades, and wasn’t a recognized teacher of the Word, nor was he known as a prophet. No, his ministry was to serve others—he was to remain in the background. But the part he played was vital to the furtherance of the Gospel. While his position may not have been looked on as being glorious, Acts 6:8 says that Stephen was in fact “a man full of God’s grace and power” who did “great wonders and miraculous signs among the people.”

Stephen’s ministry was a prototype of sorts for the current advance that we’re seeing of marketplace ministry. If we back up a couple of verses to Acts 6:5, we see that Stephen was also a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit. He was a man who was full of faith and the Holy Spirit who changed things around him by the relationship he had with the Lord. Stephen ministered to others right where he was, out of the fullness of the Holy Spirit in him. He worked as a servant, and walking in the Holy Spirit, he did miraculous signs and wonders!

He took his relationship with the Holy Spirit with him wherever he went—stepping out in faith, sowing seed, and giving the Lord an opportunity to touch others who were right there where Stephen worked as a servant.

This is the day and hour for such ministry. Ministry borne through intimacy and relationship with the Father, empowered by the Holy Spirit, is for every believer! We can all become ministers of the Gospel as Stephen was. Each of us can become a channel of the Lord’s love and power, and see Him move in a multitude of ways in the lives of those living and working in our midst.