Lesson3
SPIRITUAL LEADERSHIP
Finding Your Ministry Role
TEACHING AIM: Communicate believers are called to minister through building up the body of Christ, each doing their part to contribute to spiritual and relational maturity.
WHY STUDY THIS LESSON:Spiritual leaders are responsible to equip and be equipped to build up the church, with each person doing his or her part to produce spiritual maturity and relational health.
DESIRED OUTCOME: To participate in being equippedandequipping to build up the body of Christ.
Background Passage: Ephesians 4
Focal Passage: Ephesians 4:11-16
- Christ provides church leaders to equip God’s people for ministry (vv. 11-12).
- All believers should contribute to the church’s spiritual maturity and health (v. 13).
- Members of Christ’s body build up one another in love as each does his or her part (vv. 14-16).
Memory Verses: And He personally gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, for the training of the saints in the work of ministry, to build up the body of Christ (Eph. 4:11-12).
PREPARING TO TEACH
All Scripture fits together by divine design into a cohesive whole with principles, truths, and concepts overlapping, confirming, and building on each other. The same can be said of these Spiritual Leadership lessons. Lessons 2 and 3 in your VentureIn: Spiritual Leadership Travelogueoverlap, building on spiritual leadership precepts from Ephesians 4. Consequently there are overlappingprinciplesand questions in the teaching plans. That is a great benefit to you as a teacher since repetition is avery effective learning tool.
Carefully read Ephesians 4:11-16 in several translations, looking for the aims and responsibilities of church leaders and members. Study Lesson 3 in your Travelogue (pp. 29-38), giving careful thought to the bolded questions.Read a helpful exposition of Ephesians 4:11-16 at .
Pray LIFE Group members will gain a greater appreciation and love for your church staff and commit to fulfilling their individual roles in building up the body of Christ.
Create a handout with the following:
What Kind of Gift-Giver Are You? (Check any of the following)
Planner
Practical
Procrastinator
Predictable
Purposeful
Re-Gifter
Reluctant
Cheerful
Cash/Gift Carder
Confused
Add your own gift-giving description:
TEACHING SUGGESTIONS
Leaders are Gifts from God
Distribute the handout to adults as they arrive and encourage them to take the quiz. After opening the session with announcements and prayer, invite adults to share what kind of gift-givers they are and elaborate on their responses.
Point out this lesson’s memory verses give a glimpse intothe kind of gift-giver God is. Read Ephesians 4:11-12, noting this overlaps the passage examined in Lesson 2. Discuss: Which of the quiz’s gift-giving descriptions come close to describing how God gifts leaders to the church?What do you find significant about the truth God personally gives these leaders to the church? Knowing church leaders are a gift from God, how does this impact how you treat them?(Travelogue, p.31).
Point out church leaders are not super-saintsbut fellow travelers on this spiritual journey whom God has called to use their gifts and influence to serve in specialized leadership positions. Emphasize how imperative it is believers continue to answer that divine call.
State: Regardless of whether we have received a universal or specialized call to church leadership, we all must intentionally find our ministry role. God has personally gifted us with spiritual leaders who equip us to do our part in building up the church.
The Primary Job of Church Leaders
Ask:What would you say is your one primary job out of the myriad of things you do each day?Direct adults to silently read Ephesians 4:11-12 and state the primary job of church leaders. Request they underline in the Travelogue (p.32): The primary job of every church leader is teaching, training, modeling, mentoring, and/or equipping other believers to do Kingdom work.
Lead a discussion with questions such as: Why don’t some church leaders make this main thing the main thing? Why is a church leader who “does it all” a disaster waiting to happen? If you are a church leader, what’s your take-away from this? If you are a church member, what’s your take-away? Invite someone to read theTravelogue paragraph (p.32) beginning: As a church member, resist the erroneous expectation….
Teacher Helps
“The New Testament concept of the pastor is not of a person who jealously guards all ministry in his own hands, and successfully squashes all lay initiatives, but of one who helps and encourages all God’s people to discover, develop and exercise their gifts. His teaching and training are directed to this end, to enable the people of God to be a servant people, ministering actively but humbly according to their gifts in a world of alienation and pain. Thus, instead of monopolizing all ministry himself, he actually multiplies ministries” - John Stott1
Invite adults to read Ephesians 4:11-12 in unison, emphasizing the word saints. Ask what image comes to mind when they hear the word “saint.” Consider what image was in Paul’s mind when he penned Ephesians 4:12. Ask: What does it mean knowing that you are a saint?(Travelogue, p.33).Why does God want every believer involved in ministry in some capacity?
Instruct adults to read the memory verses (Eph. 4:11-12) aloud again, this time emphasizing work. (If they moan at your instructions, smile kindly and remind them repetition is the key to memorizing.) Discuss: Why didn’t Paul just say ministry–why add the word work? Why do we need to be aware that ministry can be hard, demanding, time-consuming work?What rewards from doing ministry make it worth the effort?(Travelogue, p.34).
Building the Church
Request adults recite aloud Ephesians 4:11-12, this time emphasizing the last phrase of verse 12, to build up the body of Christ. (If you sense they’re getting restless with quoting the memory verses, simply ask they identify that last phrase.) Ask: What is the overarching goal of the church leader’s primary job of equipping the saints? What might come to mind when people hear the phrase “build the church”? Assert building the church isn’t erecting bigger facilities or even promoting financial growth. Paul gives insight into what’s involved in building the church in Ephesians 4:13-15. Invite someone to read those verses.
Note one strategy church leaders use to build the church is to train believers to do the work of ministry. Request adults identify the second church-building strategy (seeTraveloguep.34). State: God has gifted the church with leaders who are to guide and motivate believers to cooperate with God as He transforms us into the image of His Son. How do you see leaders in our church guiding us toward spiritual transformation? (Point out the Travelogue they are holding is a prime example.) What is our role in this spiritual transformation process?
Point out the pyramid on Traveloguepage 35. (Better yet, display a larger rendering on a poster board.) Analyze how that pyramid illustrates what God intends to happen individually and corporately in the church. Ask: Would you agree becoming like Jesus is the only means to genuine unity? Explain your reasoning.
Draw attention to the base of the pyramid. Determine the firm foundation upon which healthy churches are built. Invite a volunteer to read the paragraph beginning:The third church-building strategy…(Travelogue, p.36).Evaluate church leaders’ and church members’ roles and responsibilities in ensuring every person in the church has the opportunity to learn to live by the Word of God.
Guide adults to identify a vital principle from verse 15 that believers must keep in mind when they teach truths from God’s Word, both in formal and informal settings. Ask: What happens when people speak the truth of God’s Word without love? What happens when people emphasize love over truth?Note truth without love is harsh and without compassion; love without truth is weak and without substance. We build the church when we speak biblical truth others need to hear with great love, humility, and compassion. Explore how the transparency of the pyramid diagram illustrates the kind of relationships that speak the truth in love.
Point out building up the church is not just the calling of the church staff. Their job is to train, motivate, encourage, and coach all members to work to promote unity, spiritual transformation, doctrinal soundness, and healthy relationships in the church.
Healthy Churches Grow
Invite adults to share how the pyramid illustration helps them better understand everyone’s role in the church. State another helpful biblical illustration of the church is a human body. Invite someone to read Ephesians 4:16. Guide adults to state truths they glean about the church from this imagery.
Teacher Helps
The New Living Translation phrases verse 16 this way: He makes the whole body fit together perfectly. As each part does its own special work, it helps the other parts grow, so that the whole body is healthy and growing and full of love.
Emphasize aside from Christ as the Head, there are no superior parts of His body. Some functions and people are more noticeable, but every single function of every single person in the church is valuable and absolutely vital to the health and growth of the church.Guide the group to evaluate what happens when all members do their part using their unique God-given gifts and influence. Adults may want to review portions of this section of the Travelogue (pp.37-38) for their answers.
Ask: How should each one of us respond if we were asked, “Are you in the ministry?” Explain your answer. How would this church be different if every member viewed himself/herself as a minister?
Teacher Tip
In Lesson 1 you may have drawn attention to PLACE, Brentwood Baptist’s primary means of helping believers connect with God’s ministry assignmentsthat best utilize their gifts. If so, emphasize it again. If not, urge adults who have not participated in PLACE to do so soon, and urge adults who have participated to recommit to doing their part to build the church. See brentwoodbaptist.com/ministries/place
Teaching Option
Read the first sentence of this section (Travelogue, p.37):When church leaders do their core job well, the church is healthy.Ask: How might we all have some responsibility for church leaders doing their core jobs well? Why is it essential that leaders understand and value their role in the church? What might cause leaders to not value their role? How can we ensure our church staff values their role as our spiritual leaders?Distribute cards for adults to write brief notes of appreciation to your church staff.
Conclusion
Remind adults they began this session by considering what kind of gift-givers they are. State: This lesson has challenged us to consider what kind of gift-receivers we are and evaluate what we are doing with God’s personal gifts of leaders to our church.Guide the group to describe the kind of gift-receivers who contribute toward building up the church. (Answers may include: grateful for, value, support, respect, and follow church leaders; do their part in the work of ministry; develop healthy, honest relationships; promote unity and spiritual transformation.)
If you did not discuss the following questions at the conclusion of Lesson 2 (or even if you did), explore these questions now: What are ways each of us can contribute this week to building up the church? Do you sense the Lord calling you to a new assignment of spiritual leadership, perhaps even a formal position as a career choice? How can we pray for you about that?
Invite adults to voice prayers for your church leaders.
Follow Through
*If you followed the teaching option suggestion to have the group write appreciation cards to church staff, mail or hand-deliver those this week.
*Continue to follow up with adults who are struggling to discern how God is calling them to new areas of spiritual leadership.
*Contact all group members, thanking them for doing their part by faithfully participating in this study.
1. John Stott, The Message of Ephesians (Downers Grove, IL: Inter-Varsity Press, 1979), 167.
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