Ministry is to serve God or people. Who is to minister? All Christians are to minister in some way. Let us look today at the different manners of ministry at Agape ICA Church.

THE MINISTERS: There are a few people we call Ministers of the Gospel. These are people who have usually formal studies in the Bible to minister God’s Word. They are credentialed by an organization that has a legal standing before the government. Credentialing means that they are certified to be able to lead congregations in specific places. Many credentialed ministers are active in a huge variety of ministries. Usually a congregation has a pastor(s) to direct the church. In the case of Agape that would be Pastor Fari Rider, Pastor Leid and Kay. Then there are ministers here who do a variety of jobs for the Lord. Rev. Alan is a minister who is teaching in a Christian University. The Andrews lead the Assembly of God missionary team in Taiwan, and work with the National AG Church. All these people do a vital work, but they can only do a small portion of the ministry in Agape.

Main line churches often call the other ministers the laity. That means all the Christians who are not preachers or priests. The New Testament does not make this difference. A Dictionary of the Bible by Truesdale, Lyons Eby, and Clark says “all the people of God have a special place of service in the church.” In other words all of God’s people have been chosen to minister in the body of Christ.

Ministry by all the people of Agape is vital to success in Christ’s purpose for our church. We currently need more people to volunteer for all our ministries.