Ephesians 4:11-12 (ESV)

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

From Background Notes [BN] for Sept 3rd & 4th written by Pastor Bob Brown:

What is "ministry"? The word diakonia essentially means "servant", and has strong connections with "serving the table", that is feeding the household.

 

When applied to the local Christ community, the word denotes "service to the Lord" for the benefit of his people (see Acts 20:24; 21:19; Romans 11:13; 1 Corinthians 16:15; 2 Corinthians 4:1; 5:18; 6:3; 1 Timothy 1:12; 2 Timothy 4:5, 11). Serve the Lord through service to each other. "The work" is "the ministry" in Paul's construction of this phrase (This is the "genitive of apposition" in Greek, where "of ministry" actually means, "that is, the ministry": work=ministry). The church and its members might well be "busy", but what are they "accomplishing"? This is the question posed by the word ergon, "work". For Paul, the chief achievement should be "service to each other, and to the world". In other places Paul spelled out in more detail what this entailed, as he discussed further "gifts" beyond the foundational ones (see 1 Corinthians 12:5). [BN,15]

Join us this week in Worship, Praise and Celebration at C1:
* Saturday 6:00pm
* Sunday 9am & 10:30am