Equipping the Saints....what does that mean?

[whatfor]

Most churches I've been in have a "hero" mentality. The pastor is so good at being a Christian, and is so well equipped at operating in the gifts of the Spirit, that we all sit back and watch him do his thing. Guest speakers will come in and do the same. Prophets come through and show off their gifts too. Everybody in the audience is blessed a little bit, but nobody is equipped.

What I have a vision for, and would love to see someone do, is to call forth members of the audience and have them participate. Instead of just calling people out and giving them a word or letting them know that God wants to heal them right now; why not take it one step further and call out a prophet or healer to do the job? If God has does have a word for someone, then often times different prophets will receive the same thing. Same thing with healing.



I think it would be incredibly helpful to know people in your church who God has shown to work through in these certain ways, and let them be the ones who see the power of God move through them under the corporate anointing;rather than having one person steal the show every time.

I am lucky I am in a church where this is encouraged.
Our pastor is always helping us , he often has others out to pray for the sick etc.
Even the children have been involved.

 

[KingZzub]

That's exciting getting the children involved...

 

[lismore]

No one moved. No one spoke. No one dared look at me.

Dont be hard on them. In some churches people arent used to being asked to be involved.

 

[KingZzub]

Hi Lismore,

I have never been hard on them, and I hope I didn't sound harsh.

If anything I was hard on myself. I came out of that meeting wondering if I had said things a different way, more people would be encouraged to step out in faith.

I am a lot more mature now, but I first started in the ministry I regularly walked out of the pulpit and "hanged myself"

Blessings,
Ben

 

[MadameGuyon]

It is not as simple as that. My passion for equipping the saints to do the work of Jesus has led to me writing a book on the subject (available from our church website, pm me if you want details).

I was preaching in a church a few months ago and the pastor introduced me with "This is an anointed man of God, he laid hands on someone in his church last week who was instantly healed of terminal cancer".

I had to point out to the church, and I am not one for correcting a pastor in his own pulpit, that I never had a chance to lay hands on the man. The church laid hands on him and saw him healed before I even knew he had cancer. That is my vision and passion for church - in essence to train people how to minister healing and how to move in the prophetic so that I am essentially redundant as a worker and operate as a trainer.

However that takes long term commitment. Let me explain: I was "guest preacher" in an AoG church a number of years ago, and it was a healing service. A lady came forward with chronic arthritis and I knew in my spirit she had the faith to receive healing.

I said to the church - about 40-50 people if I recall rightly, though it might have been as few as 30 or as many as 70+ - "who believes Jesus is the Healer?"

A healthy chorus of amens.

I asked "Who believes Jesus is going to heal this woman right now?"

Another round of amens.

I asked "Who will get up and lay hands on this lady?"

No one moved. No one spoke. No one dared look at me.

In the end I had to lay hands on her. As soon as I did she went out under the power of the Spirit (which I remember clearly as that is not a normal occurence when I lay hands on people) and got up completely healed.

I asked the Lord for an answer why everyone believed He was the Healer and why no one came forward to minister healing.

He explained to me that everyone believed HE could heal, but they didn't believe HE could HEAL through THEM! Due to a sense of guilt or shame or whatever, they just didn't believe they were good enough to step forward into healing.

Then the Lord said "And if they really knew you, they would realize you weren't good enough either!"

The problem was I was the preacher from heaven, flown down into their pulpit and then flew back to heaven afterwards as far as they were concerned. This is why I am so in favour of local churches being key in everything a Christian does because that is where you find out that we all have feet of clay, but that God's love transcends our weaknesses and reaches into our hearts and enables us to minister life to people in our fraility and humanity. Awesome!

But to train people like that requires more than a superstar person it requires the sharing of lives. I learned how to minister healing power through being part of a local church, and now as a pastor, I train people how to minister in the same power. I am using healing as an example, it could easily be any of the other works of ministry.

We are modelled as a cell church and we are working out how to do what you want to see. It is not easy, but it is worth it.

Blessings,
Ben

That's a blessing to train your people that they can lay hands on for healing, because so many in the Church today are sick and need such ministry. Kudos

 

[MadameGuyon]

An equipping church is what we should see out of every Christian church, unfortunately we don't, most function around their doctrines.

Everyone should be able to be properly taught on their giftings to realize their destiny in Christ for the body. A prophet for instance, should receive proper teaching on the do's and don'ts associated with that position, and should also receive careful encouragement and critique.

The Holy Spirit ultimately knows how to train each individual, but the body of Christ operates together, and should be able to provide some practical training and insight also.

A big amen!

 

[MadameGuyon]

You are given equipment. You are told why you have to use it. You are told how to use it. Then you use it.

Ha ! Very succinctly said.