Ministry vs. Office

Method of Labor

"To reach the people, wherever they are, and whatever their position or condition, and to help them in every way possible – this is true ministry." The Ministry of Healing, p. 156

"Your work upon earth is to go forth and live over again in meekness and lowliness of heart the life of Christ." Advance, March 1, 1899

"What Christ was on this earth, the Christian worker should strive to be." Gospel Workers, p. 121

"True missionary work is that in which the Saviour's work is best represented, His methods most closely copied, His glory best promoted." Testimonies for the Church, Vol. 6, p. 230

"God's purpose in committing to men and women the mission that He committed to Christ is to disentangle His followers from all worldly policy and to give them a work identical with the work that Christ did." Medical Ministry, pp. 24, 25

"Remember that you are not to choose your own work, or to follow your own ways, but to look to Jesus as your guide and pattern." Sons and Daughters of God, p. 89

"The followers of Christ are to labor as He did." The Desire of Ages, p. 350

"Live as He lived, and work as He worked." The Desire of Ages, pp. 679, 799

"Christ's servants are to follow His example." Christ's Object Lessons, p. 233

"I saw the wisdom and goodness of Jesus in giving power to the disciples to carry on the same work for which He had been hated and slain by the Jews." Early Writings, p. 197

"It is the divine plan that we shall work as the disciples worked. Physical healing is bound up with the gospel commission. In the work of the gospel, teaching and healing are never to be separated." The Ministry of Healing, p. 141

"Everywhere there is a tendency to substitute the work of organizations for individual effort. Human wisdom tends to consolidation, to centralization, to the building up of great churches and institutions. . . . Christ commits to His followers an individual work – a work that cannot be done by proxy. Ministry to the sick and the poor, the giving of the gospel to the lost, is not to be left to committees or organized charities. Individual responsibility, individual effort, personal sacrifice, is the requirement of the gospel." The Ministry of Healing, p. 147

"The monotony of our service for God needs to be broken up. Every church member should be engaged in some line of service for the Master. . . . Every church should be a training school for Christian workers. Its members should be taught how to give Bible readings, how to conduct and teach Sabbath-school classes, how best to help the poor and to care for the sick, how to work for the unconverted. There should be schools of health, cooking schools, and classes in various lines of Christian help work. There should not only be teaching, but actual work under experienced instructors." The Ministry of Healing, p. 149

"Many professed Christians, in seeking church relationship, think only of themselves. They wish to enjoy church fellowship and pastoral care. They become members of large and prosperous churches, and are content to do little for others. . . . They need to go where their energies will be called out in Christian work and they can learn to bear responsibilities." The Ministry of Healing, p. 151

The Division of Labor in the Church

"The organization of the church at Jerusalem was to serve as a model for the organization of churches in every other place where messengers of truth should win converts to the gospel." Acts of the Apostles, p. 91

"The divine order of the New Testament is sufficient to organize the church of Christ. If more were needed, it would have been given by inspiration." –James White, "Gospel Order," The Advent Review and Sabbath Herald, December 6, 1853

Below are a couple of charts comparing the categories of workers in the New Testament with those in the early Seventh-day Adventist Church. Other than the terminology, they are the same. Here is the New Testament plan:

And here is the early Adventist plan:

For more details, see my August 30, 2012 post.

Faithful Souls and False Brethren

"From the beginning, faithful souls have constituted the church on earth." Acts of the Apostles, p. 11.

Many earnest people have cited that statement to prove that God's true church consists entirely of such faithful souls. But is that what Inspiration really teaches? The Bible does not describe the church of the last days as free from corruption, but actually in rather disgusting terms.

A backsliding church is just what Satan wants. The world looks on and gloats that the religion of the Bible doesn't make people any better than without it. And many of the faithful are tempted to turn away from the organized body as no longer being God's church. "By bringing into the church those who bear Christ’s name while they deny His character, the wicked one causes that God shall be dishonored, the work of salvation misrepresented, and souls imperiled." Christ's Object Lessons, p. 71.

Click on this link for a brief Bible study showing how Scripture depicts the church of the last days:  The Condition of God's True Church Today

"Even in her best estate the church was not composed wholly of the true, pure, and sincere." The Story of Redemption, p. 323.

“How was it with the early church? Ananias and Sapphira joined themselves to the disciples. Simon Magus was baptized. Demas, who forsook Paul, had been counted a believer. Judas Iscariot was numbered with the apostles. The Redeemer does not want to lose one soul; His experience with Judas is recorded to show His long patience with perverse human nature; and He bids us bear with it as He has borne. He has said that false brethren will be found in the church till the close of time.” Christ's Object Lessons, p. 73.

"God has promised that where the shepherds are not true He will take charge of the flock Himself. . . . In the mighty sifting soon to take place we shall be better able to measure the strength of Israel. The signs reveal that the time is near when the Lord will manifest that His fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor." Testimonies for the Church, vol. 5, p. 80.

Biblical Church Leadership

Here's a presentation I gave a couple years ago. It has to do with the Biblical role of a minister. The word "pastor" is only found once in the New Testament, and it's probably in reference to local church personnel rather than to professional ministers. View the presentation