The administration of the church and the ministry of the word, week 7, chapter 10, Saturday

 THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHURCH
AND THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

CHAPTER TEN: THE CHOICE OF MATERIAL
FOR THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD

WEEK 7 – SATURDAY

Bible Reading: Ps 119:103; Pr 23:6–8; Mt 7:28–29

Read and pray: “The officers answered, ‘Never has a man spoken like this man!’” (Jn 7:46)

LEARNING TO TOUCH OTHERS IN THEIR INNER BEING

Following the same principle, when giving a message we must avoid speaking in a scientific way. For example, we will fail if we teach people merely by following the main topics and subtopics of an outline. Even though reading the main points of an outline is not wrong, it is more important to learn to touch people's feelings.

If we overemphasize the need to memorize an outline, the saints may not be able to remember those points. Even if they do remember them, they will forget them if they have not come into contact with something deeper. Those who minister may say a lot, but their number one priority must be to give people something life-giving and to touch their inner being. In this way, even if they forget the outline’s points, something substantial will remain.

Furthermore, we must learn not to bring any kind of training into our meetings. Trainings are different in nature from church meetings. We should not treat the brothers as trainees. They may forget the points of an outline and the verses from the Scriptures, yet if they are touched by something, after the meeting they will pray, confess their sins, and even preach the gospel. If this is the case, the message will have been living and able to supply.

The meat of a steak usually comes attached to the bones, but when serving the steak, we should give the meat, not the bones. An outline is important because many points can touch people’s feelings. However, in feeding them, we must give them "meat," not "bones," because few are able to chew bones. This is very important.

Therefore, we need to learn to use material that touches people’s feelings so that they are touched even if they do not understand the whole message. A message delivered in this way is powerful because it is clear and rich in content, without forcing logical reasoning abilities. On the contrary, it reaches into the deep feelings within people.

We have a serious burden regarding the ministry of the word. The ministry of the word is very weak on Sunday mornings, in midweek meetings, in home meetings, in young people’s meetings, and even in children’s meetings. There are problems in this ministry. The word is very weak, resulting in a condition of weakness among the saints.

The main reason for this is that the word is dead. When the word is dead, the entire supply is weakened. Therefore, all who are responsible for ministering the word must strive to find a way for the word to supply life and not be dead. This requires that we no longer speak as if we were giving a class, using rigid outlines. Our spiritual life requires teaching, but we cannot be rigid.

We need to avoid material that resembles school teaching. We should not give the brothers homework. Rather, we must touch their deepest feelings and plant something solid within them.

If we fail to do this in the ministry of the word, it is because we do not have the skill to minister the word. If we do, we will touch the saints’ feelings and supply them with life—whether we are stammerers or eloquent, and whether they like us or not.

Enjoy more: Hymn 233