Christian ministry

Short description: Activity carried out by Christians to express or spread their faith

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Christian ministry is the vocational work of living and teaching about faith, in the hopes of increasing the population of God's people done by the church, church officials, congregational members, and Jesus followers. The Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature defines Christian ministry as "to denote a devotion to the interests of God's cause, and, in a technical sense, the work of advancing the Redeemer's kingdom".[1] All ministry may fall under the call of, the Great Commission, that Jesus presented to his disciples to continue the spread of the Gospel.[2]

While the spread of the Gospel is every believer's purpose, the primary and only vocation of the bible is to live a life aligned with God, as his children, towards the purpose of displaying the love of Jesus through one's actions and decisions. Some see vocation as one's true calling professionally, yet others see it as a furthering of God's kingdom not the occupation, like Maitland states "the work itself is not the vocation".[3] Vocation calls Christian ministry to reach all aspects of ones life, a way of life many believe. In short, Christian ministry, as a whole, is any vocational work done for the sake of the Great Commission.

Someone's ministry is shaped by what they feel called to do. Vocation can be any activity as a whole, or specific activities, or organizations within a church dedicated to specific activities. Some ministries are identified formally as such, and some are not; some ministry is directed towards members of the church, and some towards non-members.

## Contents

* 1 Age-specific ministry
* 1.1 Advantages and disadvantages
* 2 Communications team
* 2.1 History of Communications
* 2.2 Communication roles within churches
* 2.3 Advantages and Disadvantages
* 3 Creative and performing arts
* 4 Community service and outreach
* 5 Sacramental ministry, Catholic Church
* 6 See also
* 7 References

## Age-specific ministry

As churches attempt to meet the needs of their congregations, they often separate their members into groups according to age categories. Age-specific groups meet for religious study including Sunday school programs, fellowship, and other activities. These age divisions may include:

* Nursery
* Pre-school
* Children, generally elementary age students
* Youth, generally middle and high school students
* Young Adults, designed for university-age students
* Adults, which is often broken up into single adults, couples ministry, men's and women's ministries, and senior adults.

### Advantages and disadvantages

There are several advantages to the concept of age-specific ministries.

* Many parents / caregivers are glad to allow the church to be in charge of the spiritual enrichment of their children. Similarly, they are used to using programs for the development of their children such as weekday childcare, preschool, and grade school and enjoy the ability to continue a similar format in church.
* These ministries allow churches to provide 'age-appropriate' activities and content to maximize spiritual education and growth as well as peer group fellowship.
* Ministries often provide fellowship activities outside of the church service that encourage the involvement of non-church going friends and relatives.

Age-specific ministry does have certain disadvantages, mostly stemming from the separation of children from the primary church functions.

* In terms of religious education, the 'socialization' of children into the faith community is one important approach that requires connecting the children and family with the wider congregation.
* These ministries may increase the possibility of child abuse within the church as it does increase the amount of time children spend without the supervision of their particular parent or caretaker or the presence of the congregation at large. However, some churches hire certified teachers to fill these positions and most perform background checks on anyone that may come into supervisory contact with children.
* Certain forms of these ministries reduce the role that "family life" plays in the development of children, because of the separation of differing age groups into differently facilitated programs. In some ministries, the children are also placed separate from the rest of the congregation, such as during Sunday school and youth programs. A number of these programs, however, take place at different times from the primary church service, and in many churches, only children of elementary school age and younger are separated from the main service to provide more relevant material to their age group.

## Communications team

If a church cannot communicate its events to its congregation well, then nobody attends the event. If they cannot communicate to the audience outside of their congregation, they fail to step into their role within the Great Commission.

### History of Communications

The role of a Communications Director, Team, etc., is not a new position. Communication has been a major part of Christian ministry from the start. John Mi Shen, a religious leader from China, expressed how ministry communication started with Jesus. Jesus is the "Perfect Communicator". Through his life, death, and resurrection "Jesus embodies true communication". Shen goes on to say "the Church, established through the imparting of the Holy Spirit after Jesus’ ascension, continues God's divine communication in the world".[4] Communication is how the church lives out its mission. This is seen through the books of Acts as speeches, faith accounts, and the gospel are shared. The Bible is a book made up of stories that were oral traditions, turned into physical copies, then spread about.

In 1450, the creation of the printing press made the spread of the gospel more easily accessible. Especially in Europe, the printing press transformed ministry communications. Not only were bibles being mass printed, new communication agents like flyers created a new market for spreading information. Then technology became involved and film, television, and radio broadcasting came into play, which then brought us to the 21st century with smart phones that give us direct access to social media platforms everywhere, any time of the day.

### Communication roles within churches

The communication team at a church oversees any and all communication to the church and community. This may include emails, event graphics, sermon resources, website, google, social media, etc. As online presence and communication continues to grow, the need for ministry leaders working on churches communication is highly important. The way churches market themselves is important to their ministry and reflects the atmosphere of their church body. A lack of social presence can mean missing out on an effective connection tool, as even a quick google search "is where the beginning and end of searches will happen for most people”.[5]

### Advantages and Disadvantages

There are multiple church leaders who see the rise of online use as beneficial to their Christian mission.

In Pope Francis' World Communication Day Message in 2019, he points out that technology can be "the network we want, a network created not to entrap, but to liberate, to protect a communion of people who are free".[6] His whole message is about technology being a tool that in the right hands can lead to amazing opportunities for the kingdom of God but in the wrong hands can be used for destruction. While acknowledging the advantages and disadvantages, many share "the Church has seen value in leveraging technology to foster a sense of community and ensure the spiritual well-being of its members".[4]

## Creative and performing arts

Nearly all churches feature some form of worship music, whether from a choir, orchestra, or worship band, whether accompanied or a cappella. Religious organizations also incorporate other forms of creative and performance arts into their services or programs.

## Community service and outreach

Many churches sponsor ministries designed to reach out others on a local and global scale, usually grouped under the heading of missions. There are a number of organizations which perform missions on a fully funded and organized level, such as the North American Mission Board, operated by the Southern Baptist Convention and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC).

However, some Christian churches and ministries have evolved to take on a larger role in the community service and global outreach programs. Community service ministries may include a "soup kitchen", homeless ministry, crisis center, food pantry, unplanned pregnancy center, senior visitation program, new parent support, Animal Chaplains, or a number of other specialized ministries. These specialized ministries can include formal or informal approaches to intentionally interacting with others, encouraging, counseling, and providing relational care to them.

If activities such as these are held at a church but are not organized primarily by its members and do not contain religious overtones, the activity would better be classified as church reordering, rather than ministry.

## Sacramental ministry, Catholic Church

Theologians[who?] differentiate between religious ministry and Apostolates. Ministry, for Catholics, pertains to the administration of the Sacraments, and their appropriate ministers are as follows:

Baptism | Any person (even an unbaptized person); preferably a priest or deacon

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Confirmation | A bishop, or a priest delegated by him
Reconciliation | Priest
Eucharist | Consecrated by a priest. The Eucharist may be administered by a priest or deacon, or laypeople in extraordinary circumstances.
Marriage | The spouses administer the sacrament to each other (witnessed by the priest).
Holy Orders | Bishop
Anointing of the Sick | Priest

A final, and most proper, use of the term "ministries" pertains to those instituted by the bishop:

* Acolyte (May administer the Eucharist)
* Lector (May read the readings at Mass, except for the Gospel which is reserved for a priest or deacon)

Ordained ministers are those who have received Holy Orders: deacons, priests, and bishops. Note that a bishop can do anything a priest can do, and a priest can do anything a deacon can do.

## See also

* Apostolates
* Christianity
* Christian theology
* Theology of relational care
* Minister of religion
* Sermon
* Ministry of Jesus
* Great Commission
* Homeless ministry
* Parachurch organization

## References

1. ↑ Strong, James (1891). Cyclopaedia of Biblical, theological, and ecclesiastical literature.. 6. New York : Harper & Bros.. pp. 300–301. ISBN 978-0801061233.
2. ↑ Culbertson, Howard. "The Great Commission Explained – Matthew 28:18–20" (in en). https://home.snu.edu/~hculbert/greatco.htm.
3. ↑ Halverson, Marvin; Cohen, Arthur Allen (1958). A Handbook of Christian Theology. Cleveland, World Pub. Co.. pp. 372. OCLC 2764057.
4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 Mi Shen, John (2023). "The Church and Communication". https://catholic.crs.cuhk.edu.hk/Main/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/159-169-Mi-Journal-No-14_2023.pdf.
5. ↑ Allred, Katie (2022). Church Communications: Methods and Marketing (1st ed.). Piraí: B&H Publishing Group. pp. 52. ISBN 978-1-0877-3017-2.
6. ↑ "Message of His Holiness Pope Francis for the 54th World Communications Day". https://www.vatican.va/content/francesco/en/messages/communications/documents/papa-francesco_20190124_messaggio-comunicazioni-sociali.html#:~:text=We are members one of another,-A possible answer&text=Being members one of another,Truth is revealed in communion..

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