The apostle Paul's instruction on spiritual and administrative gifts for the church is an intriguing study. Chapter 12 of 1 Corinthians provides comprehensive information on the gifts of the Holy Spirit and the administration of the gospel work. Here we find a true pattern for the operation of our denomination with its various departments. As the church seeks to follow Paul's counsel, every phase of our organized work will receive proper attention. The Christian church is set forth by Paul as a unit. The apostle compares her to an organism where every part of the body is an integral part of the whole structure. Let us consider a few principles of church organization as taught by Paul.
1. The pattern for church administration is given by God.
"But now hath God set the members every one of them in the body, as it hath pleased him" (1 Cor. 12:18).
2. God's provision. Various administrations and talents.
"God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues" (verse 28).
"So that ye come behind in no gift; waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. 1:7).
"And those members of the body, which we think to be less honourable, upon these we bestow more abundant honour. . . . But God hath tempered the body together, having given more abundant honour to that part which lacked" (verses 23, 24).
5. Purpose for each type of leadership in the church.
"For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph. 4:12).
Unity in Diversity
As the apostle Paul compares the church to the human body, he conveys the idea that its parts will vary in size and prominence. Each will function because God has a purpose for it in the church. A crowning argument in this analogy emphatically suggests that those members who are less conspicuous are "necessary" and have "more abundant comeliness." These should be given special consideration and honor. The unit is incomplete without the successful operation of each component part. The overdeveloped organ in the human body will have a weakening effect on the other organs; the underdeveloped will also disturb the proper functioning of the body's normal organs. This is a law of nature, and it is also a law in church administration.
In administering God's work today we do well to avoid pushing one phase to the fore when conditions favor its rapid progress. Sound administration will study the times, taking advantage of all opportunities, while steadily holding every department of God's work in balance. In the providence of God emphases will change, but a well-balanced emphasis on the church's program as a whole should foresee the tides of influence and the subtlety of change. There will be cycles of opportunity and development, and of lesser progress, to give opportunity for the development of different phases of the work.
Though the gifts of the Spirit are of God, the Holy Spirit works through human instrumentalities. Human nature varies. Natural and developed talents qualify certain men for specific responsibilities. When the hour comes for a stronger work to be done in some phase of the cause, God is not embarrassed to find the man to lead out. But we should never overlook the fact that God's resourcefulness does not limit Him to just that one man. And the man He uses will do well to remember that he has not reached his place through favoritism. Nor should he fail to realize that his particular responsibility remains a part of the work of the church in its entirety.
Symmetrical Development Important
A close study of Paul's instruction to New Testament church leaders strongly emphasizes a symmetrical development of every department of the church. The apostle's counsel suggests that the distribution of leadership and of finance should be the interest of each church member. The young church of Paul's day promoted home as well as foreign missions. The home church was urged to practice economy, but the leadership abroad was also expected to practice economy in its missionary enterprises. In the experience of the early church, outposts once nurtured from the home base were encouraged to develop independent strength for further missionary expansion.
As in ancient Israel, God's cause today needs men like Caleb, who chose to conquer a difficult outpost rather than to serve in an easier field. The only match for the Anakims within their mountainous fenced cities was this man of God who "wholly followed the Lord." Human nature will always prefer to work where conditions are favorable and where success is prominently conspicuous, but the Christian worker will choose to labor where God needs him most.
Today two primary challenges face the church:
1. The unentered areas for gospel work overseas. Much of our mission work today is no longer of the pioneering type, but there is still a great need for Calebs who will choose a field of service where hazards are involved. More often practical men, with all-round ability, are in greater demand for the work than those who are specialists in one particular field of endeavor.
2. The great cities of the world are awaiting the coming of evangelistic workers of conviction, courage, and endurance. In the homeland, as well as overseas, these cities present various and baffling types of heathenism. Evangelistic workers are perplexed when asked to tackle the task of evangelizing our populous cities, and well they might be! We fear that too many are studying to find an easier environment for their work. But irrespective of our fears and choices, some evangelists will accept God's challenge and will take these risks. The strongholds of our modern Anakims will yet open to receive God's last-day message. But our evangelists and their teammates need encouragement. No task in God's cause today requires more courage than city evangelism. These workers must meet the forces of Satan as few workers in our ranks are called upon to meet them. We have been told that many of God's children are still in these modern Babylons; multitudes must still be called out.
In the light of these outstanding challenges, should not all our administrators continue to plan for mission advance overseas and for the speedy evangelization of the great cities of the world? God has provided the church with willing workers and also with the means to evangelize. This is the day of our opportunity. May every spiritual gift and every consecrated talent be pressed into the closing work of the gospel.
L. C. K.
