Grace Covenant Church believes that the work of ministry, the building up of the body of Christ, is accomplished by all members of the Church. The work of ministry is not reserved just for the pastors and deacons of a church, but required for all believers. Ephesians 4:11-14 gives a clear picture of this idea as it states:
“And He gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes.”
From this, we get the Biblical model of ministry that flows this way: gifted men equip the members, the members do the work of ministry, and the work of ministry builds up the body of Christ. The goal of ministry is the spiritual maturity of every member of the Church. Though the leaders are the ones who plan and oversee the ministry, it is every members’ duty to carry out the work of ministry. For this reason, we believe that equipping all members for the work of ministry is an essential value of Grace Covenant Church.
At GCC we have four foundational classes that all members are expected to go through to prepare them for the work of ministry.
