Copyright ©2015 by Ayodele Ajileye
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Ayodele Ajileye
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Unless otherwise stated, all scriptural references are from the New Living Translation.
The words minister and ministry are two great words that have been reduced in meaning and application for a long time. They have been centralized to certain people and activities. However, God wants us to understand them better so that we can function by their definitions.
Let’s try to put them together for better understanding.
Ministry, simply put, is a work to do. It is a job, a service. In a company, the secretary is doing a job, the driver is doing a job, the machine operators, supervisors etc are doing different jobs. There is a purpose for each section of the organization in the grand vision of the organization, every department in each section has a part to accomplish in the section’s purpose and this runs down to the individual’s purpose.
The success of a whole is measure by the success of its integral parts.
A minister is a person that does a job or renders a service. People come together to make a family or a group, groups make a colony, colonies make a community and for each level, there is/are work(s) to do in order to achieve the grand purpose.
There is no minister without a ministry and there is no successful ministry without a vision. This is part of what God is set to reveal through this book. But much more is to know how you fit in, whether you work as a church pastor, apostle, teacher, prophet, and evangelist or not.
I pray that, far beyond what I can explain in this book, God will reveal His heart to you as you understand what He wants from you. I also pray that as you find your place you will help others to find their places too in God’s grand purpose in Jesus name. (Amen)
Mission is the strategic movement or work toward the accomplishment of a vision.
Without purpose, life is boring and stressful. Without vision, people do anything and at times everything, yet amounts to nothing. With purpose in mind, people do something with positive attitudes. Vision removes stress because the attitude is right. It eradicates boredom because vision gives you rest and peace and life.
Where there is no vision, the people perish. (Proverbs 29:18)
New living translation says the people “run wild” and New king James version says “the people cast off restraint”. Without vision activities achieve nothing just like arrows fly aimlessly without a target. Without vision, there is no ministry.
Oh, without vision, everything is mismanaged; time, energy, people, opportunities and other resources are mismanaged.
In the account of the creation in Genesis 1, God had a vision and that is to make everything work together for His pleasure. So He gave purpose to everything He created including man, the highest form of God’s creation.
The earth (soil) knows that it is to support everything on it and hold everything in it in place. Plants and animals know their purposes; this is why they channel everything they’ve got into fulfilling their purposes without attending to the business of another plant or animal. Palm trees know not to expend their energy on cashew production and bees know not to try to lay eggs for people to eat.
"The trees once went forth to anoint a king over them. And they said to the olive tree, 'Reign over us!'
But the olive tree said to them, 'Should I cease giving my oil, With which they honor God and men, And go to sway over trees?'
"Then the trees said to the fig tree, 'You come and reign over us!'
But the fig tree said to them, 'Should I cease my sweetness and my good fruit, And go to sway over trees?'
"Then the trees said to the vine, 'You come and reign over us!'
But the vine said to them, 'Should I cease my new wine, Which cheers both God and men, And go to sway over trees?'
"Then all the trees said to the bramble, 'You come and reign over us!'
And the bramble said to the trees, 'If in truth you anoint me as king over you, Then come and take shelter in my shade; But if not, let fire come out of the bramble And devour the cedars of Lebanon!' (Judges 9:8-15)
Plants and animals have found life but human still struggle because he lacks vision. Plants and animals are fulfilled while human perish because where there is no vision, the people perish.
There is, however, a vision that God had in mind when He was to create man and that grand vision runs down through every human gathering to the individual purpose. Let us now consider purpose from the grand purpose to few of the groups and to few of the individual purposes as well as the work to achieve these purposes.
The grand purpose
God had a purpose in mind when He created the heaven and the earth and this purpose is revealed Genesis 1:31.
Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good.
When He checked everything He had created, He saw that everything and everyone was fulfilling its purpose; trees produce fruits and other useful materials, animals doing what they are created for, human fulfilling purpose and all life cycles going as they should. The overall purpose is to please God.
I feel like God announced the purpose of everything He created before He created them just like He announced the purpose of human. God worked according to His blue print and He was pleased to see all fulfilling individual purposes and in turn the grand purpose.