GENERAL SUBJECT:
CRUCIAL PRINCIPLES FOR THE ADMINISTRATION OF THE CHURCH

Message Six
The Administration of the Church and the Ministry of the Word

Scriptures Reading: Eph. 4:12, 16; 2 Tim. 2:2; 1 Cor. 14:4; Acts 6:4; Matt. 20:25-28

I. God’s intention is to recover the building up of the church—Matt. 16:18; Eph. 4:12, 16; 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:5; 1 Cor. 3:9, 14; 14:4-5, 12, 26; Heb. 11:10.

II. The key to the building up of the church—the administration of the church and the ministry of the word—Eph. 4:16; 1 Cor. 14:12; 2 Tim. 2:2:

A. In the initial stage of the church God led and built up the church by the ministry of the word; when the church was in a desolate situation, there was the need for the administration of the church in addition to the ministry of the word—2 Tim. 2:2.

B. The word is to supply and administration is for building up.

C. The administration of the church and the ministry of the word are two lessons that we must learn, because the building up of the church depends on both—1 Tim. 3:15.

III. The condition of the administration of the church and the ministry of the word depends on our person; our person determines the condition of the administration of the church and the ministry of the word—1 Cor. 3:1-4.

IV. The material for us to build up the church, all depend on the supply of the ministry of the word—Acts 6:4; 1 Cor. 14:4:

A. The gift that excels in building up the church is prophesying, because prophesying is a matter of the ministry of the word—1 Cor.14:12.

B. We should not think that if we have three to five thousand saints, we have materials for the building up of the church; without the proper ministry of the word, every saint will become a problem.

C. Opinions, criticisms, judgments, and reasonings come in and produce a negative atmosphere when a church lacks the supply from the word; if there is a rich supply from the word, the negative speaking is swallowed up—Titus 1:13, footnote 4.

D. The brothers who minister the word must not blame the saints or the church for not doing well; instead, we must bear the blame and admit that the problems are a result of a deficiency in our ministry of the word; we must not shirk our responsibility—cf. 1 Sam. 3:1:

1. The fact that the one who ministers the word can be strong depends completely on the inner anointing, life supply, and God’s presence; all of these are grace—Eph. 4:7.

2. We must learn to contact God and fellowship with Him so that our words are God’s utterance, and we represent God—1 Cor. 7:40.

3. Those who minister the word must bear people’s condition before God, sense their condition, and know what God wants to speak—Exo. 28:30.

V. The administration of the church can be considered the skill needed for building; having materials does not necessarily mean that a house can be built; we need skill—Eph. 4:12:

A. Some localities are doing well related to the administration of the church and the ministry of the word; generally speaking, however, the administration of the church is weaker than the ministry of the word in all the localities.

B. The administration of the church includes governing and management; to govern requires people or things to be placed under authority; to manage means that people and things are not merely placed under authority but are directed in an orderly fashion so that their function is manifested.

C. Genuine church government depends eighty percent on life and only twenty percent on power; if the church does not have enough life, the government of the church will become solely a matter of organization—Matt. 20:25-28.

D. The central work in the management of the church by the elders is to coordinate the brothers and sisters; strictly speaking, to manage is to coordinate, and to coordinate is to build:

1. In their management of the church and in bringing the brothers and sisters into the coordination, first the elders have to take the gospel as their direction; they must coordinate the brothers and sisters to preach the gospel—Matt. 28:19.

2. The elders have to spend the time to help the saints to know the truth—1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:18.

3. An elder needs to have considerable experience concerning spiritual things and to know before God what the spiritual condition of other children of God is; then he can take care of the church—cf. Luke 9:54-55.

4. Stressing the matter of life and the growth in life in the establishing of church government—1 Cor. 2:2.

5. When the elders manage the church, they have to learn on the one hand to submit to authority, and on the other hand to be God’s delegated authority so that the church might be managed to be a submissive church.

6. All the members of the Body of Christ are gifted, and all are gifts; the members function in proper order to produce the genuine building—Rom. 12:6a; Eph. 4:7-8, 16.

7. The service of the church is the whole body serving, that is, all different members functioning in various kinds—1 Cor. 12:12-27.

8. The church depends fully on coordination and building, whereas the coordination and building of the church hinges fully on the elders—Eph. 4:16.