Ministers of Christ

I am reading Colossians and came across Epaphras whom Paul identifies as "a faithful minister of Christ" (Col 1:8). What is that?

We've come to think of a "minister" as a part of the clergy. "Clergy" refers to those ordained by the church. That's all well and good until you read

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for His own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light. (1 Peter 2:9)

That's odd, isn't it? That says we are all "a royal priesthood," which we would term "clergy" or "ministers," and we are all to "proclaim the excellencies of Him who called you." Huh. That seems like all believers would be ministers in a sense. Not just, you know, ministers.

Are we? The word in Scripture refers to a servant of any kind. The Greek language used it for military laborers and temple workers and priests and servants of the king or state. Any kind of servant, apparently. And Paul said he was "ministering the gospel of God" (Rom 15:16), so that would be distributing the gospel to those who need it ... as a servant. Hey, we use the word that way, or, at least, we did once. A nurse might "minister to his wounds," where it would mean that she attended to the needs of the person. And that's the real idea here, isn't it?

So ... are we? Are we ministers? Are we, in fact, attending to the needs of our brothers and sisters in Christ? Sometimes I wonder. Watch your typical church gathering and you'll often find an overall sense of "you first." You know, "I'll be glad to take part, but you go first. You invite me. You ask me. You first." We show up to get fed, not to feed. We show up to be served, not to serve. We show up to hear the Word, not to give it. Oh, sure, there is always that 20% who do 80% of the work, but I'm talking about the 80% that don't. Like baby birds, we sit there with our mouths open begging for food and not feeding others. We don't really act like ministers.

I'd like to see that. I'd like to see a church where people are reaching out rather than in. I'd like to see a place where the majority have a primary concern of giving, not getting. Giving time, prayer, attention, the Word, support, and, yeah, okay, money, too. But that is way down on my list. I would like to see a church where you couldn't walk in without being engaged, cared for, embraced, and not merely physically. Well, we're not there. Answering my own question, no, we are not, as a whole, ministers. We'll just leave that up to the professionals. Even though we should be "trying this at home." Even without the quotes. (I mean, seriously, ministering as servants at home and everywhere else.) Just a thought.