I also discovered that the Levites had not been given their prescribed portions of food, so they and the singers who were to conduct the worship services had all returned to work their fields. [Nehemiah 13.10]
Can we learn something from Nehemiah today about ourselves?
"The Ministry" is what we say someone "has entered" when that person gives his life to serve people on behalf of God. It is, and always has been, a vocation.
The vocation of "ministry," like that of a local merchant, is funded by the local people. However, and also like the local merchant, if the local people no longer support the minister because his "products" are no longer relevant to the community, then, the minister is forced to find vocation elsewhere.
While the ministry today is still largely "voluntary" it was never really intended to be that way. Oh, people are willing to support a local pastor in their local church, but that is largely where it stops (except in the largest urban settings where the "business" of the organization alone requires enormous staffing.
The reason this situation has evolved to its current state is because the people have lost their sense of priority about their devotion to God and the necessity for ministers to facilitate it.
The situation is further frustrated and compounded by the widespread abuse by ministers of their position.
The end result however is catastrophic. Without corporate ministry (which naturally necessitates ministers), the Body of Christ suffers greatly. This condition is a self-propagating sickness within the Church: the more the ministers are not "taken care of," the less the people are therefore "taken care of," and, the negative effect is exponential.
Father help us to see the need for ministry and ministers! AND! help us to fund the ministries that minister to us!
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