Go Be the Church

Equipped to Be the Church | Ephesians 4:11-16

Every day, we are in the process of becoming. God is shaping us through every season, every challenge, every victory, and every opportunity to obey Him. The same is true for the church. Harvest Church is becoming what God has called us to be, and that process requires every believer to understand their role in the body of Christ.

1 Corinthians 12:27 says, “Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.” The church is not simply a building, a Sunday service, or a place we attend. We are the church.

That means the vision of the church is not only about where we gather. It is about who we are becoming and what God is calling us to do.

Equipped to Be the Church

One of the clearest pictures of the church is found in Ephesians 4:11-16.

Paul explains that Christ gave apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers to the church for a specific purpose. Their role is to equip God’s people for works of service so that the body of Christ can be built up.

That changes the way we think about church leadership.

The role of church leadership is not to do all the ministry. The role of church leadership is to equip God’s people to do the ministry.

Church was never meant to become a place where a small number of leaders do everything while everyone else watches. The biblical picture is a church where every believer is growing, serving, and participating in the mission of Jesus.

The Church Is Not an Audience

It is easy to begin thinking of church like an event.

We arrive, find a seat, worship, listen to a message, and leave. But Scripture presents something much more active.

The church is not an audience that gathers to watch ministry happen. It is the body of Christ being equipped to carry ministry into the world.

A large crowd alone will not change a community. A church filled with Spirit-led believers who understand their calling and are willing to act can.

God has given every believer gifts, abilities, experiences, and opportunities that can be used for His kingdom.

The question is whether we are willing to use them.

Volunteers Aren’t Just Helpers

Serving in church is about much more than filling a position on a volunteer schedule.

Volunteers aren’t just helpers. They are the church.

Serving puts us in an environment where we can grow, learn, receive correction, and be discipled. It gives us opportunities to discover the gifts God has placed inside of us.

Many people want to grow spiritually, but spiritual growth rarely happens through information alone. Growth happens when what we learn begins changing the way we live.

James 1:22 tells believers not merely to listen to the Word, but to do what it says.

Serving gives us opportunities to become doers of the Word.

Put Yourself in a Position to Be Coached

One of the most memorable illustrations from this message comes from the movie Facing the Giants.

In the famous death crawl scene, a football coach challenges one of his players to go farther than he believes he can. The player expects to make it only a short distance, but the coach continues encouraging him to keep moving.

When the blindfold finally comes off, the player discovers that he has crossed the entire football field.

The coach saw something in him that he could not yet see in himself.

That is an important picture of discipleship and leadership.

There are moments when someone needs to come alongside us and say, “Keep going. Don’t quit. God has placed more inside of you.”

Church leadership should help believers recognize their gifts, grow in maturity, and step into opportunities they may not have imagined for themselves.

When we serve, we place ourselves in environments where that type of discipleship can happen.

From Studying God’s Word to Doing God’s Word

Studying Scripture is essential to the Christian life. But biblical knowledge was never meant to remain only in our minds.

God’s Word is meant to shape the way we live.

1 John 3:18 says, “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.”

Faith should lead to action.

That is why one part of Harvest Church’s vision is creating environments where believers can learn something and then immediately begin putting it into practice.

• We do not only want to talk about evangelism. We want to evangelize.
• We do not only want to talk about serving our community. We want to serve our community.
• We do not only want to talk about prayer. We want to pray for people.
• We do not only want to study what Jesus did. We want to follow His example.

Action Groups Turn Faith Into Action

One way this vision can become practical is through action groups.

An action group is not simply another Bible study. The goal is to gather, learn, prepare, and then act.

An evangelism action group may study how to share the gospel and lead someone to Christ. Then the group goes into the community and puts what they learned into practice.

A group of business owners may gather to consider how their businesses can bless people, serve the community, and represent Jesus well.

Other believers may feel called to influence schools, government meetings, sports teams, neighborhoods, or other areas of community life.

Jesus said in Matthew 28:19-20 to go and make disciples of all nations.

“All the world” includes the places we already go every week:

• Our workplaces matter.
• Our schools matter.
• Our teams matter.
• Our neighborhoods matter.
• Our communities matter.

God has already placed believers in these environments for a reason.

Bring the Gospel Where People Already Are

Sometimes reaching people requires changing the way we think about ministry.

There are people who may never walk through the doors of a church on Sunday morning. But Christians interact with them every day.

They are coworkers, teammates, parents, neighbors, customers, coaches, students, and friends.

Instead of only asking how we can bring everyone into the church building, we should also ask how we can bring the gospel to where people already are.

That could mean:

• Equipping a coach to share a short devotional with a team.
• Teaching a student how to represent Jesus in their school.
• Helping a business owner understand how their business can become a place of generosity and Christian influence.
• Teaching someone how to pray with a coworker who is going through a difficult season.
• Equipping believers to confidently share the gospel and lead someone to Christ.

The goal is to equip believers to carry Jesus into every part of their lives.

Equipping Future Leaders

Equipping the saints also means developing leaders.

There are people in the church today who may eventually lead ministries, disciple others, teach Scripture, start churches, lead outreach efforts, or serve in places they have not yet imagined.

Leadership development begins with faithfulness.

When someone is faithful in the small things and has the opportunity to move into ministry leadership, that person should continue to be challenged, trained, and equipped.

That means ministry leadership should involve more than giving someone a title. Leaders need biblical training, accountability, encouragement, correction, and opportunities to grow.

Like a coach who sees more potential in a player, biblical leadership should challenge people to keep growing into what God has called them to become.

God does not only want people who can fill positions.

He wants mature disciples who can help make more disciples.

The Church Was Designed to Multiply

The early church did not simply build one enormous congregation and expect everyone to come to them.

The apostles went.

Churches were planted.

Leaders were developed.

Disciples were made.

Communities were reached.

The book of Acts shows a movement that continued expanding because believers carried the message of Jesus wherever they went.

The apostles did not simply create one big church. They multiplied.

That same mission continues today.

The goal is not simply to gather more people into one room. The goal is to equip more people to carry the gospel into more places.

Why Do We Equip the Saints?

Why is equipping believers so important?

Because the mission of the church is not simply to gather people. The mission is to grow people into a mature body of Christ.

Paul explains in Ephesians 4:11-16 that believers should grow toward maturity, becoming more like Christ.

Church should change us.

As we are equipped and grow toward spiritual maturity:

• We should become more loving, faithful, generous, obedient, and willing to serve.
• We should understand Scripture better.
• We should know how to pray for someone.
• We should know how to share our faith.
• We should know how to lead someone toward a relationship with Jesus.
• We should become increasingly willing to use our gifts for God’s purposes.

That is what it means to be Equipped to Be the Church.

Do You Want to Be Equipped?

There is an important question every believer must eventually answer:

Do you want to be equipped?

Being equipped sounds exciting until we realize what it requires.

• Growth requires change.
• Discipleship requires humility.
• Serving requires sacrifice.
• Leadership requires responsibility.
• Following Jesus requires obedience.

In John 5, Jesus approaches a man who had been unable to walk for many years and asks him a surprising question:

“Do you want to get well?”

At first, the answer seems obvious.

But the question goes deeper.

Healing would mean change. The man’s life would no longer look the same. He would have to leave the place where he had been sitting and begin living differently.

Following Jesus often presents us with the same challenge.

Do we actually want to change?

Do we want to grow?

Do we want to serve?

Do we want to become the people God is calling us to become?

Stop Watching and Start Serving

One of the greatest dangers in modern Christianity is becoming comfortable watching other people do ministry.

• We can listen to sermons about evangelism without ever sharing our faith.
• We can hear messages about generosity without becoming generous.
• We can learn about serving without serving.
• We can talk about discipleship without ever discipling anyone.

Jesus did not call His followers to become spectators.

He called them to follow Him.

For many believers, one of the most important steps of spiritual growth is simply saying yes to serving.

Serving may begin in children’s ministry, hospitality, worship, outreach, production, prayer, or another ministry. Where it begins matters less than the willingness behind the decision.

A simple yes to God can become the beginning of something much larger than we ever expected.

Go Be the Church

Harvest Church is becoming.

Every believer is becoming.

And God is inviting us to become a mature body of believers who are equipped to serve, lead, disciple, reach the lost, and grow the found.

The church is not the building where we gather.

We are the church.

So let us:

• Leave our gatherings as doers of the Word.
• Put ourselves in a position to be coached.
• Use the gifts God has given us.
• Carry the gospel into our workplaces, schools, teams, businesses, neighborhoods, and communities.
• Become the people God has called us to be.

The mission of the church is not just to gather people, but to grow people into a mature body of Christ. As we allow ourselves to be equipped, God can use ordinary believers to accomplish His purposes far beyond the walls of a church building.

Go be the church. Go be obedient to what God is calling you to do.