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How can young people serve the church community in the following ways? |
And when it was day, He called unto Him His disciples: and of them He chose twelve, whom also He named apostles;
Simon, (whom He also named Peter,) and Andrew his brother, James and John, Philip and Bartholomew,
Matthew and Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, and Simon called Zelotes,
And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.
- Luke 6:13-16
And He gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers;
For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ:
Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.
- Ephesians 4:11-13
A church leader once gave a strange speech entitled, "Bones in the Church." It focussed upon five different types of members in the church. He spoke about the:
1. Wishbones - those who wish this was different and that was improved but do not pray and work for the needed changes
2. Jawbones - those who talk too much, especially about others, and create numerous problems and troubles by doing so
3. Funnybones - those who are so touchy that their feelings are often hurt by others' words or actions
4. Drybones - those who are dead and cold spiritually; neither the warning blasts of the law nor the melodious notes of the gospel move them
After dealing with the characteristics of these four types of bones, he spoke about the fifth:
5. Backbones - those who are the supporting members, who are continually doing that which needs to be done; who stand, pray, and work for that which is right and necessary
Which type of bone are you in your local church?
CHURCH OFFICES
Jesus Christ is King of His church. As King, He has given His Word, His law, to govern His church. He has also provided various offices to which He calls and appoints officebearers to teach, rule, and provide for His church according to His will, as revealed in His Word. Officebearers may not act according to their own ideas, but they must teach and rule according to God's Word; they are answerable to Christ to do so.
When God was establishing His New Testament church, He provided three extraordinary offices which called for extraordinary gifts and miraculous powers. These temporary, special offices were:
1. Prophets - Persons who received special instructions or visions from God and then taught this new message or
