Ministry is The Job of The Church Body

 "Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, “Ananias.” And he said, “Here I am, Lord." And the Lord said to him, “Rise and go to the street called Straight, and at the house of Judas look for a man of Tarsus named Saul, for behold, he is praying, and he has seen in a vision a man named Ananias come in and lay his hands on him so that he might regain his sight.”  But Ananias answered, “Lord, I have heard from many about this man, how much evil he has done to your saints at Jerusalem.  And here he has authority from the chief priests to bind all who call on your name.”  But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. For I will show him how much he must suffer for the sake of my name.”

        So Ananias departed and entered the house. And laying his hands on him he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord Jesus who appeared to you on the road by which you came has sent me so that you may regain your sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit.”  And immediately something like scales fell from his eyes, and he regained his sight. Then he rose and was baptized;"
Acts 9:10-18

Most of us are familiar with the story of the conversion of Saul, who later became Paul. Paul would go on to take three missionary journeys which covered much of southern Europe and write thirteen books in the New Testament.

However, very little is known about this man, Ananias,  who was the first person to mentor this man who had so vehemently persecuted the church. Aside from these few verses and Paul mentioning him when he testified before the people in Acts 22, Ananias is never mentioned in scripture again. All we know about him is that he was a disciple, a follower of Christ. There is no mention that he held any position in the church such as elder or deacon. As far as we know, Ananias was simply a member of the local church.

Somehow many have gotten the idea that the pastors and elders are the ones who do the work of ministry and the rest of us, 'lay members' simply offer support both in prayer and finances. But this narrative shows us that God uses average people to do the work of ministry. In fact, the purpose for the offices within the church is to prepare the people to be able to go out and do just that.

"And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ."
Ephesians 4:11-12

In the church at Damascus, the leaders had prepared Ananias to be able to minister to this new convert who would do monumental work in the future.

Another example is Aquila and Priscilla. They are mentioned several times in the New Testament. While it is obvious that they were people of influence, there is no mention that they held any specific office in the church. However, we know they spent quite a bit of time with the apostle Paul in Corinth and then in Ephesus. Some time after Paul left them, a Jew named Apollos came to Ephesus preaching about the ways of God. When Aquila and Priscilla heard him they took him aside and taught him "the way of God more accurately." (Acts 18:26)

Paul had mentored Aquila and Priscilla so well that they were able to minister to this Jewish evangelist who passed through their town and in turn, enable him to be a much more effective minister of the gospel.

For the body of Christ to be truly effective, it needs to abandon the model where the pastors and elders do the work of the ministry while the laity sit quietly and 'pay and pray.' The pastors and elders need to be about equipping the laity to go out and do the work of ministry. Only then can the body of Christ be truly effective.