10/17/2026
Another Transparent Moment...
My Understanding Of The Church and Ministry Has and is continuing to Drastically Change...
The deeper I go in studying, spiritual growth, and understanding of ministry, the more I find myself revisiting things I once believed about the Church. I've had to ask myself some difficult but necessary questions: Are we building the Church according to the mission of Jesus, or have we become comfortable maintaining the systems and traditions we've created? For years, I believed the Sunday gathering had to accomplish almost everything: evangelism, discipleship, spiritual formation, fellowship, outreach, and church growth. But as I continue studying the Bible, I'm realizing that the Church was never called simply to attract a crowd; we were called to make disciples... The gathering of believers is important, Worship matters, Preaching matters, Fellowship matters, And let me be clear, Unbelievers Should ALWAYS Be WELCOMED with Love, Grace, and Compassion. But there's a difference between welcoming people into the gathering and building the entire ministry around attracting them. According to Ephesians 4:11–12 (NKJV), God gave leaders to the Church "for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry." That means the responsibility of ministry was never intended to rest solely on the shoulders of the pastor, preacher, or church leadership. We're called to equip believers to become active participants in the mission of Christ. And this is where my heart has really been challenged... Have we become so focused on getting people to COME TO CHURCH that we've neglected teaching people how to BE THE CHURCH? We can fill sanctuaries without developing disciples. We can create powerful worship experiences without producing spiritual maturity. We can celebrate attendance while overlooking transformation. And sometimes, without realizing it, we create spiritual consumers who depend on the Church to do what Christ has commissioned every believer to participate in. Please understand, as A Bishop In The Lord’s Church, I'm not criticizing the Church. God Knows, I LOVE THE CHURCH! I believe in the local Church, the gathering of believers, and the importance of corporate worship. My desire is not to diminish the Church but to see us become everything Christ has called us to be... Jesus didn't simply command us to gather people into buildings. In Matthew 28:19–20, He commanded us to Go, Make Disciples...
We Gather To Be Strengthened, We Scatter To Serve, We Return To Be Renewed, And Everywhere We Go, We're STILL The Church... Our faith should be visible beyond Sunday... In our neighborhoods, workplaces, schools, families, and communities, people should encounter the love, compassion, character, and presence of Jesus through the lives we live. Maybe it's time we stop measuring the effectiveness of the Church only by how many people are sitting in the pews and begin asking how many believers are being equipped to make a difference beyond them. Because a FULL CHURCH doesn't automatically mean a FRUITFUL CHURCH... My prayer is that we never become so consumed with building successful church experiences that we forget our responsibility to develop faithful disciples. I may walk in the office of Bishop, However, I'm still learning, I'm still growing, I'm still being challenged, and I'm discovering that sometimes spiritual maturity requires us to reconsider what we've always done so we can better understand what Christ has actually called us to do. The goal isn't just to get people into the church, It's to equip the church to reach people. And perhaps the greatest evidence of a healthy Church isn't simply what happens when we gather, but what happens through us when we leave!
Be Intentional, Walk In Expectation, And Make It A Great Day Today!
Bishop Eddy T
