For only three weeks in Thessalonica Paul founded a church. When he wrote to them, he did not address the letter to “the church at Thessalonica,” but “the church of the Thessalonians.” The church was the people who had accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. Without people who are committed to the Lord, there is no church. In this letter, all believers are included not just a few leaders and few who do few things in the church. It is everybody. Every believer was important, and it took every one of them to make up the church. A strong church is a church of the people, a church that is comprised of all the people.
Several things will always weaken a church:
- Building the church upon a few or leaders
- Ignoring and neglecting the needs of some members
- Failing to involve and use the gifts of some members.
“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 fullness of Christ:”
It is God’s will that every member of a church participate in its ministry. We should therefore strive to get as many people as possible on the front and get involved in the work of the Lord. Where are you?