Chapter 2
A particular Church had grown over the year. Good membership and favour of God was upon the Church. Members have been blessed by God and many of them had been lifted from penury to material and financial prosperity. But there is a problem. The love of the people for evangelism, outreach, mission and soul winning had waned and lukewarmness had set in. After much prayer, the Pastor was led to invite a dynamic evangelist to the Church for a week indoor meeting, with the sole intention of reviving the evangelism and mission zeal of the people. The evangelist did a good job and God was mightily with him. Before the week runs out, the fire of evangelism mission and soul winning had been kindled in the heart of the people again. Many re-committed their life, time, talent and treasures to reaching out to the lost. Many souls were also saved and the Church was alive again with the fire and zeal of soul winning.
Without doubt, this is the true example of the purpose of guest ministers in a Church or ministry related events. Guest must not be invited to fulfil a certain whimsically, rather, they must be purposely invited to fulfil a certain objective in the Church or ministry. Beware, guest ministers have the capacity to make or mar our work.
The Place of Guest Ministers
Many hands make large work. Nobody can run a ministry or lead a Church alone. You will always need the input and contribution of other leaders and ministers. Every genuine and sincere servant of the Lord must welcome carefully chosen ministers to help him in the work. Every Stephen will need the gift and ministry of Peter and John in their work. Every Cornelius will need the input of a Peter if God must lead and lift the Church to her next level of blessings. The ministry of a certain Apollos will always be needed by other Churches and leaders.
I've met and observe leaders who doesn't believe in this truth. They labour alone and build the ministry on themselves. They pray, teach, train and develop the people and the work alone. They work with the notion that God has given them all that will make the work to move to the next level. Well, the truth is that such leaders eventually build imbalanced work and ministry. In very many cases, the work get stuck at appoint and every effort to move it forward will fail.
The reality however is that no minister or leader, no matter how anointed and close to God he is, can build a great work alone. You will always need the input, advise, counsel, insight and fresh dimension that God can bring to you through the ministry of another minister. This was the case with Moses, in the wilderness.
“And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law took a burnt offering and sacrifices for God: and Aaron came, and all the elders of Israel , to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. And it came to pass on the morrow that Moses sat to judge the people; and the people stood by Moses from the morning unto the evening. And when Moses' father-in-law saw all that he did to the people, he said, what is this that thou doest to the people? Why sittest thou thyself alone, and all the people stand by thee from morning unto even? ... And Moses' father in law said unto him, the thing that thou doest is not good. Thou wilt surely wear away, both thou, and this people that is with thee: for this thing is too heavy for thee; thou art not able to perform it thyself alone” (Exodus 18:12-14, 17-18).
Moses thought he could do it alone without the contribution of another person. But his father-in-law brought him the dimension that will lead his ministry to the next level. Father Jethro brought outsider's perspective to the work of Moses. Thank God Moses did not reject this golden and timely insight, else, his ministry would have been stuck at that point. The lesson? Every leader needs an outsiders' perspective in his work. Say it in our context, you need the input of a dynamic, experienced guest minister. If your work will really move to the next level. Churches and ministries that closes their doors against worthwhile guest ministers are simply closing their doors against their next level in ministry.
The Purpose of Guest Ministers
However, be that as it may, not every Dick and Harry, Tom and Jerry that calls themselves ministers or speakers should be invited to your Church or ministry. Neither should you attend the conferences, seminars and trainings of every advertised speaker. You must carefully choose and prayerfully examined every minister on merit. What are the general purposes of every guest minister in a Church or ministry function?
a. To re-emphasise what the host minister has been emphasising.
Sometimes, the people need an outside speaker to confirm what the host minister had been teaching the people. Guest ministers are not to teach doctrines, but to simply ground the people in the truth that they have been hearing from their leaders. It is simply to let the people hear the old truth from another source and dimension.
b. To bring some freshness and vitality to the work.
The purpose of guest ministers is to bring revival, renewal and revitalisation to the faith of the people. Restoration to backsliders, salvation to hypocrites, healing to the sick and fresh fire and zeal to those who are lukewarm are the hallmark of guest ministration in Churches. Fresh obedience to God's word and renewed relationship with God must be the outcome of the ministration of a guest minister in the Church.
c. To help the work and Church to greater level.
The purpose of bringing in a guest minister is so that the work can be helped to greater level as a result of his ministration and prayers. This is the scriptural testimony of father Jethro to Moses, Peter to Philip and Apollos to the Churches. Guest ministers that leaves the Church scattered, poorer and disunited than they met it are devilish agents every guest minister must pray, fast, study, prepare and minister in such a way to leave the people more blessed edified and better than they met them. It is then and only then they are fulfilling their biblical perpose. A guest minister was once invited to a ministry. He really brought the power and presence of God never before seen in that ministry. He preached the truth, prayed for the sick and minister in such a powerful way that the spiritual temperature of the Church ran to all time high. Amazing healings took place and many people were soundly saved to the extent that the attendance of few hundreds jumped to thousands, even after he left. That is the divine purpose for every guest minister.
d. To bring some expertise in the ways and things of God.
Guest ministers that are experts in some ways must help the Church to become better. Guest ministers that has acquired expertise through trainings, calling, experience and walking with God can help the Church in the area of Church growth, health, discipleship, leadership, equipping the under- leaders and generally helping the work to avoid stagnation, crisis, downward spiral and retrogression. More than ever before, every Church and ministry needs guest ministers who can fulfil this purpose in the kingdom of God .
With due sense of humility and praise to God, I've been able to function in this area to many Pastors, Churches and denominations across the world in the lasts few years. And I still have many years to offer the body of Christ by God's special grace. Guest ministers should bring growth and progress to the Church, not crisis and retardation.
