Menu
Menu
Horsham Burgess Hill Crawley London Scarborough Taunton
Menu
Like us on Facebook Follow us on Instagram
Bible Reading Plan
more
Menu

Going deeper...to go further

Daily Bible reading strengthens our relationship with God, nourishes our spirits and equips us to live a fruitful, effective life for Him.

This month we're going on a journey into God's vision for His Church—our identity, calling, authority, love, unity, and mission. Each day you'll find the passage in full on our website alongside something to help you focus and pray so that you can apply the Word to your life. As we read the Word it’s important that we apply what we read and pray it out over our lives. One of the way you can do this is by using the acronym SOAP. To find out more about SOAP watch this video.

Below you’ll see what we’re reading today. To go forward or back a day in our reading plan use the 'Next' and 'Previous' buttons.

Previous Next

Week 2 – The Calling of the Church
Day 13 – The Fivefold Ministry

Focus: Leaders equip believers for ministry so that the whole body grows and matures in fruitfulness.
Response: "How can I better serve and equip others in my Church family?"

Ephesians 4:1-16

Maintain unity with the believers1I am a prisoner for the Lord's sake and I encourage you to live in a way that is worthy of this great calling you have received from Him.2This involves remaining humble and gentle, being patient and sensitive to the needs of others out of your love for them.3Do everything you can to maintain the unity you have with other believers in the power of the Spirit by remaining at peace with them.4For there is one body of Christ and only one Holy Spirit, and we all share in the one hope to which we were called in Christ.5-6There is only one Lord, and we all share in the same faith in Him. There is only one baptism into Christ, only one God and Father of us all. He is over all of us, He works through all of us and His life is in all of us!Grace given to fulfil the call7Yet, at the same time, each one of us is given the particular grace we need to fulfil our calling, and it is Christ Himself who imparts this grace to us.8This is why we can understand, from what was written years ago, that when He ascended back to heaven He led a procession of those who had formerly been captives and gave gifts to those who were to continue the work of His Kingdom here on earth.9We need to understand that before He ascended to heaven, Christ first descended to where the souls were kept waiting for the release He alone could give.10Yes, He who descended there to free them is the same Lord who ascended to the highest place in heaven, so that the whole universe could be filled with His glory!God's order in His body11This same Lord Jesus appointed some of those who belonged to Him to be apostles, others to be those through whom He would speak prophetically to His people. Some were anointed to be evangelists, others He made pastors. Still others He made teachers.12-13All these various ministries have a common purpose. They are to prepare God's people to serve Him, happily doing the works God prepared for them. This is what will enable the body of Christ to be built up in the way He desires, and will bring people into unity in their faith, sharing in a common knowledge and experience of God's Son. Having servant hearts shows that people are mature in their life in Christ and that they are able to enjoy everything God has made available to us in Him, the fullness of His life that He came to impart.14Those who are mature in this way will no longer be like immature toddlers easily swayed and pulled this way and that. They will not be like corks bobbing about on the sea, or like falling leaves that are at the mercy of any wind that blows them around. Immature people are like that because they do not have a grasp of the truth of God's Word. So they are easily swayed by the latest fashion in 'spiritual' teaching. They are deceived by those who want to manipulate and use them and their money for their own ends.15The mature are not like that. They speak the truth to others out of love for them and, therefore, in a loving way. They are believers who keep growing in their faith, becoming more and more like Christ who is the Head of the body to which they belong.16From Him, the Head, the whole body is to draw together in unity. Every part is to fulfil its function in love, for the health of the whole body. And this is accomplished by each fulfilling the work Christ has appointed for him or her.

Father, thank You for making me a member of the Body of Christ. Help me to love Your Church as You love her. Teach me to serve with humility, walk in the authority of Jesus, be led by the Holy Spirit, and lay down my life for my brothers and sisters. Build us together into a dwelling place for Your presence and make us a powerful witness of Your Kingdom until Christ returns. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Previous Next