A Biblical Definition for Ministry

Our reading of the Pauline Letters, with their constant focus on the ethical transformation of communities, leads to a reaffirmation of the definition of ministry offered in the opening chapter: ministry is participation in God’s work of transforming the community of faith until it is “blameless” at the coming of Christ. This definition assumes a corporate narrative in which the community is unfinished business, standing between its beginning at baptism and its completion at the end. Those who are conformed to the image of the crucified one in selflessness and devotion to others will be transformed into the image of the risen one. The community that has shared the fate of Jesus, dying to its own self-interests, is empowered by God to do God’s will. Thus Paul’s pastoral ambition, as he states consistently in his letters is community formation. Although ministry is concerned with the troubled individual, as the contemporary literature on pastoral care makes abundantly clear, the primary focus for Paul’s ministry is the formation of communities that will be his boast at the end (Rom. 15.:15-16; 2 Cor. 1:12-14; Phil. 2:16; 1 Thess. 2:19).  

Pastoral Ministry According to Paul; James W. Thompson, p. 150