Every believer can and should be a spiritual parent.

A spiritual parent (SP) is one who has been trained how to share their faith with others and then to nurture that “new baby” to become a reproducing disciple of Jesus Christ. Every trained and commissioned SP will make a commitment to pray for, win and nurture at least two people every year.

 

Few may realize that the genius strategy of the world’s largest church is really very simple. Each cell group is to grow annually by an average of just two people. This is a very manageable goal, which produces amazing growth.

 

Larry Kreider said in his book, The Cry for Spiritual Fathers and Mothers: “Cell ministry without the dynamic of spiritual fathering and mothering [spiritual parents] will quickly become a dead church program.” For too long, the laity have been relegated to the spectator stands and made to watch as the clergy have done the work of the ministry. Have we been wrong!

 

The Apostle Paul reminds us in his second letter to the church at Corinth that it was God Himself, who gave everyone a ministry and committed to everyone a message. Therefore every believer has the “ministry of reconciliation”. According to Ephesians 4:11-16, it is the saints who must do the work of the ministry, not the pastor.

 

The Great Commission is such a mammoth task that God knew it could not be fulfilled unless every believer was mobilized to do the ministry of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5:18-20). You might say that the myth which says the New Testament does not give the church any instructions on how to organize the church is DEAD WRONG!

 

It would be totally correct to say that 2 Corinthians 5:18-20 is a job description for every believer. Then in Ephesians 4:11-16 we see a job description for every person gifted in one or more of the five-fold ministries. Pastor, what is our job description? It is to equip the saints FOR the work of ministry.