clcgh.org Building The Capacity Of Christian Leaders, Equipping The Saints For The Work Of Ministry, Redirecting Straying Christians To The Sound Knowledge Of Christ
By James Quansah, Pastor
THERE IS one particular house which a man of God is called to build. It is not that he MAY build it; he MUST build it. A pastor is called to build spiritual houses. That is the main reason he is in ministry.
When the Lord Jesus said that He would build His church (Matthew 16: 18), He meant that He would work through His servants to develop and perfect the people who would believe in His name into spiritual people. The bodies of the saints are the Lord’s temple. The Spirit of Christ dwells in the hearts of the disciples (1 Corinthians 3: 16).
Christians are a type of house which the Lord Jesus promised to build for His dwelling. Consequently, Peter, the apostle, said: “You yourselves like living stones are BEING BUILT UP AS A SPIRITUAL HOUSE, to be holy priesthood…” (1 Peter 2: 5). This teaches us that every believer in Christ is being made or shaped as a spiritual house. We are being perfected and developed into the image of Christ.
The process of a Christian’s spiritual development starts from the day he is born by the Spirit (born again or regenerated). He is mostly built up by being fed with the pure Word of God from his babyhood stage, childhood stage to the manhood (mature or spiritual) stage. This is God’s plan for His children. This should be every genuine minister’s primary concern – getting Christians to grow up spiritually.
Every divinely appointed minister knows that he is Christ’s co-worker to build spiritual houses for the Lord. Of all the buildings a pastor may build, the spiritual house is the most important one. That was Paul’s vision in ministry (Colossians 1: 28).
A church building or pastor’s house is but an earthly thing; it will not be taken to heaven for eternity but be destroyed. Knowing these things, therefore, we should stop being proud of owning artistic earthly houses. Rather, we must pay greater attention to building spiritual houses for God which are able to endure to eternity.
James Quansah is the Executive Director of Christ-Conscious Leadership Centre (CLC) and lead Pastor of End-Time Christ’s Commissioners (ECC), Kumasi, Ghana. James is also a journalist by profession. He is married with four children.
