God has appointed various ministries and gifts for the Church. All of them are important or he would not have mentioned each one. The Apostle Paul writes:
Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. And God has placed in the church first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance, and of different kinds of tongues. (1 Corinthians 12:27-28 NIV)
We might say that the apostles and prophets are on the frontline of ministry, but there may be another way of looking at a ministry in the Church. Let us look at what has been called the Ministry of Helps.
Let us say a church visitor comes to the worship service, is bowed down, and declares that they desperately need Jesus. Does a church greeter tell the visitor to wait until after the sermon and the pastor will pray for new converts? What about a crippled person who can barely walk? Does the greeter say that all the prayers for the sick will be at the end of the service?
In one case, it was reported that a visitor could barely lift their arm. When the usher helped this person to a seat, the person said that they could suddenly lift their arm. They felt power shoot through their arm when the usher touched it.
This was a supernatural occurrence. Is the gift of helps a supernatural gift? It was ordained by God who is a supernatural God.
We are reminded that signs and wonders will follow all believers:
And these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast out demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them; they will lay their hands on the sick, and they will recover.” (Mark 16:17-18)
Pastors need all the help that they can get. God has called us all to the helps ministry. We need to train people for the helps ministry. We need to honor them and honor their ministry.
We want people who help, all people, to be overflowing in the Holy Spirit. We remember when Moses called the seventy elders to the test meeting:
A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” And Joshua son of Nun, the assistant of Moses, one of his chosen men, said, “My lord Moses, stop them!” But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit on them!” (Numbers 11:27-29)
Preaching the Lectionary 