MINISTERING TO THE WHOLE PERSON

May the God of peace himself sanctify you wholly; and may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ (1 Thessalonians 5:23).

At my home church, the sign over the main entrance to the gymnasium reads, "FAMILY LIFE CENTER, Ministering to the WHOLE person."  One of the foundational beliefs of my church is that a person is not just a spirit, though he is a spiritual being. That is what it means to be created in the image of God.  Jesus also spoke of our spiritual nature when quoted from Psalms 82:6 which speaks of humans as being gods (See John 10:34).  Certainly, the ministry of the Church of Christ has to be a ministry that feeds the spiritual nature of a person.

A person is a body as well.  The genetic code of each person is a little different, perhaps by degrees of minutia, but still making each of us different and unique.  Medical science would not be possible if there were huge differences in people's physical make up, so while being more alike than we are different there are still enough differences to make each of us unique as a snowflake--and we are all a little "flaky" at times.  The body is a temporary dwelling place of the spirit/soul until its death.  The stewardship of the body is essential, enabling us to serve the Lord as best as we can as long as we can.

The soul is the result of spirit and body coming together.  The basic outline of this is Genesis 2:7 which says that the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into him the breath of life and man became a living soul.  The soul is the image of God expressed within the framework of the body's genetic code.

So, what do we do as a church to minister to the whole person?  First and foremost, we worship our God, and the Lord Jesus Christ.  We teach the word of the Spirit, the Bible, to nourish and strengthen our spirits. We emphasize Christian fellowship because God intends for us to be social--we need "Jesus with skin on" for mutual support as we live in this.  We work together, doing acts of service.  We pray together.  We have a community vollyball league in the gym opening opportunities for relational evangelism. 

At my church, we want our people to do well in every way.  We want them to be spiritually healthy, physically healthy, financially healthy, and have emotional/social health.  One of the signs of the presence of the Kingdom of God is wholeness.  My church can do better in ministry to the whole person--we are not there yet.  With God's help, we will do better, that is our goal.

Grace&Peace,
Tom