Abstract :
When Jesus Christ came into this world, He built His Church. This Body of Christ, the church, was meant to be composed of all born-again people from any race or tribe. It is also represented in localities by the local church of Jesus Christ. The church was to have an upward purpose of worshipping and glorifying God, an inward purpose of teaching, discipline, and ensuring the unity of the body’s members, and an outward purpose of reaching the unsaved world for Jesus Christ. To achieve this three-fold purpose of the church, Jesus Christ ordained leaders for His church. These included apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, teachers for the universal church, and pastors, deacons, and deaconesses for the local churches. In addition, He gave many other gifts of the spirit to various members of the church. The purpose of these gifts was that the body of Christ would be equipped and united for the purpose for which it was established. These leaders, however, face daunting challenges in their role of equipping the saints of Jesus. The world, economic pressures, and pressure from cults and non-Christian religions and some of the forces that the church leader has to reckon with in this modern time. By relying on the word of God and the spirit of God, however, the church leader should be able to overcome the challenges confronting his or her ministry.
Keywords :
New Testament Christianity; Missionary Leaders; Pentecostal; Theology; Evangelization; CrusadeReferences :
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