Gifts for the Team
Equipped to grow up together
Think of your favourite sports team. Does everyone play the same position? Of course not!
Paul explains that to EACH of us, grace has been given as Christ apportioned it. After He rose and DESCENDED, then ASCENDED far above the heavens, Jesus gave GIFTS to His church: apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. These are not for personal status — they are ministry tools for equipping every single believer to do the work of the Lord, building up the body of Christ, UNTIL we all reach unity in the faith and become MATURE, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ!
Paul warns: we must no longer be like infants, tossed back and forth by every wave of new ideas, blown about by clever and deceitful teaching. Instead, speaking the TRUTH in LOVE, we grow up, becoming in every way the mature body of Christ — the whole body joined and held together, each part doing its work, growing and building itself up in love.
Every believer — including you — has a position on this team!
✨ Memory verse
“So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip his people for works of service.”Ephesians 4:11-12 (NIV)
Tap the words in the right order:
🎉 You did it!
Type the verse from memory:
🎵 Sing along: A Song for Gifts for the Team
❓ Quiz time!
🖍️ Printables
👨👩👧 Parent & teacher guide
Big idea: the fivefold ministry gifts exist for equipping the whole church toward every-member maturity, not for elevating a few leaders. The "speaking truth in love" formula (4:15) is the antidote to two errors: truth without love (harsh, driving people away) and love without truth (warm but never calling sin sin).
Conversation starters: (1) Every believer has a "position on the team" — what gifts has God given YOU for serving others? (2) What does it look like when truth is spoken without love? And love without truth? (3) Why does maturity require growing together, not just alone?
Pray together for your church's ministry, and for growth toward maturity as a family.