Dr. Armie Jesalva's Philosophy of Ministry

WHAT I BELIEVE ABOUT THE MINISTRY
By: DR. ARMIE F. JESALVA

Acts 2: 41 – 47
The Ministry is my life touching another life for the sake of the gospel.

* Every Christian is always on duty:

- To win souls.
- To follow them up for baptism and added to the church membership.
- Members must be steadfast – in the apostle’s doctrine.
- They ought to be given opportunity to fellowship and pray with other Christians.
- They ought to be in one accord and to strengthen one another.

I praise God for the people that are added to our ministry and the opportunities to expand our outreach or enlarge our spiritual influence. We ought to discover in our ministry the places where we can have more harvest of souls.

I have been pastor of Bible Baptist Church, Cebu City for 40 years, and the more I stay, the more I see the harvest field further away that I must conquer. Orison Marden said, “Go as far as you can and when you get there you can see further.”

When Bob Hughes came to Cebu City in 1957 there were already Southern Baptists and Canadian Baptists. There were other groups but he took it upon himself the responsibility to capture all of Cebu City.

He worked with other Baptists. He partnered with them. He had good fellowship with them. He prayed with them. He was part of the team. He knew that teamwork divides the effort but multiplies the effect. But his motivation was to reach Cebu City for Christ. He stood one day on Beverly Hills, looked over Cebu City with tears in his eyes and said “LORD, HELP ME CAPTURE CEBU CITY. Give me 1,000,000 Bibles to give to the people.” God gave him one and a half million.

I am glad to have a little part in that journey of faith that Bob Hughes initiated many years back. But I believe that if I have to strengthen my ministry and do more to pursue what God has began, I believe three things about the ministry.

I. The Ministry Is A Marathon. It is not a 100 meter dash thing. It is a long distance race.
You cannot have a strong, growing church if you stay in one place for five or ten years. It takes more than desire or even dedication. – It takes insight, it takes patience, it takes vision, it takes strong faith, and it takes skill to attain it.

Dr. Don Tackett of the Rawlings Foundation said, “Our ministry is suffering because there is no continuity.” I Cor. 3:6 “I have planted, Apollos watered but God gave the increase.” The ministry is a marathon.

a) It is a marathon of work. Not Proselyting but working. II Tim 2:3 “Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ.” From the time of watering new believers in discipleship it takes a lot of hard work.
- Memorizing verses
- Daily in the word
- Preaching messages intended to make them grow and be involved in missions.
- Teaching them ways to live the Christian life. It takes hard work, consistent hard work, courageous hard work, and continuous hard work.

Dr. Jack Hyles pastored First Baptist Church in Hammond, Indiana for over 50 years and had a big day of over 26,000 in Sunday School, the biggest Sunday School in the world. He is our example of hard work.

Dr. Jerry Falwell had a high day of 18,000 in Sunday School at Thomas Road Baptist Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. He has been pastor of the church for 49 years. Just imagine how hard he worked.

Dr. Lee Roberson built the Highland Park Baptist Church in Chattanooga, Tennessee for 47 years through – a marathon of soulwinning, - a marathon of teaching, - a marathon of discipleship. A hireling will not do that. A hireling will keep changing flocks but the true shepherd does not.

The ministry is not a 100-meter dash. It is a 10,000 – meter run. It takes a long time to accomplish something big for Jesus Christ. You’ve to stay on the road a long time. It is a marathon of work.

b) It is a marathon of stay. When you pastor a church or be a missionary, you orchestrate your work with a single-minded attitude.
- Of building up lives
- Building up standards
- Equipping them
- Organizing your Sunday School Department .
- And training believers.
Eph. 4:11- 12 “And he gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelist, and some pastors and teachers. For the perfecting of saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ.”

You must have a long term ministry. Nobody has done anything meaningful for the Lord by staying in one place for two years. The ministry is a marathon of stay. You stay in the will of God. You stay in the purpose of God, you stay focused. Once you establish the fact that God has called you in a specific area, then, stay there. Claim that area for Christ. The ministry is a marathon.

II. The Ministry is Multitudes. Matt 4:25 “And there followed him great multitudes of people from Galilee, and from Decapolis and from Jerusalem, and from Judea, and from beyond Jordan.” Multitude of people was coming from all directions. They were coming from the north, from the south, from the east, and from the west. Great crowds were coming. Huge crowds, enormous crowds. People were attracted to his ministry that one time the Bible says in Luke 8:42 “. . . the people thronged Him”.

It does not matter if they have to travel a great distance; people came because they were attracted to the ministry of the Lord Jesus. In Matt. 14:21 Jesus fed 5000 men and if you count the women and children, there may have been probably more than 15,000 people attending that service. That was many years back when transportation was slow and few. And remember, the church of Jesus Christ is still attracting crowds of people today.
- You don’t need to use gimmicks to attract people.
- You don’t need to compromise your convictions of music to gather them.
- In fact, you don’t need to have a beautiful building to make them come.

How can we attract people to the ministry?

1. We should love unbelievers. When Bro. Gerry Nable of Bethany Baptist, Makati was just a few years into the pastorate, he asked what would be my advice for him in the ministry. I said “love the people.” Matthew 9:36 “But when he saw the multitudes, he was moved with compassion on them because they fainted and were scattered abroad as sheep having no shepherd.”
Jesus loved lost people and he spent some time with them. Jesus enjoyed being with people who are seeking the truth far more than with religious leaders who oppose the truth. He was called “a friend of sinners”. People could feel his love for them.

Even little children enjoyed being around Him. We should love unbelievers. They are your potential members.

This is probably the most overlooked key to a growing church. Without compassion, we will never be willing to make the sacrifice necessary to reach people. The ministry is multitude. If we don’t love people nothing else matters. This is why, as church members, our love should be focused towards visitors and first timers not just towards each other. You’ll never attract unbelievers if you don’t love them. Jesus loved unbelievers.

How can we show our love for unbelievers?
a). We should have an atmosphere of acceptance. While plants need to have the right climate to grow, it's the same way with our ministry. The right climate for ministry growth is an atmosphere of love and acceptance. Dr. Rick Warren said, “Growing ministries are loving ministries and loving ministries are growing ministries. This seems very simple but many times we overlook it. If your ministry is going to grow, have an atmosphere of acceptance. If a church does not rescue sinners, that church must be rescued.

b) Be nice when people come. Smile and be friendly. Make them feel welcome. Long before the pastor stands to preach, the people are already deciding whether they’ll come back or not depending on how you welcome them. Be nice when people come.

c) The pastor must be loving. If you are the pastor, you set the tone and atmosphere on the congregation. I have visited many churches and the main reason the church is not growing is because the love of the pastor is lacking in the atmosphere. The pastor hides in his office.

d) Remember names. It shows you are interested in people. Nothing sounds sweeter to the second- time visitor than hearing the use of his name. You say, but I don’t have the gift of remembering names. Well, just work at it.

e) Greet people personally before the services. You can warm up the crowd by meeting as many people as you can before the Sunday school or services. Get out among the crowd and talk to people and encourage them.

f) Touch people. How? Give them a look, a word, a smile or a pat on the back. There’s a lot of lonely people in the world. A pat on the back may be the only thing that will make a difference in their lives.

g) Accept people without approving them. As Christians we are called to accept and love unbelievers without approving their sinful lifestyles.
- Think of the Samaritan woman at the well of Sychar. Jesus accepted her without approving of her licentious lifestyle.
- Think of Zachaeus. Jesus dined with him without approving his dishonesty.
- Think of the woman who was caught in the very act of adultery. Jesus defended her dignity without approving her immorality.

h). We should meet people needs. – Physical needs, - relational needs of those rejected by parents, - spiritual needs, - financial needs

Our Lord would open a door for evangelizing a person’s by meeting a felt need. They’ll pay attention to the good news of salvation if you discover the key to his heart.
- Medical & Dental Evangelism
- Feeding Program in very depressed areas.

Sometimes I would drive around Cebu City and find myself behind the wheels praying, Lord, there are so many people. They are potential members of my church, potential missionaries or potential Bible students that can be trained and equipped to carry the gospel of Jesus Christ. How can I reach them for you?” Many times we think that the answer to every need is a sermon or a verse of scripture. It is meeting people needs. James 2:14–17. Read.

I never believed in advertising our school in the newspapers. If parents decide to enroll their children in Bob Hughes Christian Academy or in Bible Baptist College, they’ll do so when they see one of our graduates. Changed lives are our greatest advertisements. The ministry should meet people needs. The ministry is multitudes...

III. The Ministry is Missions. Missions is reaching our world for Jesus Christ. This is our ultimate goal. The health of the church is measured not by its seating capacity but by its sending capacity.

How many missionaries have you sent out from your church? Jesus said, “As my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.” Acts 13:3 “And when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” V. 5 “… and they preached the word of God.” How many missionaries have you sent out?

How many missionaries do you support locally and globally? The way we answer this question depends upon how strong is our missions program.

A weak missions program cannot help propagate the gospel of Jesus Christ. Eph. 5:21. It cannot fulfill the great commission. The ministry is missions.

If you have to start supporting missionaries in small amounts don’t be ashamed of it. The journey of a thousand miles starts with the first step. The devil tries to put all kinds of roadblocks to discourage you in your missions outreach. But if you determine that with God’s help you will obey God’s command, the Lord will strengthen your faith and bless your work.

THE MINISTRY IS A MARATHON
THE MINISTRY IS A MULTITUDES OF PEOPLE
THE MINISTRY IS MISSIONS

This is what I believe about the ministry.