Ministry to the congregation according to the Letter to the Ephesians

Abstract

This article endeavours to extract the most important principles of congregational ministry (focusing on equipping the members) from Ephesians by means of an exegetical analysis of the Letter. The article also attempts to demonstrate the importance that principles, on which congregational ministry is grounded, should be developed by means of sound Scriptural exegesis. The article first investigates the structure of Ephesians, and then makes deductions that would be appropriate as principles of ministry. Based on these deductions, the article suggests a few guidelines for the pastoral ministry of congregations and critically compares these with the opinions of other researchers. Finally, the article concludes that it is necessary to ground principles of ministry on Scripture by means of a thorough exegesis.