This is a saying "Evil reigns because good men keep quiet." Many a times, misunderstandings arise and feelings turn sour because someone who knows the answer chooses to keep silent when s/he could have cleared the air. So this is one of those times I will choose to speak up, for the sake of the unity and peace of my brothers and sisters. :)
Jesus' name is the Name above all Names, hallelujah! That leaves us nothing to doubt about it.
Now, with regard to names of ministries in our Christian circles, my church pastor initially felt reluctant to place his name to his own ministry as his calling is to promote the name of Jesus, not his own name. But in the beginning of this year, he felt the Lord's prompting to broadcast his sermons in the USA, because America needs to hear the gospel of grace afresh.
From what I learnt, the Christian ministries in the USA have a practice of being named after the leading ministers. Exactly why they have this practice I do not know, but I guess it could be for the sake of differentiation, as one of our sisters said in her post. So, in order for my pastor to be identified for his sermon broadcasts, as well as other materials such as books and CDs, he was advised to have his own name to his ministry, so that people can identify who the minister is, and recognise the anointing of the Holy Spirit on his ministry. I believe he was well aware of the risk of receiving some criticisms from his peers, but for the sake of the gospel to be broadcast, he decided to follow the main practice of using ministry names in the USA.
I hope that clears the air for ministry names, at least for my church pastor's. :)
Now, is there any example or pattern we find in the New Testament? I would say we can find some semblance of it, but not explicitly stated as "So-and-so's ministry", etc. For example, in Acts 18:24-28, my NKJV Study Bible has a subheading called "Ministry of Apollos", for the passage describes a certain Jew named Apollos, an eloquent man and mighty in the Scriptures. He taught accurately the things of the Lord, though he knew only the baptism of John.
Later, we learnt that Aquila and Priscilla heard Apollo, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately. As a result, he was able to greatly help those who had believed through grace, and even refuted the Jews publicly, showing from the Scriptures that Jesus is the Christ.
Now, we may safely assume that Apollo didn't go around promoting his own ministry, for he was teaching the things of the Lord. But I believe one reason Aquila and Priscilla were able to locate him is because they must have heard about Apollo's ministry through word of mouth. They must have been able to differentiate his ministry from various other evangelists well enough to know that he knew only the baptism of John. Hence, they were able to correct him and explain to him the way of God more accurately. (Acts 18:26)
Another example of some semblance to ministry names is the way the apostles open up their epistles to the churches - they would identify themselves, as courtesy or formal greeting perhaps, as "Paul, a bondservant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle..." (Romans 1:1), for example. Was Paul boasting of his gift or calling? No, I believe he was only being honest about his own calling from the Lord, and he wrote that for the benefit of the readers, in order for them to see and understand that he was preaching the gospel not out of his own agenda, but because he had been anointed and commissioned by our Lord Jesus Himself. :)
Paul also referred to the gospel of grace that the Lord had entrusted to him as "my gospel". (Romans 16:25) Would that be carrying things too far, for after all, the gospel came from the ascended Christ in heaven, not from man? But nay, when we understand where Paul was coming from, his background in the book of Acts and Galatians, we would understand why Paul called the gospel his gospel. Paul explained that "God shows personal favouritism to no man - for those who seemed to be something added nothing to me. But on the contrary, when they saw that the gospel for the uncircumcised had been committed to me, as the gospel for the circumcised was to Peter (for He who worked effectively in Peter for the apostleship to the circumcised also worked effectively in me toward the Gentiles), and when James, Cephas and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that had been given to me, they gave me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship, that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised." (Galatians 2:7-9)
Paul said that the Jews who were initially opposed to his ministry "perceived the grace" that had been given to him. So back in those days, people also based their receptivity towards the gospel by asking the question: "Who is the one preaching the gospel? Are they called by the Lord? Do they genuinely have the grace to preach the gospel or are they pretending to be ministers?" So, I believe with all of my heart that the same applies today - that the name of the ministries serve this function - for other people to see and recognise the anointing the Lord has placed on the ministers based on their different giftings and callings. :)
Thanks sister Sandy for posting this thought-provoking question, thus paving the way for the body of Christ to come to a place of better understanding of why churches and ministries function the way they do. May the name of our Lord Jesus Christ continue to be glorified as we seek to be united as one Body, dwelling in peace and mutual understanding. :)
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I thank the Lord that we have approached this matter in good spirit and candour. This may well be a refining process for us all, "as iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend" (Proverbs 27:17) God bless you, sister Sandy. :)
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A sister in Christ shared with me something very insightful... I just have to share with everyone here for our learning. :)
"my take is that you can call your ministry any name in the world
from The Greatest God on Earth ministry to Lim Tua Tow ministry
its not the name but in the fruits of the ministry
are people's lives transformed?
is the minister's life a glorious example of the message he preaches?
is Jesus central place in that ministry?
i think eventually how a ministry is name is irrelevant
as long as it can be held up as a shining example of testimony of God's goodness and grace in that ministry
that is the most important =))"
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Just a final thought: Regardless of the various ministries and denominations we have in the body of Christ today, God does not see our differences and divisions, because we are the bride of Christ - we are His body. When God looks down on earth, He sees only three groups of people - Jews, Greeks (or Gentiles) and the church of God (not denominations or ministries). Paul wrote: "Give no offense, either to the Jews or to the Greeks or to the church of God" (1 Corinthians 10:32) And for all our shortcomings, He still sees us as His glorious bride, "all fair and without spot" (Song of Songs 4:7) because of what Christ has done at the cross. :)
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Amen, sister. "Where sin abounded, grace abounded much more." (Romans 5:20) Hallelujah! God bless you, sister. :)