The local church is people who receive the ministry of the Word. The reception of the Word is an act of faith by God’s people and this happens when they come under the faithful proclamation of God’s Word. They claim his Word as their own and then do all they can to live it out.

The receiving church would not be in competition with any other church in terms of size or budget. It has no need to envy another church or ministry in any way. The receiving church doesn’t measure itself by the latest trends nor does it need to have slick techniques and marketing strategies in order to grow. It grows, as the early church grew, when people who receive the Word are helped to grow in faith and faithfulness, and they experience in themselves what it is to give God more glory. The church should not labor to grow numerically. It must first seek to grow spiritually. It is God who gives the increase in spiritual maturity, then it is God who adds the numbers.

The receiving church doesn’t create a culture of excitement or build on emotions, but our hearts are filled, and our joy overflows in God and for no other reason. We gather to hear God’s Word and receive what he has to say to us directly by means of those who faithfully teach or by him who preaches. We do not stir people so they will be excited. We help them connect with God and the excitement takes care of itself.

The pastor in the receiving church prays for his people. The pastor loves his people. The pastor knows his sheep and tends them. The pastor doesn’t own the sheep and he is careful to remember that they belong to God, — but he provides for them and he is accountable to the Lord of the sheep to give them what they need. When the Word is received by God’s people, they hear and receive the Word of God into their lives with joy, sometimes with tears, but always with gratitude.

A received ministry sets people free to serve as God has called them. They are able to use their imaginations, plus prayer, guided by the Spirit who lives in them, and they serve as they are led out of their love for God and in obedience to the Word. They do not sow their faith just so that the church will grow. They labor diligently and at great cost, so that God may be more glorious.

The received ministry results in spiritual growth and real joy within God’s people. The chief and ultimate purpose of this ministry is to bring glory to God. The result is that we might become the people God wants us to be. The receiving church brings people to spiritual maturity so they can know more of God, so that he will receive from us more praise and honor and glory.