By John Cole

St Mark’s account of Jesus’ baptism could hardly be shorter: yet it reveals a great deal. Spend five minutes individually trying to answer these questions:

1. St Mark clearly sees this event as a point of departure: ‘Jesus came from Nazareth etc’. Jesus’ baptism marks a beginning - of what?

2. The baptism took place - and then what? What is significant about ‘the Spirit coming down on him like a dove’?

3. The voice from heaven confirms that Jesus is someone special - for what?

4. ‘At once’ - straight after the high point of ‘seeing heaven opened . . etc’ comes testing. It is a fact of life: after any deeply moving religious experience, expect temptation! Why is it necessary? What can it achieve?

5. Jesus was baptised and so were we. Have we, during our discipleship since our baptism, had a similar experience of being * cleansed * brought up to heaven’s gate * strengthened * affirmed * commissioned * tested?

Spend five minutes in the group sharing your thoughts. Do you agree with this conclusion?

Each one of us has been baptised; therefore each one of us has been called to ministry.

Each group should be allocated one of three
passages from St Paul’s letters (click here for details).

Read the passage and spend a few minutes discussing whether ‘ministry’ is significantly different now from when St Paul was writing.

Now try listing on large sheets of paper:

a) All the kinds of ministry referred to or hinted at in your group’s passage from St Paul:

b) All the different ways group members are already engaged in ministry as individuals.

Display the results from the different groups so that everyone can read them while taking a break for refreshments.

This part of the exercise needs a leader and a ‘scribe’. An OHP slide should be produced divided into three columns, headed:

* ‘Pauline’ Ministries

* Church Activities

* Individual Ministries

1. In the column ‘Pauline Ministries’ participants help the scribe to produce a summary list from those identified earlier by the groups.

2. In the column ‘Church Activities’. Iist all the various things that happen in your local church, perhaps by using some of the results of the exercises suggested earlier (God's Priorities?) in Chapter Two. Where a ‘church activity’ clearly echoes something on the ‘Pauline’ list, write it alongside and mark the connection. Highlight any gaps where a ‘Pauline’ ministry appears to be unfulfilled.

3. In the column ‘Individual Ministries’, summarise the lists produced earlier in the groups. Again match these alongside comparable items on the ‘Pauline’ list. Highlight where this happens outside the context of the corporate life of the local church.

Is this the ‘guerrilla’ role for Christians today?

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