Paul brought up an intriguing concept here, which is that fact that our ministry a like field with limits, or boundaries, that God assigned to each of us. Such boundary might be geographic, such as our church's boundary is the greater San Jose area which measures about 50 square miles. It's difficult for us to help anyone who lives beyond this boundary. That's why God has established many churches, because each church has its unique field that God has assigned to them.
Sometimes the boundary is drawn around cultural traditions. If you've ever visited an African American church, you'd see that the congregation always echoes with the speaker on the podium with "halleluiah amen!" Some may not feel comfortable in such churches and they rather worship with those who have similar culture. The boundary may also be in theology; in Chinese churches, the three branches of traditional academics, local churches and Charismatics seem to be doing their own things, and formed their own boundaries. These boundaries might not be a bad thing; different people need different things, and these boundaries are formed according to their different needs. Some boundaries are formed around ministries; some churches focus on missions, some on discipleship training, some on exercise of the spiritual gifts, some on ministry of Sunday school, some on spreading the Gospel, and some on social work. These are all good things; God gave us different boundaries so that we may come in contact with various groups of people and satisfy different needs.
Once we understand the concept of boundary for churches, we will cease to attack others in the body of Christ. No church can claim to be perfect, and when we unite with others in Christ we may together manifest the perfection of Christ. On the other hand, this concept will help us not to compare ourselves with others, but to just focus on doing the work that God has entrusted us, which is the ultimate definition of success. We don't need to be either too conceited or have low self-esteem about our ministry, because God has given all of us different boundaries and we simply need to be faithful towards what God has entrusted us. A brother once shared a testimony about how he wanted to serve the Lord after he was released from prison. He had burden for youth ministry, but no youth fellowship ever invited him to speak, but the prison where he was locked up before asked him to go back and minister there. Once he served there, God's spirit moved mightily in the prison, then he realized that the boundary God has set for him is not in youth ministry, but rather in prison ministry.
Brothers and sisters, do you know the boundary for ministry that God has set for you?
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