then the whole body of them

Been thinking about churches recently as I ponder actions to serve the greater whole that will negatively affect smaller portions of that whole. Sometimes serving the people in a church as a singular "church" may look like we're not serving the people as individuals, and it's a tricky line to walk. I think believers need to think differently about their service to a church. Believers think their ministries exist so that they can exercise their gifts and skills and talents. But they have that all wrong. Their gifts and skills and talents exist so that they can serve God by serving others.

I better understand now why the NT uses so many oneanothers throughout the epistles. It's because it's too easy for us as individuals to focus only on our ministry at the expense of other areas of the church. That's why during budget season individual ministries fight for more money for their own work not caring that budgets are zero-sum games, and that every dollar added to their budget must de facto come at the expense of another ministry that needs that every dollar. That's why ministries are often territorial about their reserved rooms, not caring that a situation might arise where moving a ministry for just one night is not the end of the world.

I also better understand now why the herding of sheep analogy is used for the steering of a flock. But for the sake of holding my tongue, I won't point out the obvious shortcomings of those individual sheep who don't see the larger flock beyond their selfish needs. Whoops. There goes the holding of the tongue.