Ephesians 4:11-14 And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ: That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive;

My ministry is listed in verse 11. For some time I have been pondering the length of service and I discovered here that it does not end until we are all perfected. I do not look at this awareness as a hindrance to retirement. We only get to retire from earthly work. In that sense I have been retired for ten years.

As long as there is a new believer, my work continues. Much of what I do is repetitive. It is the same old thing, over and over again, year after year. It falls on young ears now. The older and more mature members have moved on into their own ministries. We stay in touch and rather than taking my ministry to heart, they adapt my part into a thing which can be used in their own personal ministry.

I know that God performs the work, even more so in my ministry than some of the others. What is common in all those ministries is the point of entry into all ministries listed no matter the ministry.

There are two elements which remain unchanged in all of the ministries listed in verse 11.

Truth and love.