Our Story
“And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.” (Ephesians 4:11-16)
This Scripture has been the biblical foundation of our approach to pastoral ministry and counseling training in the church for the past 26 years.
Over the years we have encountered numerous, faithful churches who each want to provide care and counseling to their members. We regularly meet pastors who want to fulfill Ephesians 4 when it comes to equipping their churches in the art of speaking the truth in love (counseling). They would love for their members to be equipped to care for and counsel one another. But they’re not sure what to do or where to start. The Center for Church Equipping arose from the desire to help churches with what to do and where to start.
“The Mended Net”
The idea behind the mark: Paul's word for “equip the saints” is katartizō — the same word used in Matthew 4:21 for mending nets.
The highlighted diamonds are the restored section: what was a weakness is now knotted back into strength, make the entire net stronger for the mending.
A net exists to gather; it is repaired/strengthened so it can be used again. In the same way, the net represents strengthening the counseling practice in the local church.
STRENGTHENED FOR THE WORK