A significant downside to living in an affluent country with endless organizations, service opportunities, and events is that professing believers can begin to grow discontent with the ministry of the ordinary means of grace in the context of Lord's Day worship in a local church. They then begin to grow discontent with serving those in the same body of believers as needs arise. When this begins to happen, individuals start to look for programatic ministries that makes them feel useful in their Christian lives. God has called pastors to minister His word, prayer, the sacraments, and discipline for the loving upbuilding and equipping of the saints (Eph. 4:1–16). He has not called them to structure the life of the church in such a way as to programitize Christian living. In fact, that sort of mindset is entirely absent from the pages of the New Testament. Christian living in the New Testament epistles is entirely Spirit-wrought and is organic in nature.  

In the New Testament, we discover a myriad of "one another" commands. These are calls for believers to live in loving community with one another, caring for the needs of one another, and collectively living out organic Christian lives among one another. For instance, the apostle Paul charged Christians to "bear with the failings of the weak" (Rom. 15:1), to "be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another" (Rom. 12:10), to "lay something aside, on the first day of the week, as we may prosper" (1 Cor. 16:1), to "serve one another through love" (Gal. 5:13), to "bear one another's burdens" (Gal. 6:2), to "share all good things with the one who teaches" (Gal. 6:6), to "do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith" (Gal. 6:10), to "bear with one another in love, with all lowliness and gentleness, with long-suffering" (Eph. 4:2), to "be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you" (Eph. 4:32), to "let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in our hearts to the Lord." (Col. 3:16), to "increase and abound in love to one another and to all" (1 Thess. 3:12), to "exhort one another daily, while it is called 'Today,' lest any be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin" (Heb. 3:13), to "consider one another in order to stir up love and good works" (Heb. 10:24), to "obey those who rule over you, and be submissive, for they watch out for your souls, as those who must give account" (Heb. 13:7), to "visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world" (James 1:27), to "confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you may be healed" (James 5:16), to "love one another fervently with a pure heart" (1 Peter 1:22), to "have compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous" (1 Pet. 3:8), to "be hospitable to one another without grumbling" (1 Peter 4:9), to "minister to one another, as each one has received a gift" (1 Peter 4:10), and to "love one another" (1 John 3:11, 23; 4:7, 11, 12; 2 John 1:5). These are merely a few of the hundreds of apostolic imperatives that God has given to the members of His church.

This does not mean that local churches cannot have programs or ministries that are supplimental to the ordinary means of grace. Rather, those ministries should develop naturally as the body of believers lives together organically in love. Many churches have Sunday school, men's ministry, women's ministries, youth ministry, and small groups. Inasmuch as these ministries flow from the organic life of the congregation, they can be helpful in fostering the "one another" nature of Christian living in the church. Looking without, if a member of a local church is carrying on a ministry to the homeless in the community, to a pregnancy center, or to some other mercy ministry, it would be altogether appropriate for the deacons of the church to come alongside that believer is helping to steward this ministry and encourage those in the church to be involved. Likewise, ministry to the aging in assistant living homes or hursing homes can be an exceedingly beneficial service to those who are among the most neglected. That being said, these supplimental ministries should never be the heartbeat of a local church; rather, it should be in the ministry of the means of grace, prayer, the sacraments, and discipline in the context of the worshipping assembly.

All of the "one another" commands in the New Testament require prayerful and purposeful pursuit. They involve personal commitment, sacrifice, and diligence. If you are a member of a congregation that is faithful to the sound preaching of the Gospel, the right administration of the sacraments, prayer, and the faithful practice of church discipline, you have every reason to be thankful and to give yourself diligently to developing your Christian life. God has appointed the means of grace for the growth of His people. These means of grace will not, in and of themselves, live the Christian life for us. We must be diligent to "make our calling and election sure" by working out what God is working in (Phil 2:12; 2 Pet. 1:10). We must not grow weary in well doing. We must resist the urge to look to either practices or programs, procedures and policies, to live the Christian life for us or to do the work of ministry for us. Our God has given us the enormous privilege and responsibility of diligently living out, on a daily basis, the spiritual life that He has given to us in Christ.