And when he had landed at Caesarea, and gone up and greeted the church, he went down to Antioch. After he had spent some time there, he departed and went over the region of Galatia and Phrygia in order, strengthening all the disciples. Acts 18:22-23

Paul was an Apostle, a missionary, and a churchman.

Being an Apostle placed him in a small elite group. There were only a few Apostles and there haven’t been any in around 2,000 years. Thank You, Lord, for the Apostles.

Being a missionary is also a limited membership circle. God calls some people to take the gospel outside of their own ethnic, social, or geographic area. These are specially gifted Christians. Thank You, Lord, for missionaries.

And Paul was a churchman.

He didn’t go out as a missionary on a personal adventure. He was sent out to be a missionary by a church in Antioch.
His missionary activities were church-planting endeavors. He didn’t just lead people to faith in Christ, but the Holy Spirit used him to organize the converts into churches.
He went back to his sending church to report on what God was doing.
He went back to the churches he planted to see how they were doing.

Paul was a churchman. All Christians are called to be churchmen, though not all Christians are churchmen. We do not need to be Apostles, missionaries, or even pastors, elders, or deacons. We just need to understand the importance of Christ’s Church and be lovingly committed to Christ’s Church.

When Christ returns, He isn’t coming for a bunch of individual lovers, but for His Bride—His Church.