Philosophy of Ministry
My philosophy of ministry has been cultivated in me from birth, but has taken great strides in the recent months and especially through coming to an institution of higher education. God has used this class, experiences with personal ministering relationships, and the entire experience of surrender to his leading to shape my view of ministry and my role in God’s kingdom.
I believe that the core responsibility of a minister of the gospel is to live according to it. A pastor’s role is often to be a representation of God to people. They are to live as an example to others of a right relationship with God and with their fellow man. As such, my first core verse would be Romans 12:2 where it says, “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.” This means that I am called to be different. I am to live above the influence of the world. The second verse that I would consider to be essential is even more important. Jesus sums up the goal of a man and his ministry in these verses found in Mark 12:30-31: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” God loves us radically and we are called to love him radically and let his love overflow out of our lives and onto the people around us. It is in sharing God’s love for people with those around us that we minister to them and our good deeds profess to our righteousness and love for the Father.
Before coming here, I had lived out these principles, but there was a lack of clarity about what exactly it meant to minister to someone and why I would do that. It seems that so many people are just trying to get more people into their church or “get people saved.” But what does that really mean? What does that do for them? I don’t think that it helps at all to “get someone saved” and then leave them to themselves. That is not even our mission: to save people. We are to make disciples of Jesus Christ. This means going beyond telling them the basics about Jesus – which is great and necessary – but there is more to the process after the initial decision. And it may not always be that we can get them to make the decision to accept Christ into their heart. In fact, I think it would be better if we didn’t so that we would avoid coercing people into something they are not well grounded in. That would be like when someone enters into a romantic relationship without forming a friendship with the other person. The temporary feeling of “being in love” or “being changed” in this case goes away after a little while and the person is left with no solid foundation. Accepting Jesus is not a choice that we can make for someone. It is something that we must inform people about and live out in their lives. But if we are no different than the ones that we are attempting to minister to, then why would our message be seen with any sort of importance? That is why Romans 12:2 tells us that we are not to conform to the molds that the world has for us. It is living out this life of total devotion to God that is a minister’s primary goal.
When we are called to disciple people, we are to take them beyond the initial step of salvation and lovingly teach them how to live in a right relationship with God. I am not a member of a religion, but of a kingdom, a family, a collection of devoted individuals. I have a relationship with God my Father, Jesus my brother, and the Wonderful Counselor. Christianity is not about rules; that is why Jesus broke it down to the two greatest commandments, which I paraphrase to say, “Love God with everything and share God’s love with the people around you.”
Before coming to MNU, I had an even more incomplete view of what being a minister meant. Through this class in particular, I have discovered some of my strengths and the different ways that God could use me in my life. I didn’t used to understand why I would minister to someone. I thought that ministry was something that you did, when now I would better define it as something you are called to be. My call to ministry did not come from a decision on my part to minister to people or to become a pastor or a youth pastor or anything else; my call to ministry came when I surrendered. I came to the point of saying, “Lord, whatever you ask me to do: I’ll do.” When I meant it with my whole being – as a conscious choice of the mind, a heartfelt surrender to a God of love, a calling out from my spirit to connect with the Spirit of the Lord, and proved with the actions of my human strength and power of choice – then God was able to find me and to use me. It was in my brokenness and humility that God was able to make me what he wanted me to be: obedient. His call on my life was not to say that I would be a senior pastor or a youth pastor or a missionary or an evangelist or a prophet, teacher, apostle, deacon, herald, etc. He called me to be obedient to his will; to lay down my life for him; to be willing not just to die for him, but to live for him. God has called me to be his servant. My ministry flows out of being who God wants me to be. What God desires, I pray that I will desire. What God wills, I pray that I will pursue. When God hurts, I pray that I will understand.
Through coming to MNU, I realized how true it was that God did not “call me to be a youth pastor,” although that is what some have tried to label it as. My call is to live out lifelong service to God and to his people. Through this class in particular, I have seen my strengths and my abilities; and have seen the potential for God’s work in my life. He who started a good work in me is faithful to complete it. They say that God equips the called and to some extent I believe it. God has given me the abilities, strengths and passions to fulfill various types of ministry within his church. It is through this Intro to Ministry course that I have realized this. I don’t care whether I am to be a youth pastor or something else. I do not feel called to a specific ministry. I believe that the call that God has placed on me is to be a minister and I am open to whatever God has for me in any moment in any place. It is this openness to his will that I believe God has called me to. I’m not perfect, but through this heart of surrender, God can work with me.
I have mentioned the gifts and abilities that God has given me. I would like to briefly expand upon what those are and how God is using them. I believe that God has equipped me to preach, teach, disciple, and bear witness.
I have preached in the past and people are always edified by it. That is a blessing and an encouragement to me. I don’t view preaching as taking an idea and presenting it to the audience; rather I view it as a message of truth from God for his people. When I preach, there is much prayer and reading of the scripture in preparation. This is a gift that I have had my entire life, it seems. One of my sisters remembers a time when I was very young and I put this crib up on its side and used it as a lectern. She recalls the message even! I had a piece of paper with scribbles on it that represented all the sin in our lives. Then I said that when Jesus comes into our lives he can take that sin and throw it way. She said I crumpled the paper and threw it away to represent our freedom from sin. This may not have been a very sophisticated message – and in fact is a little embarrassing – but it shows that even at a young age God was using me to speak ‘publically’ to people. In fact, although I have never personally led someone to Christ, God used a message of mine on a Wednesday night to speak to this girl who was not a Christian. I gave no altar call, but she came anyway and gave her life to Jesus. I could tell of many other times when God has used me to speak the plain truth to groups of people and their response has been so encouraging to me.
Preaching seems to be more of a corporate presentation of God’s word, but my life should be a personal example of the work that God can have in a person’s life. I am what my church refers to as a ‘discipler.’ I have discipled many Christians to a deeper relationship with God. This is what I believe the core of my responsibility to be. Some are called to reach the untold or to convert the unconvinced, mine is to take those who have professed to believe to a higher level of devotion. I urge people to be real with their God. Here at MNU, I started a small group that studied over the book of James. Our motto was this: We are not called to a passive belief, but to a transformational relationship. I see a problem with hypocritical behavior within the church and I seek to bring it to light and call people to change.
Discipling isn’t only for Christians, though. I have lived out Christianity in front of non-Christians, too. It is impossible to know if I will be the one to lead someone to Christ, but what if I am to be the one who plants or the one who waters? Ministers must realize that they will never fully understand the affect that they’ve had on the people that know them. This is why integrity is so important. We aren’t putting on an act or performing in a show; we are living out the truth and being real about our relationship with God. If there is something that I don’t like about the truth about myself, maybe it’s time for a change. Spiritual growth within the life of a minister is crucial. This is why it is important to take time for personal devotions, studying the word, reading books and private prayer times. If I, a person with a life devoted to living in communion with God, cannot grow spiritually and have a real life-changing relationship with God, then how could I expect that from someone who is living for themselves? What do they have to see in me if I am no different from them? As iron sharpens iron, we are to encourage and empower our brothers and sisters in Christ. So it is that being righteous, which simply means “right with God,” is beneficial to those who don’t believe in Christ or subscribe to a life lived for him because it shows them the hope and love that is found in Christ; and it is beneficial to fellow Christians to inspire them to work towards a more real commitment to their relationship with God.
My philosophy of ministry is really just to live out the two greatest commandments as spoken by Jesus in Mark 12:30-31: “’Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.” It is an intense all-consuming love for God that calls us to live righteous lives, fully devoted to him. It is love for others that brings us to expressing God’s love to the people around us. This is the heart of ministry. The song “You Can Have Me” by the band Sidewalk Prophets asks this question: “When did love become unmoving? When did love become unconsuming?” Ministry is really just a response to everything that God has done for us and the overwhelming love that he has lavishly outpoured upon us. What does it really mean to “Love God with everything” and “Love your neighbor as yourself?” 1 John 4:7-21 describes love and says this in verses 17-18: “This is how love is made complete among us so that we will have confidence on the day of judgment: In this world we are like Jesus. There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” To love God is to emulate his son’s life and to let him live in us. To love others is to be Jesus to them. That is what I believe ministry is: being Jesus to people. It’s all about love. “And now these three remain: faith, hope, and love. But the greatest of these is love.” (1 Corinthians 13:13)
