I just got back from being out of town and I knew I got up early for a reason….to see your blog…..and to discuss your statement. Ministry is serving and using your spiritual gift. If you do not care about serving others, better think twice before you accept a staff position (that’s what I would call it other than a “job.”) I’m going on 36 years as a PW and in the older days when we first began I considered it a job. If I didn’t get the music ready or the bulletin typed, no one else would do it for sure. (Sorry, this is where the “mad church disease” began to creep in for me. Then, after all these years my outflow of my relationship with God superceded my anger (simply because no one would care) now, thirty some odd years from that, it doesn’t matter…..it’s a natural…it flows within me and is a part of my life’s message to leave behind an attitude of servitude! That’s where my energy is directed. Even if it’s a menial task like picking up a piece of trash on the flow! Being called to serve along beside my husband is not a job….it’s awesome! Thanks for letting me share, Anne.
I can only do ministry out of the overflow of my relationship with God. I have tried to do it simply as a job from time to time, but every time I do this I fail miserably. If you are not serving out of the overflow then the task or the people will wear you down until you become angry, bitter, or want to quit.
I think it’s true. Senior pastor, youth minister, etc. – those are jobs. And in many cases, you can slide by in those jobs and get paid. No one can truly know your heart.
However, to truly minister, you need connection with God.
I guess if you’re doing it for other people it can be a job, but if you’re doing it for a God of grace, it can’t be a reward for work. It’s got to be a response. It’s just not possible unless we fool ourselves into thinking we’re doing ministry when we’re doing a job.
justin
I agree. My problem is that I love the idea of it more than I actually apply it. How might I apply this better?
I would say this, that ministry can become our god while trying to serve God. I know that has been a struggle for me. I identified myself by being in ministry rather than being a child of God. Did I start out that way? No, definitely not. However, when people talk about how courageous you are and how awesome it is what you are doing for God, it can begin to feed something inside of you. I began to identify that feeling with ministry and I liked the attention. The true focus of why I was in ministry became secondary to what I accomplished in ministry.
I think that true ministry is an outflow of our relationship with God. However, that does not apply to only those in full-time ministry. Those in the ‘secular’ world have the same opportunity to minister out of an overflow as those in ‘full-time ministry’.
I don’t know if any of that makes sense, but that is my two cents worth. Great question.
Ideally, yes, I think ministry should be the outflow of your relationship with God.
A job is a job. And I think I can have a ministry within a job, even if my job isn’t blatantly a ministry(ie, not in a Christian organization). So I can have a job that sounds like it’s a ministry(worship leader, pastor) and it’s just a job.
What am I saying? I’ve just confused myself.
Basically: your statement is correct. We can have a job that we refer to as ‘ministry,’ but it’s only actually acting as a ministry when it is the outflow of our relationship with God.
Like John said, this can happen just as often in secular work as in a Christian organization.
You’re posting this at 4:13 a.m.? For cryin’ out loud, woman. You’re a machine!
I wish ministry was always an outpour of my relationship with Christ. Sadly, though, after over a decade in full-time ministry with my husband, I’ve allowed it to become my occupation. Not all the time. But some times. And that’s just too much.
A job is something we are paid to do, for a season. The season of ministry is always upon us. When Christ said, “go out” He didn’t put a time limit on His instructions. There is no daily task in which we cannot either ministry to someone, for someone, or praise and worship for our calling.We are all ministers of the Gospel, regardless of what our vocations are.
The answer to the question is absolutely yes. However, people’s general reaction to the question will probably be flawed. When you say ministry and job, people automatically think “working in a church.” To me a staff position in a church is absolutely a job. You have agreed to be there to manage some part of the church experience and that is a job. I think we’re kidding ourselves if we ever think most church staffers have never done their job while disconnected from God. I include myself in that category. It’s no different than any other job in that respect. You can show up every day with God as your companion or as a distant observer. It’s your choice.
However, ministry is a different animal. Because of my job at church, I have the opportunity to minister to people. This is where the overflow comes in. I can minister out of the overflow and speak into the person’s life. True ministry absolutely comes from the overflow.
Now take that concept and apply it to non-church jobs. Through my business (which is a job), I have the opportunity to minister to people I come in contact with. Again, that’s where the overflow comes in. I’ve also found that when I’m not making the effort to be close to God, the “ministry” opportunities are few and far between. I’ve always believed he’s not going to send people to us if we aren’t prepared.
I cringe even at the term ‘ministry’. It automatically puts people on the defense or on soap box or on a higher plane. To me, ministry = life (for followers of Jesus anyway). And life (for believers anyway) absolutely must flow out of an organic, intimate connection with Jesus.
[See Jn.15 & ‘The Practice of the Presence of God’ by Bro. Lawrence]
Well said Chad. I think it is both. It’s obviously a job because you get paid to do it. If someone came and said “we want you to keep doing exaclty what you are doing, but we can’t pay you a dime” I think most of us would re-evaluate and probably find something else, or at least give our time to something that pays the bills.
However, if it is “just a job” then there is a chance we can lose the importance of what we do (ministry).
a job is waking up at 3 am monday through friday to go to a 98 degree warehouse to drive a forklift with a bunch of back stabbing sob’s. i did that for 10 years. not only was it a job, it was great training for vocational ministry. i think everyonee in vocational ministry should have warehouse training in their background :)
what is ministry if your heart isn’t connected to God with an attitude of service… it shouldn’t be just a “job” just because you get paid for it. it should be ministry because you are serving and because you aren’t there just for your paycheck. you are there to serve. and yes, ministry isn’t reserved just for church. i just happen to want to work in church ministry =) but it’s hard to see my current job as ministry….even though i should.
I had the calling of ministry put on my heart about 8 months ago and it has only gotten more and more intense since then.
When I first got the calling, I thought “Oh for sure, ministry = job at church.”
But I have come to realize it might not be that. That is what I want but…
… what I want doesn’t really matter much, doesn’t it. God’s Will is what matters and however He wants me to serve, then it will be done.
My heart overflows with the joy, peace, hope and love that is from God. So much so, I have no choice but to share with others. It is too much for me to handle.
perhaps i am on glue and reading the question wrong… but to clarify my previous statement: i feel we are called to ministry then it is as a vocation. it is a job. ministry should be what we do as volunteers and servants of the church. ministry is personal. a job shouldn’t be. a job shouldn’t take us away from our homes and family. a job should be able to be left at the office. if it isn’t a job then i think that is where we lose the healthy balance. the line of business… and ministry… … volunteer ministry… and family… all blurred.
Yes, ministry SHOULD come out of an overflow. Sometimes, a lot of the times when I’m all stuck on myself and not others, it’s not so much an overflow, but a direct blast of water right out of the water hose itself. I just hold on and watch Him do his thing and then wonder “what the heck just happened, oh, yeah, God showed up” Thank Him for that!
As a Pastor, I would agree with this. What I “do” in responsibility is often not ministry but work. I truly have to be purposeful in making sure that I minister and not just “do” my job.
I think they can go nicely hand in hand, but more often than not, Pastors do not minister, they just do their job.
This can also lead to the implication that if you are not a church leader, you cannot be a minister. This of course is completely false. I’ve always like Groeschel’s take on it.. I am a full time Christian(which includes ministry to others) and a Part time Pastor.
Anne (and everyone else), I wonder how you would define ministry? Is it just the “spiritual” things that we do?
And really, can ministry be separated from our job (non-secular or secular).
In every single action we take we are serving something or somebody . . . there is motivation.
Just thinking out loud here, but it seems to me that in every moment we make the choice to ‘minister’ or not. Like right now, I can choose to do this in an attitude of love and understanding with the hopes of glorifying Jesus or out of selfishness/pride because I want to be right.
But, I guess it all depends on what is meant by ministry.
What do you think?
John Ireland
great thought, anne!
here is what immediately came to mind:
Jesus never offered the apostles or any of His disciples a job…He did not ambush (in the best way!) Paul to offer him a “position”
so…i agree that ministry should be what comes from a wholehearted and surrendered relationship with Christ. it also means that how that ministry looks is framed by how we have been gifted, not by what we want to do.
This is an interesting topic. I think we are ALL called to ministry in our jobs no matter what we do (lawyer, janitor, teacher, church worker, etc.). We are to reflect Christ at our workplace.
Are we looking at the word “job” as a negative thing? Work is what gives us purpose, right?
I believe it is my “job” to plant seeds to further God’s kingdom. It just so happens that I also work at a church… but I haven’t always :)
And of course it has to be an outflow of your relationship with God or everything about it would be inauthentic. People can smell that a million miles away.
I think Jenni and a few others hit on something. Before responding to the idea, we all have to clearly define what we mean by “job” and by “ministry.” To me they are two separate things. My job is what I do to provide for my family. My ministry is the entirety of my life and how God uses it to help others.
There are definitely days when it feels like a job! :-)
I agree it isn’t a job in the traditional sense, it is a labor of love, it is honoring the highest calling and privilege, it is the stewardship of your giftedness, but it is also what some of us do for a paycheck, Paul said a workman is worth of his hire.
I think it feels like a job when we are operating outside of our giftedness, when you are in the sweet spot, you could do it all day long and not even want to pull a check, when you are not in the sweet spot they can’t pay you enough!
We like to separate things and draw lines. To me this statement starts to do that a bit, but maybe I’m reading into it too much
I would describe ministry as the rhythm and rhyme of living out our lives to God. And we all have jobs too. If ministry isn’t fully in our job (no matter what it is), then we’re separating that part of our lives from life with God.
krysta
true statement. kind-of the same concept with worship …
This is all great input! It helps clarify for me that overflow of relationship with God and “ministry” (whether vocational or not) cannot be separated. That’s what makes ministry so weird!
It’s weird when I am doing it out of overflow and equally weird when I am doing it out of my own strength.
Some days it is a job…something you do because of your commitment to be like Jesus….but other days it is from the overflow, not the obligation.
Paul called himself a “bond-slave” of Christ. He wasn’t complaining, but he seemed to also communicate a depth of work and obligation that doesn’t sound very “over-flowish”.
I’ll second that notion, Anne. My sense is that ministry is (at its core) a lifestyle or a movement that leads to life change, and that if one has a “job in ministry”, that is simply a part of it: the job is a consequence either of that person’s personal life ministry, or of the ministry movement that they are working for (i.e. a parachurch organization, a church, etc)… or, it is both. The job itself is never the ministry, it is the lifestyle or movement associated with that job that constitutes a capacity for life change.
Great statement, by the way. Was it someone else’s or a flowerdust original? Either way it is powerful. Thanks for sharing.
joe-it’s actually both mine and my husbands as we were talking about a few things!
Mike C
In my mind it is an outflowing of my love of Christ. Some days even the ministry I love feels like a job. But then all I have to do is see God moving in one persons life to know that I could never not do ministry. If God chooses to provide for me in that way, then so much the better! But honestly I would (and have) done it for free. It is an obligation, but an obligation of love. We will endure all things for the reward that is set before us (just as Christ did).
However after working in ministry, I have found that sometimes when you forget that your employers are simply people, running a business, and you expect them to act “better” (or more Christ like) than a secular employer, you set yourself up for disappointment that can momentarily spill over into your spiritual life when they treat you badly or act in a non-Christian manner. For me, it is remembering that these are fallen people who make mistakes and allow their human feelings to overcome both their judgment and their calling. I have found a need in my life in paid ministry to separate those that are my employers from those that I look up to for spiritual guidance. Politics should not play a role in a faith based workplace, but we are all fallen aren’t we?
Another conflict that comes up is when you do the ministry you love for a living. Given the right employer, no big deal right? A handshake and a smile, these people should be good for their word, right? But time and time again I have found that you MUST separate when you are doing volunteer ministry from your professional duties. But this might also tie into the post I just made about the corperatization (is that a word) of the American church. If my employer, as a church, treats their church as a business, then I must approach it as such. That is why I have gotten to the point of having to have signed contracts with churches, outlining specific responsibilities and payment for such. Anything that falls outside that scope is at my discretion.
In a way I wish I could go back to the simpler days when all the ministry work I did was volunteer. But in a way the Lord has given me a tremendous opportunity to do what I love and be able to support myself doing it. I just have to be patient and the right opportunity will come along.
Sorry for the rambling, this is something I have been struggling with recently!
Los and I were talking about this today. Some guy had asked him how he got where he got like it was some job interview. My thought…It’s not a job that you can just decide to do it, it’s gotta be in your DNA.
Comments
45 responses to “tell me what you think of this”
I just got back from being out of town and I knew I got up early for a reason….to see your blog…..and to discuss your statement. Ministry is serving and using your spiritual gift. If you do not care about serving others, better think twice before you accept a staff position (that’s what I would call it other than a “job.”) I’m going on 36 years as a PW and in the older days when we first began I considered it a job. If I didn’t get the music ready or the bulletin typed, no one else would do it for sure. (Sorry, this is where the “mad church disease” began to creep in for me. Then, after all these years my outflow of my relationship with God superceded my anger (simply because no one would care) now, thirty some odd years from that, it doesn’t matter…..it’s a natural…it flows within me and is a part of my life’s message to leave behind an attitude of servitude! That’s where my energy is directed. Even if it’s a menial task like picking up a piece of trash on the flow! Being called to serve along beside my husband is not a job….it’s awesome! Thanks for letting me share, Anne.
P.S……ooooops I meant to say “on the floor” not on the flow. I still love mornings : – )
I agree. It sound’s exactly what God spoke to me the other morning. When I was thinking about songwriting He said:
Songs for me have to be written out of overflow.
Well, I think it’s both. I’ll explain more later. I have to go catch a job now.
I can only do ministry out of the overflow of my relationship with God. I have tried to do it simply as a job from time to time, but every time I do this I fail miserably. If you are not serving out of the overflow then the task or the people will wear you down until you become angry, bitter, or want to quit.
I think it’s true. Senior pastor, youth minister, etc. – those are jobs. And in many cases, you can slide by in those jobs and get paid. No one can truly know your heart.
However, to truly minister, you need connection with God.
I guess if you’re doing it for other people it can be a job, but if you’re doing it for a God of grace, it can’t be a reward for work. It’s got to be a response. It’s just not possible unless we fool ourselves into thinking we’re doing ministry when we’re doing a job.
I agree. My problem is that I love the idea of it more than I actually apply it. How might I apply this better?
I would say this, that ministry can become our god while trying to serve God. I know that has been a struggle for me. I identified myself by being in ministry rather than being a child of God. Did I start out that way? No, definitely not. However, when people talk about how courageous you are and how awesome it is what you are doing for God, it can begin to feed something inside of you. I began to identify that feeling with ministry and I liked the attention. The true focus of why I was in ministry became secondary to what I accomplished in ministry.
I think that true ministry is an outflow of our relationship with God. However, that does not apply to only those in full-time ministry. Those in the ‘secular’ world have the same opportunity to minister out of an overflow as those in ‘full-time ministry’.
I don’t know if any of that makes sense, but that is my two cents worth. Great question.
It is ABSOLUTELY true. The corollary is that our ministry will reflect the degree of the overflowing life of God in us.
Ideally, yes, I think ministry should be the outflow of your relationship with God.
A job is a job. And I think I can have a ministry within a job, even if my job isn’t blatantly a ministry(ie, not in a Christian organization). So I can have a job that sounds like it’s a ministry(worship leader, pastor) and it’s just a job.
What am I saying? I’ve just confused myself.
Basically: your statement is correct. We can have a job that we refer to as ‘ministry,’ but it’s only actually acting as a ministry when it is the outflow of our relationship with God.
Like John said, this can happen just as often in secular work as in a Christian organization.
Phew.
You’re posting this at 4:13 a.m.? For cryin’ out loud, woman. You’re a machine!
I wish ministry was always an outpour of my relationship with Christ. Sadly, though, after over a decade in full-time ministry with my husband, I’ve allowed it to become my occupation. Not all the time. But some times. And that’s just too much.
Just being honest.
A job is something we are paid to do, for a season. The season of ministry is always upon us. When Christ said, “go out” He didn’t put a time limit on His instructions. There is no daily task in which we cannot either ministry to someone, for someone, or praise and worship for our calling.We are all ministers of the Gospel, regardless of what our vocations are.
The answer to the question is absolutely yes. However, people’s general reaction to the question will probably be flawed. When you say ministry and job, people automatically think “working in a church.” To me a staff position in a church is absolutely a job. You have agreed to be there to manage some part of the church experience and that is a job. I think we’re kidding ourselves if we ever think most church staffers have never done their job while disconnected from God. I include myself in that category. It’s no different than any other job in that respect. You can show up every day with God as your companion or as a distant observer. It’s your choice.
However, ministry is a different animal. Because of my job at church, I have the opportunity to minister to people. This is where the overflow comes in. I can minister out of the overflow and speak into the person’s life. True ministry absolutely comes from the overflow.
Now take that concept and apply it to non-church jobs. Through my business (which is a job), I have the opportunity to minister to people I come in contact with. Again, that’s where the overflow comes in. I’ve also found that when I’m not making the effort to be close to God, the “ministry” opportunities are few and far between. I’ve always believed he’s not going to send people to us if we aren’t prepared.
yeah, what Chad said!
Shouldn’t every Christian’s job be a part of their ministry?
My 2 cents . . .
I cringe even at the term ‘ministry’. It automatically puts people on the defense or on soap box or on a higher plane. To me, ministry = life (for followers of Jesus anyway). And life (for believers anyway) absolutely must flow out of an organic, intimate connection with Jesus.
[See Jn.15 & ‘The Practice of the Presence of God’ by Bro. Lawrence]
Ecclesiastes 11:1 If clouds are full of water they pour rain upon the earth.
BLAHAH… sorry i just threw up in my mouth a little.
Well said Chad. I think it is both. It’s obviously a job because you get paid to do it. If someone came and said “we want you to keep doing exaclty what you are doing, but we can’t pay you a dime” I think most of us would re-evaluate and probably find something else, or at least give our time to something that pays the bills.
However, if it is “just a job” then there is a chance we can lose the importance of what we do (ministry).
a job is waking up at 3 am monday through friday to go to a 98 degree warehouse to drive a forklift with a bunch of back stabbing sob’s. i did that for 10 years. not only was it a job, it was great training for vocational ministry. i think everyonee in vocational ministry should have warehouse training in their background :)
oh…that is a good one.
I believe this is true, and one of the main differences working for a church/ministry compared to the secular world. Makes it much more fulfilling.
what is ministry if your heart isn’t connected to God with an attitude of service… it shouldn’t be just a “job” just because you get paid for it. it should be ministry because you are serving and because you aren’t there just for your paycheck. you are there to serve. and yes, ministry isn’t reserved just for church. i just happen to want to work in church ministry =) but it’s hard to see my current job as ministry….even though i should.
I had the calling of ministry put on my heart about 8 months ago and it has only gotten more and more intense since then.
When I first got the calling, I thought “Oh for sure, ministry = job at church.”
But I have come to realize it might not be that. That is what I want but…
… what I want doesn’t really matter much, doesn’t it. God’s Will is what matters and however He wants me to serve, then it will be done.
My heart overflows with the joy, peace, hope and love that is from God. So much so, I have no choice but to share with others. It is too much for me to handle.
Totally agree… the minute it becomes a job you know you need to spend time with Jesus!
perhaps i am on glue and reading the question wrong… but to clarify my previous statement: i feel we are called to ministry then it is as a vocation. it is a job. ministry should be what we do as volunteers and servants of the church. ministry is personal. a job shouldn’t be. a job shouldn’t take us away from our homes and family. a job should be able to be left at the office. if it isn’t a job then i think that is where we lose the healthy balance. the line of business… and ministry… … volunteer ministry… and family… all blurred.
Yes, ministry SHOULD come out of an overflow. Sometimes, a lot of the times when I’m all stuck on myself and not others, it’s not so much an overflow, but a direct blast of water right out of the water hose itself. I just hold on and watch Him do his thing and then wonder “what the heck just happened, oh, yeah, God showed up” Thank Him for that!
As a Pastor, I would agree with this. What I “do” in responsibility is often not ministry but work. I truly have to be purposeful in making sure that I minister and not just “do” my job.
I think they can go nicely hand in hand, but more often than not, Pastors do not minister, they just do their job.
This can also lead to the implication that if you are not a church leader, you cannot be a minister. This of course is completely false. I’ve always like Groeschel’s take on it.. I am a full time Christian(which includes ministry to others) and a Part time Pastor.
Hmmm . . .
Anne (and everyone else), I wonder how you would define ministry? Is it just the “spiritual” things that we do?
And really, can ministry be separated from our job (non-secular or secular).
In every single action we take we are serving something or somebody . . . there is motivation.
Just thinking out loud here, but it seems to me that in every moment we make the choice to ‘minister’ or not. Like right now, I can choose to do this in an attitude of love and understanding with the hopes of glorifying Jesus or out of selfishness/pride because I want to be right.
But, I guess it all depends on what is meant by ministry.
What do you think?
great thought, anne!
here is what immediately came to mind:
Jesus never offered the apostles or any of His disciples a job…He did not ambush (in the best way!) Paul to offer him a “position”
so…i agree that ministry should be what comes from a wholehearted and surrendered relationship with Christ. it also means that how that ministry looks is framed by how we have been gifted, not by what we want to do.
This is an interesting topic. I think we are ALL called to ministry in our jobs no matter what we do (lawyer, janitor, teacher, church worker, etc.). We are to reflect Christ at our workplace.
Are we looking at the word “job” as a negative thing? Work is what gives us purpose, right?
I believe it is my “job” to plant seeds to further God’s kingdom. It just so happens that I also work at a church… but I haven’t always :)
And of course it has to be an outflow of your relationship with God or everything about it would be inauthentic. People can smell that a million miles away.
…and I’m stepping off the soap box.
I think Jenni and a few others hit on something. Before responding to the idea, we all have to clearly define what we mean by “job” and by “ministry.” To me they are two separate things. My job is what I do to provide for my family. My ministry is the entirety of my life and how God uses it to help others.
There are definitely days when it feels like a job! :-)
I agree it isn’t a job in the traditional sense, it is a labor of love, it is honoring the highest calling and privilege, it is the stewardship of your giftedness, but it is also what some of us do for a paycheck, Paul said a workman is worth of his hire.
I think it feels like a job when we are operating outside of our giftedness, when you are in the sweet spot, you could do it all day long and not even want to pull a check, when you are not in the sweet spot they can’t pay you enough!
“Ministry isn’t a job – it’s the outflow of your relationship with God as you grow in Christ through discipleship.”
We like to separate things and draw lines. To me this statement starts to do that a bit, but maybe I’m reading into it too much
I would describe ministry as the rhythm and rhyme of living out our lives to God. And we all have jobs too. If ministry isn’t fully in our job (no matter what it is), then we’re separating that part of our lives from life with God.
true statement. kind-of the same concept with worship …
To be ministry, does it need to have an affect on other people?
So, I like this definition,
“it’s the outflow of your relationship with God as you grow in Christ through discipleship.”
but maybe with this change,
“it’s the outflow of your relationship with God to others as you grow in Christ through discipleship.”
Dictionary definitions actually use the word service to help define ministry.
This is all great input! It helps clarify for me that overflow of relationship with God and “ministry” (whether vocational or not) cannot be separated. That’s what makes ministry so weird!
It’s weird when I am doing it out of overflow and equally weird when I am doing it out of my own strength.
Some days it is a job…something you do because of your commitment to be like Jesus….but other days it is from the overflow, not the obligation.
Paul called himself a “bond-slave” of Christ. He wasn’t complaining, but he seemed to also communicate a depth of work and obligation that doesn’t sound very “over-flowish”.
Its both…IF you get paid to do it. For real.
It’s a job but it should flow out of some fullness…at least most of the time. :)
I’ll second that notion, Anne. My sense is that ministry is (at its core) a lifestyle or a movement that leads to life change, and that if one has a “job in ministry”, that is simply a part of it: the job is a consequence either of that person’s personal life ministry, or of the ministry movement that they are working for (i.e. a parachurch organization, a church, etc)… or, it is both. The job itself is never the ministry, it is the lifestyle or movement associated with that job that constitutes a capacity for life change.
Great statement, by the way. Was it someone else’s or a flowerdust original? Either way it is powerful. Thanks for sharing.
thanks for all your thoughts!
joe-it’s actually both mine and my husbands as we were talking about a few things!
In my mind it is an outflowing of my love of Christ. Some days even the ministry I love feels like a job. But then all I have to do is see God moving in one persons life to know that I could never not do ministry. If God chooses to provide for me in that way, then so much the better! But honestly I would (and have) done it for free. It is an obligation, but an obligation of love. We will endure all things for the reward that is set before us (just as Christ did).
However after working in ministry, I have found that sometimes when you forget that your employers are simply people, running a business, and you expect them to act “better” (or more Christ like) than a secular employer, you set yourself up for disappointment that can momentarily spill over into your spiritual life when they treat you badly or act in a non-Christian manner. For me, it is remembering that these are fallen people who make mistakes and allow their human feelings to overcome both their judgment and their calling. I have found a need in my life in paid ministry to separate those that are my employers from those that I look up to for spiritual guidance. Politics should not play a role in a faith based workplace, but we are all fallen aren’t we?
Another conflict that comes up is when you do the ministry you love for a living. Given the right employer, no big deal right? A handshake and a smile, these people should be good for their word, right? But time and time again I have found that you MUST separate when you are doing volunteer ministry from your professional duties. But this might also tie into the post I just made about the corperatization (is that a word) of the American church. If my employer, as a church, treats their church as a business, then I must approach it as such. That is why I have gotten to the point of having to have signed contracts with churches, outlining specific responsibilities and payment for such. Anything that falls outside that scope is at my discretion.
In a way I wish I could go back to the simpler days when all the ministry work I did was volunteer. But in a way the Lord has given me a tremendous opportunity to do what I love and be able to support myself doing it. I just have to be patient and the right opportunity will come along.
Sorry for the rambling, this is something I have been struggling with recently!
Mike
Los and I were talking about this today. Some guy had asked him how he got where he got like it was some job interview. My thought…It’s not a job that you can just decide to do it, it’s gotta be in your DNA.