The Myth Of Full Time Ministry
Many of you are waiting for the call that will allow you to quit your secular job and become a full-time minister. For centuries, the gold standard for the believer has been to hold a title or position on staff at an established church. We’ve had it pounded into our heads for years that we’re not important to God unless we’re in full time ministry. Many of us feel like our destiny will not be fulfilled or our identity confirmed until the day we come on staff “full-time’ at a church.
With no disrespect to those who are on staff at established churches, I would like to sincerely state that nothing could be further from the truth.
Your validation as a believer has nothing to do with whether you work a secular job or you receive tithes & offerings at a church.
Your identity is not established by being ordained or speaking from a podium on Sunday morning.
Your contribution to the advancement of God’s kingdom is not a matter of holding a title or being on staff at a church. Full time ministry is simply a matter of letting Jesus live His life through you every day – no matter where you are or what you’re doing.
If you love on people at work, pray for their healing before bed, encourage them while driving them through town, give them a prophetic word while making their coffee, or write a testimony on your Facebook page about something God did, you are in full time ministry.
Period.
Don’t be misled by titles. Leadership is not a matter of having a title, receiving a paycheck from a church, having a website, or earning a college degree. Leadership is nothing more than influence. If your life influences others (for good or bad) you are leader, whether you know it or not. Many of you are leaders, simply because you encourage people every day. Encouragement is one of the most powerful forms of leadership.
Whether you write, paint, bake, sing, dance, tell jokes, drive a truck, coach soccer, encourage, or anything else – if you do it as an act of service to the Lord, you are a serving God in full-time ministry. You are a leader.
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Your validation, doesn’t come from full time ministry, the thing is how you spend your time.
As you’ve said, ministering to a person one on one, is as, or more important than standing in a pulpit. It certainly is, more important for you, because that is God’s will for you at that moment, and by ministering to that one person at that one moment, you are in His will.
My problem is, that as I head out to work, it feels like at certain point I walk through an invisible door, from one Kingdom to another. Much like the closet door in Narnia.
I do not like that feeling, I want to spend all my time, all my energy, all my good work, all my time , in the Kingdom of God.
But the Lord’s will for me right now, is to stay where I am, because knowing how I feel He hasn’t lead me anywhere else.
So I guess the answer is, that it doesn’t really matter what you do, what matters is that you abandon yourself to God, and His will in your life.
I can certainly relate to your situation! Going to ‘work’ –6 days a week–being where you don’t want to be–is not fun. I have kicked and screamed for the past 4 years about my circumstance—wanting out!!!
Submitting to God’s will and purposes is what I’m working on. Each day, I ask my Father to send me opportunities to minister to people, to pray for their heeling and to bring joy into their lives. I no longer strive at ‘getting out of the situation that I’m in’. I have acknowledged to Him that He is in control! —- I used to be :).—I am, slowly realizing that He knows exactly where He has me—and in His time–He will release me from my ‘prison’ –and set me free!
Praising Him in my circumstance will open these prison doors.
I concur !!! I absolutely agree. in fact its one of my goals to see this – that the normal common people move in #normal christianity .. pray heal and prophesy ..
So true PM, So true.I serve in my own neighborhood. My own neighbors. My neighbor is 94 years old and still does everything himself . House cleaning, ironing , garden front and back. We always talking bout the Lord. What the Lord did for us and still does. One day I came to the church and parked my car in the parking lot. My Dutch neighbor beckoned me to the window. Told me that our Turkish neighbor had fallen down from a 4 high building with his head had falling down. I screamed thinking the worst, but fortunately he had landed on his feet which was completely shattered. My Dutch neighbor said, you can pray and you are so bold and have courage so go there and pray for him. While I was walking up there I prayed to the Lord and also got confidence to do what the Lord showed me what was going to happen. I rang the bell and went inside. The whole house was full of family. Stepped up to my neighbor and asked him what had happened. To cut a long story short, I asked him if I could pray for him. He said please, yes. I said yes but I pray in the Name of Jesus you still want me to pray for you? He said yes, please pray. And so I did. While I was praying I had to dance and shake yeah that happens sometimes but I am not ashamed of that so I put my hand I think about 25 inches from his foot and prayed in tongues. He cried out, do not touch it feels hot. I said look good I don’t touch you my hand is 25 cm above your feet. He said then what is that. I told him that’s God’s healing power. The family I said hello to when I came inside now looked at me with wide eyes open. There were even two family members who did not want to give me a hand after I had prayed for their uncle, cousin or what he is to them. To cut a long story short the neighbor has been healed within a year. In that year, I still had a few times where the Holy Spirit led me to go back to him to encourage him and to pray and prophesy to him. And also to explain that he needs to keep talking positive to himself and to remain positive proclaiming that he will run 100%. He is 100% That’s God’s healing power. Friends of mine who came to visit me went also to pray for my neighbor. Later his wife explained to me that they never had anybody come to them to pray and prophesy. She said in our religion we don’t do that but it felt peaceful. After you prayed my husband felt a relief and could relax himself without pain. That’s our God. 😀
Every life is a full time ministry! How we live and touch others speaks louder than words!
Great word and so true!!!
Yes ! I agree , live every day with all you meet as if it’s your divine appointment with those you meet !!
Because it is !! You are the change you are the hero in someone’s life !! Expect it and live it ! Today is your Jesus day with everyone , everywhere you are .
Seems to be a theme I am reading about this week. Love what Switchfoot had to say about their being a christian band or not and the worth of people – fits along with this blog.
http://ctkblog.com/2013/12/05/why-switchfoot-wont-sing-christian-songs/
Patricia Balrak, I love your testimony. Love this PM. Thanks for the encouragement. ❤️
I’d like to see the title of this post changed. I just spent at least 40 hours dealing with another ministry’s troubles. Those who give themselves full-time are in another capacity. It IS our day job.
I appreciate the time you put in at your ministry and I have no problem honoring you for your contribution. However – I work a full time job and after I clock out, I spend at least another 40-50 hours a week writing spiritual essays for believers, blogging, answering prayer requests on Facebook, mentoring believers through social media and other forms of ministry.
Because I work a secular job – does that make my contribution or that of anyone like me, any less “full time” than yours?
Amen. PM. We are all encouraged to do everything unto Him by His Supernatural Power called Grace. I believe this makes all we do bringing the Kingdom to earth full time ministry. In Him we live,move and have our being.
I guess it depends on what you mean by full-time. For instance, if one has a 9-5 job that deals with intense, personal discipleship with broken people, followed by an evening of administrative details and there’s no room for other employment. So is that not full-time ministry dependent upon the grace of God and generosity of other people? If “full-time people” stop in order to have another source of income, does the work stop? Where is the place of five-fold ministry?
Anonymous, you said this: “If “full-time people” stop in order to have another source of income, does the work stop?”
This is probably not what you were after, but what if the full-time people DID stop? Maybe we are all supposed to fill that void, not just a few for whom it is a paid job. I see a new paradigm coming into play, where ministry happens everywhere, all the time.
I also saw how “full-time” ministry screwed my family over. For what it’s worth. I think Jesus did not intend for my parents to choose their church over us, but it felt like that.
Now I see assignments everywhere, great ones and “small” ones (which don’t exist, actually). It’s a total blast. I can’t wait to see what’s coming after this transition is complete.
Perfect! I also see a shift in what God is doing. We (the believers)are His ministers–not just those who are in church ministry. He wants His glory to shine in our every day life ( even in those ‘prison’ situations) . He can reach more lost this was, heal more sic this way, cast out more demons this way.
I believe,this shift will accelerate His return. So, get to work and do your Father’s job in your every day life!
I think that whatever environment we’re in there are ministry opportunities and in a way that makes it ‘full time’. Even though we don’t necessarily call a secular job ‘full time ministry ‘, I actually think that we need to constantly remind ourselves that we in fact ought to be ministering to those around us full time.
There’s always a colleague who’s having a bad day with the boss and you can show him some kindness. Perhaps one of your team members screwed up on something and you can show a bit of Christ’s gentleness when you correct the person. Perhaps your cleaner broke your favorite coffee mug you bought when vacationing in Italy and you can extend the same grace that Jesus showed you. Not to mention preaching the gospel to colleagues, preferably by healing them of their sickness and injury of course 🙂
I haven’t been a Christ follower for long and since then I haven’t been working. I am looking forward to finding a job and returning to the marketplace and treating that no less my own ‘full time ministry ‘. I pray that every business idea I have, every suggestion I give to my colleagues – business or personal, every word that came out of my mouth, every decision I make and every action I take will please God and give glory to my Lord Jesus. Chances are I will at times fail to do that or even forget I need to do that but I pray that I will keep going and become more Christ like each day.