There seems to be this trend in the Church that if someone shows to have great faith (or they make a great "Christian" whatever that means) then they should "go into ministry". This bothers me for a couple of reasons.
1. It means that ministry is only for the elite, not the called.
2. It separates the faith of those "in ministry" and those living "normal" lives.
Starting with #1:
I've been reading from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's, The Cost of Discipleship, for one of my classes. In this book he makes the argument that we cannot do anything unless we are first called by God to do so. Following Jesus begins first with Jesus calling us. Now the first few folks Jesus calls were definitely not the elite. They were fishermen, tax collectors, and other "normal" type people.
But they were called.
It's a calling to ministry. Just as God calls us to any other job. I speak of ministry in the vocational sense - one who is employed into a specific faith based organization or works in a church. We all are in ministry though (see next point).
Now to #2:
In our modern context, there is the tendency to only recruit the well qualified to ministry. It has shifted from those that are called to those that are equipped. Now, of course, there is reason to believe that those with certain gifts and graces for ministry should consider their own calling. But just because someone is actually living out their faith, doesn't mean they have to go work in a church or non-profit. Perhaps they should stick with their corporate job, construction job, hair salon job, etc. And within that job, continue to build the kingdom.
The church is bankrupting itself when we seek to get everyone into the vocation of church ministry. It sends the wrong message. As Martin Luther reminded the world so well, we are all priests, all ministers of reconciliation.
When we lean on our own evaluation of whose best for a certain calling, then we aren't leaning on God's choice for who is best. After all...
The Best + Nothing = Nothing
God + Nothing = The best
1. It means that ministry is only for the elite, not the called.
2. It separates the faith of those "in ministry" and those living "normal" lives.
Starting with #1:
I've been reading from Dietrich Bonhoeffer's, The Cost of Discipleship, for one of my classes. In this book he makes the argument that we cannot do anything unless we are first called by God to do so. Following Jesus begins first with Jesus calling us. Now the first few folks Jesus calls were definitely not the elite. They were fishermen, tax collectors, and other "normal" type people.
But they were called.
It's a calling to ministry. Just as God calls us to any other job. I speak of ministry in the vocational sense - one who is employed into a specific faith based organization or works in a church. We all are in ministry though (see next point).
Now to #2:
In our modern context, there is the tendency to only recruit the well qualified to ministry. It has shifted from those that are called to those that are equipped. Now, of course, there is reason to believe that those with certain gifts and graces for ministry should consider their own calling. But just because someone is actually living out their faith, doesn't mean they have to go work in a church or non-profit. Perhaps they should stick with their corporate job, construction job, hair salon job, etc. And within that job, continue to build the kingdom.
The church is bankrupting itself when we seek to get everyone into the vocation of church ministry. It sends the wrong message. As Martin Luther reminded the world so well, we are all priests, all ministers of reconciliation.
When we lean on our own evaluation of whose best for a certain calling, then we aren't leaning on God's choice for who is best. After all...
The Best + Nothing = Nothing
God + Nothing = The best
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