Are you called to ministry? The fundamental question.

Who do you want to serve?

The greatest commandment says to love God with every ounce and fibre of your being and it says to love other people like you do yourself (Matt. 22:36-40).

Basically…

Do you love God and love others?

Or

In reality – do you want to serve your own needs?

• Do you want to minster the great love of Jesus to the great needs of broken people?
• Are you so moved in praise and heartfelt gratitude to God that this overflows in a Jesus-like passion for others?
• Do you recognise that people are flawed and vulnerable, and need the message of the Gospel to dwell in them richly as a grace-and-mercy response to their lives?
• Are you overwhelmed with the story of the Cross to the point that if you don’t call it out of others, you’ll dry up into a nothingness husk?

Or

• Are you most passionate about ‘fixing people’s theology’ and ‘rooting out the heretic’?
• Do you see facts, figures, viewpoints, doctrines, worldviews, and belief systems before you see real actual people holding them?
• Are you looking to scratch an itch that allows you to read all day and show off your knowledge at the weekends?
• Do you want to create an audience for your teaching or debate abilities?
• Are you thinking more about God than you are worshipping God?

What about the ‘ministry qualifications’ from Titus and Timothy?

Titus 1 and 1 Timothy 3 both give fabulous qualifications for ministry, but these are for after you have established the initial passion and drive which we traditionally call ‘calling’.

Calling is a fundamental move of the Holy Spirit in your life that wells up as a desire to fulfil the great commandment and live it out in the great commission. It is supported by grace and driven by mercy. It begins in humility and grows deep roots of dependence on God for all you need.

Your CV won’t get you into ministry; God will get you into ministry. Ministry is a miracle calling which God produces and provides. At interview, your heart for, and relationship with Him is what should bleed through. Your experience and qualifications are simply the evidence of that heart. They are the smoke to the fire of God.

Ambition vs. Calling

Ambition for ministry is not the same thing as calling to ministry. Start with these few questions:

• Do I love God?

How is that love manifest in my life?

• Do I love Jesus Christ, as God?

How does the story of the cross dwell in me personally?

• Do I love the Holy Spirit, as God?

What dependency do I show Him every day I live?

• Do I love the Father, as God?

What would I do and how would I live as a response to His will?

• Do I love ‘non-Christian’ people?

Do I primarily see them as human beings needing the mercy of God?

• Do I love Christian people?

Do I see them as human beings on a careful and precarious journey of grace?

• Do I love people who agree with me?

Do I use them as a comfort and support for my ego?

• Do I love people who disagree with me?

Am I willing to push through the thin veil of human worldviews and see the life of Christ and needs of the flesh within them?

• Do I love people?

Do I want them to know and experience the same love of God that I know and experience?