“FULL-TIME” MINISTRY
A few weeks ago, a Cru (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) staff worker told me that he and his wife no-longer refer to themselves as “full-time” workers or missionaries. Why? Because, he explained, every follower of Jesus is in full-time ministry. Some, like Cru staff members, are in “vocational ministry”–i.e., supported or paid to work in a church or parachurch agency. While this indeed distinguishes their jobs from ours (in “volunteer ministry”?), we still share the same level of commitment–100%, full-time.
When Jesus said, “As my Father sent me, so I am sending you…,” he was talking to all of us, His followers. When the Apostle Paul used his tent-making skills to support himself financially at times, he did not become a less-committed, 50%, part-time minister of the gospel. Even when he was imprisoned for several years in Rome, he continued his full-time ministry work.
Do most of us today view our faith in Jesus as a full-time ministry? Or is it closer to a 1-hour-a-week commitment on Sunday mornings? Do we relegate full-time ministry to others:
– paid “professionals” (e.g., pastors, chaplains)
– retired people with more time
– empty-nesters with fewer distractions
About 10 years ago, I bumped into a friend I hadn’t seen in awhile and learned that he had switched to a much larger church than the one he previously attended. When asked about his motivation for switching, he responded that the larger church allowed him to blend in without being overly commited. Coincidentally, just this past week, a different friend informed me that he recently stopped attending that very same large church. His reason was the regular exhortation he was receiving to get involved in a small group and ministry opportunities.
I’m in no position to assess either man’s circumstances–perhaps they each indeed needed a break from too many good things. But I am hopeful that even a big church can appropriately encourage and challenge believers to commit to more than just Sunday mornings. And certainly, as individual believers equip and mentor new followers of Jesus, we want to instill this same perspective of full-time ministry.
The Bible calls believers “a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that we may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light.” 1 PE 2:9 This is our full-time ministry. As his chosen people, Paul writes in 2 Cor. 5:15 that believers “should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised.” This goes to the heart of mentoring and teaching new believers–our new life from and in Christ is living for him and his purpose. All of our time is his time.
Roger Schmidgall
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