Are you feeling that God is urging you to do something new? Are there opportunities for new ministry opening up? Do you feel like Moses, asking “Who am I to go to Pharaoh?” (Ex. 4:11) or like Jonah who “rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord” (Jonah 1:3)? Do I feel a gentle, but persistent, tugging at my heart? A burning desire? Does it refuse to go away, even when I ignore it?
God loves us so much that He urges us toward our best efforts and the perfect ministry, even when we try to do something else or ignore the “still small voice” that says “this is the way, walk in it.” (Is. 30:21) The Bible has many stories of people who tried to ignore God. Jonah is the most famous, but there are others. Amos believed his life work was to be a “herdsman and a dresser of sycamore trees,” (Amos 7:14) until God called him to be a prophet. Paul was an avid Pharisee, until God turned his life around and made him the so called “apostle to the Gentiles.”
The most comforting thing for me to remember is that when God calls, he also gives the gifts and talents and strengths needed. (Not that I don’t hesitate and say, like Moses, ‘who me?’ or ‘send someone else’.)
When other people say I should go into ministry, does it feel right? Does hearing it satisfy my soul or my ego?
This is a very important question. It can be very easy to allow our ego to get in the way of the real, humble, self-effacing ministry God is calling us to. Paul had to abandon all the things that made him important in society to become God’s evangelist. “In Philippians 3:4-7, he brags, “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.” In the next sentence though, he say, that this is all worth nothing compared to “knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.”
When you are hearing God’s call, through prayer and patient waiting, it won’t matter if any fame or fortune comes with it. All that matters in true ministry is that we “love God and love our neighbor.”
Do I associate status and power with ministry? Is this my desire, fueled by ambition? Am I wanting to serve or to be served?
The third question ties to the last one because it makes you really look at the motivation for ministry. We have all seen and read about men and women who started out with the best intentions and let the fame and status and power go to their heads until their ministry was compromised.
It isn’t a new problem. In the Bible, we find David, “a man after God’s own heart” who slipped when he started thinking he was in charge instead of God. He let his desire for what he wanted get in the way of being a true servant to his people and God. When he saw Bathsheba, he took her and had her husband killed. (See 2 Samuel 11)When we do find our ministry becoming a power trip, we can repent and turn back to God, like David did. Then we can reevaluate our ministry and the direction so that once again we are servants of the Living God. Jesus tells his disciples, “You call me Teacher and Lord—and you are right, for that is what I am. So if I, your Lord and Teacher, have washed your feet, you also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have set you an example, that you also should do as I have done to you. Very truly, I tell you, servantsare not greater than their master, nor are messengers greater than the one who sent them.” (John 13:13-16). Our ministry needs to be humble enough to wash each other’s feet.
Am I listening for the calling with an open heart? Or does “selective hearing” keep me from seeing either my gifts or my own limitations?
An open heart is a key asset for anyone who will be a leader in ministry. This is a heart that listens to God and waits for God’s guidance. An open heart looks for open windows when the door appears to be closed. A heart open to God sees opportunity where some see a dead end. Respond to God with an open heart. As Psalm 37 says, “Take delight in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the LORD; trust in him, and he will act…Be still before the LORD, and wait patiently for him.”
False humility, or alternatively hubris, can keep us from knowing if a ministry is right for us. “Oh I couldn’t do that” is a cop out. “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me” (Phil. 4:13) is a true statement. We have to remember the important part of that citation is not ‘I can do all’ but that anything we do is ‘through Christ who strengthens’!
What strengths will help me in my calling? What weaknesses will need special attention?
The final question to consider when looking at a ministry is an honest look at your personal strengths and weaknesses. None of us are perfect but each of us has gifts that can be used to “build up the body.” Paul’s analogy is one that we all need to keep in mind as we discern ministry. “The members of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable…and our less respectable members are treated with greater respect; whereas our more respectable members do not need this. But God has so arranged the body…that there may be no dissension within the body, but the members may have the same care for one another… Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.” (I Cor. 22-27)
It may see nice to be the eye or the ear, but it is the “members of the body that seem to be weaker [who] are indispensable.” Even if your ministry is being the tiniest cell inside the entire organism that is the “Body of Christ”, you are important and necessary.
Jesus promises, “all authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples…lo, I am with you always.” (Mt. 28:19) We each do this in our own way and all our ministries work together for the glory of God. In I Cor. 12:8, we are reminded that God says, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is made perfect in weakness.” It doesn’t matter if we think we are weak or unprepared, if God is in your ministry, if will not fail. 