Ordained Minister's Orientation
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Ordained Minister’s Orientation
Ordained Minister’s Orientation
NOTE: Guthrie Veech, Christian Minister’s Manual (Cincinnati, OH: Standard, 2006) serves as the basis for much of this lecture. My thoughts intertwined with his and his often paraphrased. It is his work with my commentary.
sermons. The very fact that we are ministers will work against our spiritual life if we are not careful
Guthrie Veech, Christian Minister’s Manual (Cincinnati, OH: Standard, 2006), 15.
Introduction
Introduction
Today you stand on the cusp of receiving recognition as an ordained minister in the Assemblies of God. Should all go well in your interview you will soon stand before the district council where the presbytery will lay hands on you, pray for you, and formally recognize your ordination.
Receiving ordination marks the point in your life when you will with single-minded purpose pursue the work and the call God placed upon your life.
In the brief time we will spend together I hope to impart to you the seriousness of the call as well as the joy of the call.
Ordained Ministry is a Profession
Ordained Ministry is a Profession
John Piper in his book Brothers, We are Not Professionals argues for ministers to avoid the trap of what he terms “professional ministry.” His goal in the book is to warn ministers agains the kind of professional ministry that replaces Christ-centered and biblical truth proclaiming ministry.
He does not argue that we should not be professional or consider the ministry to be a profession. He does expose the danger of compromising the gospel and creating a professional ministry that the world applauds and promotes.
He writes:
The aim of this book is to spread a radical, pastoral passion for the supremacy and centrality of the crucified and risen God-Man, Jesus Christ, in every sphere of life and ministry and culture. Increasingly, a ministry under the banner of Christ’s supremacy will be offensive to the impulses of professional clergy who like to be quoted respectably by the local newspaper. The title of this book is meant to shake us loose from the pressure to fit in to the cultural expectations of professionalism. It is meant to sound an alarm against the pride of station and against the expectation of parity in pay and against the borrowing of paradigms from the professional world. Oh for radically Bible-saturated, God-centered, Christ-exalting, self-sacrificing, mission-mobilizing, soul-saving, culture-confronting pastors! Let the chips fall where they will: palm branches one day, persecution the next.
True ministry is a profession, but it is a profession that clings to Christ, exalts Christ, confronts worldly culture, and refuses to compromise the truth of the Scripture for the accolades of the world.
In , under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, Paul writes:
11 So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers,
12 to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up
13 until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.
God has gifted those He has called into ministry to serve Him and to lead His people. Let us think for a moment of those whom God has called to lead His people.
Moses—called by God to lead God’s people out of slavery and into freedom.
Joshua—called to lead Israel to victory in the Promised Land.
Elijah, Daniel, and Ruth.
Peter, James, John.
Paul, Timothy, Barnabas, and Titus.
All these accepted God’s call to lead His people. They all possessed two character traits.
They were willing to follow God’s leading anywhere.
They were willing to lead.
In ministry it is essential that you be convinced that God has called you to lead His people.
The AG doesn’t call you. The AG simply recognizes God’s call upon your life. It is you and you alone that must determine in your heart, in prayer, and before God that is the Lord Himself that has called you to lead His people.
Your presence here testifies that you believe God has called you into the ministry. Knowing that, I challenge you to take all the steps neccesarry to pursue your call.
The Focus of Christian Ministry
The Focus of Christian Ministry
Christian Minister’s Manual The Focus of Christian Ministry
Christian ministry is all about leadership. It is not just leadership in general. It is all about spiritual leadership. Churches more than anything else desire a leader who focuses on the spiritual.
You can ask yourself the following two questions in order to help you remain focused in ministry.
Am I growing spiritually?
Am I helping Christ’s church grow spiritually?
Christian Minister’s Manual The Focus of Christian Ministry
You can do all kinds of ministry, but if spiritual growth is not at the heart of that ministry, very little will be accomplished for God. Churches desire that their ministers be spiritual leaders, but spirituality is the easiest area to squeeze out of a busy schedule.
Here are some ideas to help you grow spiritually as a leader in the church.
Focus your ministry on Christ
Spend time each day reflecting upon what Christ had done and what Christ longs to do in your life and ministry.
15 Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will grow to become in every respect the mature body of him who is the head, that is, Christ.
Focus your ministry on love.
You are to love God supremely.
You are to love people ().
12 May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.
Focus your ministry on the Word of God.
Strong ministries are built upon the Word of God.
Make a serious commitment to spend the time and effort required to feed the milk and the meat of the Word to the people under your ministry.
Focus your ministry on your own growth.
Christian Minister’s Manual The Focus of Christian Ministry
Ministers who stop growing are ministers who do not remain relevant in reaching people.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;
6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;
7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love.
8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Christian Minister’s Manual The Focus of Christian Ministry
Ministers who stop growing are ministers who do not remain relevant in reaching people.
Discuss spiritual growth plan: Bible, prayer, fasting, worship, serving, giving, silence, solitude, etc. Must plan for it to take place.
Focus your ministry on faithfulness.
I will not soon forget what my young married couples Sunday school teacher taught me many years ago: “God hasn’t called you to be successful; He has called you to be faithful.”
Now that word success is a tricky one, but what she meant was successful in the eyes of others or in comparison to the ministry of others.
If you spend time comparing your ministry to others and becoming either jealous of them because they seem to be doing better than you or prideful because you seem to be doing better than them, you make a grievous mistake.
God judges success differently than we do.
He has called us to be faithful to the call and ministry He gives us and then leave results up to Him.
Focus on Prayer.
The NT says much about prayer.
It calls us to be devoted to prayer ().
2 Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.
The whole church is to be involved in prayer ().
8 Therefore I want the men everywhere to pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or disputing.
As a leader in the church do not neglect prayer yourself and do not neglect leading the people under you in prayer.
Learn to excel in prayer and to lead others to be involved in prayer.
Working with People
Working with People
I am sure you have heard the old joke that says ministry would be a great job if it weren’t for the people. That makes us old preachers chuckle a little, but the truth is ministry is a people business.
God calls us to love people, serve people, care for people, and minister to people. Without people there would be no ministry.
Learn to work with the people rather than against them. Change takes place slowly in most ministries—slower than the minister wants it do. Be patient. Patience is a required character trait when it comes to dealing with people.
Include young people and older people when you design plans and programs. Learn to inspire people into action. Be their cheerleader.
Jesus used a towel to wash the feet of the disciples and not as a whip to drive them.
This is called servant-leadership. It is the type of leadership that people respect and respond to.
The greatest moment of leadership, at least for senior pastors, takes place in the pulpit, in the Sunday morning message.
Make sure you focus your ministry upon the Word of God. Pray, get training, never stop growing as a preacher of God’s Word. The Word of God, powerfully preached, moves people. Jesus models the way in powerful and effective proclamation of God’s Word (Luke 24:32).
32 They asked each other, “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?”
We must intentionally grow in our preaching abilities, but, more importantly, we must live what we preach.
Paul wrote ():
3 You show that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
When our lives reflect the message of the Gospel it encourages the people in their spiritual growth.
Boundaries for Ministry
Boundaries for Ministry
We must set some serious boundaries for our ministry if we are to faithfully fulfill the call of God on our lives.
Guthrie Veech proposes the following Ten Commandments of ministry success which I have slightly altered or commented upon.
Guard your purity.
Avoid counseling a member of the opposite sex unless safeguards are in place.
Never travel alone with a member of the opposite sex.
Watch the innocent hugs and touches that too easily develop in to something more.
Use good sense here and guard yourself with strong boundaries.
Avoid pornography
Strongly guard against using the internet inappropriately.
Focus on evangelism and discipleship (make disciples, not just converts).
Learn to say “no.”
(use wisdom in what you say yes or no to in order to stay on track with God’s call and to fulfill your ministry.)
Strongly encourage all believers to engage in some type of ministry.
Be amenable to your leadership
(presbyters, superintendent, missions region director, etc.)
Set family boundaries.
(what good would it do for you to win the world and lose your family?).
Protect your spiritual life and spiritual growth.
(practicing spiritual disciplines, etc, only you can set this agenda and guard it).
Attend at least one ministry seminar every year.
(Momentum at District Council is an example, and there are others, that will enrich and encourage you in ministry).
Stretch yourself through continuing education.
(self directed and formal continuing ed) and missions (supporting and going).
These ten boundaries lay a good foundation for ministry success.
Time Management
Time Management
The more God grows your ministry the more important it is for you to manage your time wisely.
God gives each of us the same amount of weeks in a year, days in a week, and hours in a day, yet some accomplish a great deal more than others.
Sometimes this is the result of talent or skill but often it results from wise time management.
Often in ministry you will be responsible for your own usage of time with few or no restrictions.
Since I started in full time ministry in 1992 I have never had to punch a time clock or work a set number of hours. It was up to me to use my time wisely. Many of you will need to do the same.
Christian Minister’s Manual Time Management
One prominent minister was asked about the most important part of his day. I will never forget his response. “The most important part of my day is shaving.” He was saying the most important part of any day for a minister is getting up and getting started. In ministry you seldom punch a time clock. You have to determine your schedule.
I would encourage you to study books on productivity like Getting Things Done by David Allen. You can also use apps like Nozbe, which is based on the Getting Things Done system to help you manage projects and tasks. Michael Sliwinski designed the Nozbe app and he wrote a simplified productivity book based on the Nozbe system that will help you get a productivity system up and going quickly.
I can’t cover productivity for a minster or ministry today, but I can give you a few tips to get you started.
Time management tips.
Have a set time for prayer, Scripture, and silence before God.
Plan your week before it begins.
Remember that almost everything takes longer than you think it will.
Leave some margin for things that take longer or spring up unannounced.
Get in the habit of long term planning.
Do difficult tasks first.
—when they are done it will help you breathe easier and give you some margin.
Take time off.
Put family events on your calendar.
So when someone wants you to do something you can legitimately say you already have an appointment.
Create a reading list and set a reading schedule.
Decide a specific number of books you will read in a year. Choose good books that will help in leadership, productivity, ministry skills, etc. Read some good biographies of Christian leaders.
Leaders are readers and readers are leaders.
Don’t wing it.
Create a plan, work the plan, leave margin for the unexpected, and take appropriate time off.
Where to Find Help
Where to Find Help
You will face problems in ministry.
Naively, new ministers think that since they serve Christian people that they will always get Christian responses, but that is not so.
There is a dirty underbelly of ministry where we must deal with difficult issues and problems.
You will encounter well-meaning but wrong people. You will face spiritual attacks from the realm of darkness. You might see your closest supporter and friend suddenly, maybe inexplicably, become a fierce and hurtful enemy. All these problems and more can come into the life of a minister.
Here are some resources to help you.
1. Never overlook the importance of prayer. Pray first; pray always.
When we don’t understand, the Lord does. He always knows. So we must pray.
Let us pray in the Spirit when we don’t know how to pray.
Let us pray with the people.
Let us pray alone.
Let us pray in the morning.
Let us pray all day long.
Let us pray when God awakens us at night.
And when confused, troubled, and hurt and not knowing what to say let us groan before Him in prayer ().
26 Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness. For we do not know what to pray for as we ought, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words.
2. Turn to the Bible when you need help.
It is God’s wisdom and direction. It leads us and guides us. It provides help in time of need.
3. Turn to colleagues in ministry.
Ministers around you have likely faced what you are facing. They can help. The can tell you what didn’t work and what did work. I know that your presbyter, your district superintendent, all our district leaders, will take time to visit with you if you will make your need known to them.
4. Continue your ministerial training.
Take some courses from a Bible college that could assist you. GU is affordable and available to you anywhere in the world. Get a mentor. Join a coaching cohort. Let some of the best leaders in the world mentor you through their books.
5. Turn to professional Christian counselors.
Privacy is guaranteed. On the back of your credential card is a hotline you can call for private counseling.
6. Know yourself enough to know when you need to step back and get some rest.
I heard a ministry leader once say, “The most spiritual thing some of you can do is take a nap.” Plan days off, plan vacations, get away, refresh, recharge, renew, and retool yourself.
Plan days off, plan vacations, get away, refresh, recharge, renew, and retool yourself.
Participate in the Life of the AG
Participate in the Life of the AG
You seek ordination in the AG therefore you must think it is of value and worth joining. Don’t join in name only. Truly become a part of the fellowship by participating in it.
Sectional meetings--build camaraderie and fellowship among colleagues.
District meetings—fellowship, encouragement, encourage one another.
National meetings—more than elections, inspirational and encouraging.
When becoming an AG minister, you voluntarily accept the following financial obligations.
The following applies differently if you are a missionary, a chaplain, or in another special situation. It is up to you to make sure you comply no matter your situation.
1/2 tithe to the district.
$300 per year to the GCAG.
$10 per month to MBF.
(explain that it is not insurance, but benevolence)
Renew credentials yearly.
If you are a pastor you must complete the ACMR every January.
Keep on top of these things and it will bless you and the fellowship.
Oh for radically Bible-saturated, God-centered, Christ-exalting, self-sacrificing, mission-mobilizing, soul-saving, culture-confronting pastors!
Resources:
Productivity Resources:
Productivity Resources:
www.nozbe.com (productivity app)
Ten Steps to Ultimate Productivity by Michael Sliwinski (A guide to becoming more productive using the Nozbe app. Sliwinski created Nozbe).
Getting Things Done by David Allen (This book is the basis for many productivity systems and apps including Nozbe.)
Sources Consulted:
Piper, John. Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry. Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2002.
Veech, Guthrie. Christian Minister’s Manual. Cincinnati, OH: Standard, 2006.