Ministry Isn’t For Pastors

One of my struggles of working at a church and also attending seminary is that many I interact with seem to think of church ministry as the height of faithfulness and ministry to God. Think of the phrase, “I’m going into the ministry,” and it’s common use in our culture today. Yet it comes across as so egotistical to me. What it essentially says is, ‘as a pastor I am the only one doing true ministry while everyone else just comes to watch me do it.’

A few weeks ago in a fortuitous bouncing post I linked to a well written blog on this very subject. The blog author, Bob Robinson, had this to say on pastors and church ministry:

What if instead of finding the most satisfaction and joy when someone we have been mentoring and/or discipling says they want to become a missionary or go to seminary, we would find even more satisfaction and joy when we see them fully engaged in following Christ in the life they are called to live?

Earlier this week Scot McKnight hit on the subject as well by saying:

The primary role of the pastor (and the church) is not to preach but to equip, ministry is done by the saints — laity — not just by the pastor.

I believe this mindset of ministry, of the pastorate, and of church is something my generation does not understand. It takes the power away from “normal” (yes, I do realize pastors are normal people) people and gives it to a few elite men. This isn’t to say we shouldn’t honor, respect, and follow pastors who God has placed in our lives to empower us in Christian living, but it is to say that ministry is something all people are a part of.

Gabe Lyons says in The Next Christians:

For decades, many Christians have thought the only place they could impact the Kingdom was through serving in their local churches…But the faithful are coming alive as a new generation of Christians are making the real connections between their faith and their work…Imagine what is possible when Christians throughout the church recover this sense of vision for their work in the world (emphasis mine).

Often times the Bible translates the word for “ministry” as a word that also means “service.” In all the places we are serving God, that is ministry. It is not confined to a church or to a pastor. It is not something you must receive a Masters of Divinity to do. Ministry and service to God is an opportunity we always have before us.

Ministry isn’t just for pastors, it’s for every follower of Christ.