Why are You in Ministry?

We are all in ministry.

Yes, even you, even in an office or a classroom or at home. In fact, it often takes different forms over the course of your life. Sometimes it means serving in Sunday school, other times it means caring for a unbelieving family member.

Ministry is often defined in religious settings as working towards bringing people to God and discipling them with God’s love. Everyone, whether people who have grown up in faith or haven’t heard a single word from the Bible, needs to experience God’s ministry.

Here is one definition of ministry: “A person or thing through which something is accomplished” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). Another word for this is instrumentality, which means the state of being a crucial tool.

In some ways, I like this definition because it reminds us of our purpose as God’s creation to spread the good news of Jesus’ love and sacrifice to others so that their lives can be transformed. However, when we begin to view our ministry as a thing that needs to be accomplished, we lose sight of what really matters.

Yesterday, I had a conversation with a very insightful pastor who shared about a discussion he was having with other sermon-writers about balancing the need to create sermons that both serve the congregation and also allow for the pastors themselves to explore where God’s Spirit is leading and teaching them individually.

While it may seem like a pastor’s main job is to serve the congregation, how much richer would sermons be if pastors wrote them from a place of curiosity and readiness to grow closer to God in their own spiritual journeys?

Though you may not be writing a sermon anytime soon, I believe this approach to ministry is crucial no matter where we serve. Most of my ministry is in the form of creating and teaching lessons for kids. Recently, I’ve found myself overly focused on creating a fun and memorable experience for the kids rather than trying to hear what God is teaching me through these lessons.

This past year has been a season of stepping back and reevaluating why I’m in ministry. Is it to fulfill a hole in my life? Is it to feel needed? Is it because I love God and His people? Is it because I am called?

And what happens when a calling shifts? Does that mean I have to move even if good work is being done?

Last fall, I had been wrestling over whether or not to leave a ministry position at the end of my term, particularly because it had felt like my calling for a period of time and I hadn’t experienced a clear new calling yet. After several events and encounters led me to conclude that it was time to step aside and make room for a new leader, I still had lingering questions in the back of my mind: Am I really supposed to leave? How can I know for sure?

Then it hit me this week, as I’m winding down my time in this position, one question I hadn’t asked myself until now: Is my participation in this ministry bringing me closer to God or hurting my relationship with Him?

Truthfully, while I believe other parts of my life are drawing me closer to God, my recent experiences in this role have not been beneficial to my spiritual wellbeing. They have caused me to get caught up in the “doing” rather than the “being” of relationship with God and others.

I think it’s important for everyone in ministry to periodically reevaluate why they are in ministry. If this is the place where you are at right now, I’m inviting you to ask yourself these questions as honestly as you can:

1. What originally drew me to this ministry? Do those factors still apply? Have new factors arisen?
2. How do I feel after participating in this ministry?
3. Do I still sense a calling from God to stay in this ministry?
4. Are there other ministries that I am more drawn to?
5. Is my participation in this ministry bringing me closer to God or hurting my relationship with Him (and others)?

These aren’t questions for the faint of heart, and I pray that you are presented with answers that bring you clarity and peace. God is working in you wherever you are, and nothing you can do will change that.

You yourselves are our letter, written on our hearts, known and read by everyone. 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.

Such confidence we have through Christ before God.

2 Corinthians 3:2-4