WATCH DRURY WRITE A BOOK. – THIS IS A TEMPORARY POST Writer’s first draft of a book to be
published by The Wesleyan
Publishing House. as an introduction
to the ministry. This web-posted copy is
an early draft of the manuscript and not intended to be used as a final
document. While the editors will catch minor errors if you see something significantly
wrong or missing drop Keith Drury a note at kdrury@indwes.edu
©
2003 Keith Drury
2
The difference between
“ministry” and “the
Ministry”
Is there any difference
between the “ministry” a pastor does in visiting a sick person in the hospital
and the ministry a factory worker does visiting that same person after getting
off work? When we say a minister is “called”
to the vocation of ministry do we mean nobody else is called to their work?
What does it mean to be “ordained?” What
terms help us understand the general ministry and the equipping ministry?
What is “ministry?”
Did
you ever tell a restaurant waiter or waitress, “Thanks for ministering to
me”? Sounds strange, doesn't it? But that is essentially the root meaning of
the term "ministry."
“Ministry” simply means serving or “waiting” on others—the same term we
might use for waiting on tables at a restaurant. Ministry is serving others. At its simplest level, ministry includes
everything any person might do to serve another—from waiting tables, to
counseling, to a life in politics, to running a drill press at an automobile
plant. Each of these jobs provide a
service and meets the needs of others.
In this broad sense everybody is a minister, Christians, Moslems,
Buddhists and Atheists. Ministry at its
simplest level is serving—meeting others’ needs. Every person in the world can do that. Ministry
in its most general sense is simply serving.
What then is “Christian
ministry?”
Christians
often use the term “ministry’ in a more specific way—to denote service that is
itself Christian—either Christian in
content or in motivation. “Christian in content” would mean the actual service
is related to helping a person develop a Christian-based life style or
values. Leading a Bible study is such a
ministry that is Christian in content, thus “Christian ministry.” Christian in motivation” has to do more with the person serving than the content
of the service. That is, a service
offered out of a Christian motivation can be "
Then what is “The Ministry?”
Most
churches use “the Ministry” to describe the profession of a pastor called to a
full time church vocation. You might
hear some pastors say, “All Christians are called to ministry but some are
called to the ministry.” Others make this distinction between the
general ministry (to which all Christians are called) and the specific ministry
(to which pastors and other professional ministers are called) by capitalizing
the word “Ministry” to indicate the profession.
Those who do this would say “All Christians are called to ministry while
some are called to the Ministry.”
Interestingly, a pastor is thus called to two kinds of ministry: the general ministry, to which all
Christians are called and the professional equipping
Ministry in which clergy spend their “careers.” “The
ministry” or a capitalized "Ministry” usually refers to the ordained
vocational profession of the clergy or pastors.
What is “Equipping Ministry?”
The
Equipping ministry is the same thing as "the ministry." It is simply
another term some churches use for “the Ministry” as a profession. It comes from the Bible. Ephesians 4: 11-12 tells how God gave the
church, “Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists,
and Pastors and Teachers” so that they would “equip the saints” (Christians)
“for works of ministry” (that is, the general ministry to which all Christians
are called). In this Scripture, God and
the church set apart some Christians (pastors, evangelists, apostles) to equip
the rest of the Christians for the general ministry in their regular job at an
automobile plant, at home, in school or at the office. The ministry is a job of working with lay
people to train and equip them for their own ministries. Every Christian is thus called to be a
minister, but God calls some to be set apart to equip of the rest for their
personal ministry.” Equipping ministry is “full time Christian work” where a pastor or
other full time minister prepares the laity for general ministry.
What then is “The Call?”
While
it can be said that the Bible calls every Christian to evangelize, disciple,
worship and serve others, there is also a personal and individual call from God
that comes to some to become “a minister” as my profession—to give my entire
life to serving and equipping other Christians.
We sometimes use the term “call to full time Christian work” for this
calling or we might ask, “Have you been called to the ministry?” The call to full time Ministry is not something
you apply for, it is something that is bestowed upon you. Such a call does not make you better than
those who have heard the general call to all Christians—but this calling has
always been praised in the church as a special call from God to serve and lead
the people of God. This double use of the term “call” (all are called to
general ministry, some are called to the equipping ministry) can cause
confusion. But it is not unlike other
professions. For instance, everyone is
called at times to do counseling with a friend who is facing difficulty, but
some people enter the vocation of counseling.
Every person—especially parents—do teaching at times, but some enter the
vocation of teaching. All of us might
help nurse our spouse or children back to health when they get sick, but some
enter the vocation of nursing. Likewise
all Christians do ministry but some are called by God into the vocation of the
ministry. “The call” refers to God’s recruitment of an individual Christian into
the vocational ministry as a lifetime profession.
What is ordination?
Ordination
is the rite the church uses to set apart a man or woman for a lifetime of
equipping ministry—as pastor or priest or some other ordained professional
ministry. In most churches it is a
solemn rite done only after many years of education, training, examination and
several years of local church service as a minister. In most denominations ordination is
irrevocable. If a minister falls morally
his or her license to practice
ministry might be taken away and locked up somewhere in a denominational
vault. But even if that minister is
later “restored” to their vocation they are not re-ordained. One can only be ordained once. Rather a fallen minister who is restored gets
their license to practice ministry back.
In this most Protestant churches are very much like Catholic churches
who say, “once a priest always a priest.”
Ordination is when the church recognizes the minister’s lifetime
authority as God’s representative to the people, and the people’s representative
to God. Ordination is a serious matter and should not be pursued for light or
temporary reasons. Roman Catholics even
consider ordination a sacrament.
Protestants do not consider it a sacrament, but hold it as one of the
highest non-sacramental rites. Though few use the formal term today,
traditionally they might refer to you as "Reverend" Lastname after
this. For many denominations, only
ordained ministers may perform marriages, preach regularly, preside over the
Lord’s Supper or baptize. Ordination is
the rite by which the church sets apart a priest or minister for life.
Are there non-ordained
church jobs?
This
book is not about “church jobs.” There are a lot of church jobs. This book is about the ordained
ministry. Almost all churches hire an
ordained minister as their leader, though some churches—particularly large
ones—also hire people to work as non-ordained employees. Churches sometimes hire non-ordained staff
persons who serve as Christian Education directors, secretaries, lay youth
workers, janitors, or worship leaders; notice that many of these “jobs” could
be filled by either an ordained or an un-ordained person. For instance an ordained person working with
teens (or someone on the “ordination track”) would be called a “Youth
Pastor.” A person doing the same work
as a full time non-ordained person would be called a “Youth Director.” Same with worship: An ordained person is usually called a
“Minister of worship” while the non-ordained staff person might be called
“worship director.” Though a nurse and
doctor seem to do similar things, we call one a nurse and another a
doctor. Same in the church. Although many denominations have ten times as
many “jobs” for ordained ministers then they do non-ordained staff persons,
there are still lots of staff jobs in churches.
One of the early decisions you will need to make if you are headed for
vocational service in the church is whether you are sensing a lifetime call to
ordained ministry with all the rights of an ordained minister, or if you are
satisfied being a staff person doing church work as a non-ordained lay
person. This book will help you
understand the ordination work and determine if that is for you or you should
rather pursue a staff job not headed for ordination. Non-ordained church jobs are vocational work as lay person and usually
as a staff position.
The call to the ministry
leading to ordination and a lifetime of service
All
these terms may seem confusing but they are relevant to our thinking of the
general ministry and the Ministry as
a profession. In this book we are
dealing specifically with one vocation—the Ministry. By that we mean a person who has an inner
conviction that God has called them to the work of being a prophet and priest
for God’s people, that call is confirmed by the church, and then leads to
ordination for lifelong ministry. The
resulting service will almost always be related to the local church in one way
or another. The ministry we are speaking of in this book is one that comes from
a call to the ministry leading to ordination and a lifetime of service.
Follow up study
and application
To Share:
1. Tell about a time when
you did ministry that was Christian in motivation, though not content.
2. Describe someone you know in the church who works on staff and
gets paid but they are not an ordained minister
To Discuss:
3. How can those called to
the ministry make sure everyone else doesn’t think they are saying they are a
better person then the average lay person?
4. What are the reasons most people who work in the church on
staff are ordained—why do you think this is so?
To Do:
5. Make a chart of these terms with their simply
summary definitions to make it easy to recall them.
6.
Write a single paragraph weaving together all these terms explaining the
concept in this chapter