The Call to Ministry

All Christians are ministers and they are called to ministry. Now that I have made this statement, ask yourself the following two questions: 1) am I a minister? 2) Am I active in ministry? Why did you answer these questions the way that you did?

Many of us have a limited perspective of who is a minister and what a minister does. Let us begin by saying that according to the Strong’s Complete Word Study Concordance, 2004 there are at least fifteen words that are translated into some form of the words minister and ministry in the King James Version of the Bible. When we look at the various nuances of these words we arrive at the conclusion that a minister is one who works and ministry is the work that the minister does in order to meet the needs of God’s people.

In Ephesians 2:8-9 the writer tells us that God saves a person by grace through faith. Most Christians have heard these verses quoted many times. As we continue to read this passage we read, “For we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God has prepared beforehand to be our way of life” (v. 10, NRSV). God has work for every saved person to do. This work is not limited to the church organization, but the work that God has prepared for us to do is a way of life. God has so much work for His people to do that Jesus said, ‘”The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest” (Matt. 9:37-38,NRSV). Jesus gave His disciples this command because He saw the people’s needs (vv. 35-36). Jesus calls all Christians to be minister and to do ministry.

Ministers are not limited to the persons who wear a title in our churches and religious organization. Ministry is not limited to those who serve in the auxiliaries of our churches. These are valid titles and structures in the church, but ministry goes beyond the walls of the church. Indeed there is ministry in the church. These ministries serve primarily to meet the needs of the members of the congregation. Often it is hard to get volunteers to serve in these ministries. Rev. Dr. William Buchanan, pastor of Fifteenth Avenue Baptist Church Nashville, Tennessee says that a primary reason is because church members are asked to volunteer to serve. He says that the word volunteer is wrong. Volunteers are people who do something because they have a personal agenda or simply because someone asks them to serve. Often there is no commitment to the ministry and the volunteer is free to leave the ministry anytime that the person wants to. Dr. Buchanan instructed his congregation to stop using the word volunteer and to call those who have made a commitment to serve “ministers.”

There is ministry of the church. These are activities that the congregation does to meet the needs of those members and non members of the church. A common ministry of the church is feeding the hungry regardless of their relationship to the church. The problem is that every member is not an active participant in the ministries in the church and ministries of the church. Since this is true, how can every member of the congregation be a minister and do ministry?

We are called to serve others as a way of life (Eph.2:10) Ministry serves two primary purposes: to demonstrate the love of God for all people, and to give glory to God. We demonstrate the love of God when we live by the Spirit. Jesus commissions us to tell of His love for us as proven by His death on the cross so that we may be forgiven of sin and receive eternal life. This is made manifest in our demonstrating the fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23). We serve God when we meet the needs of people (Matt. 25:31-46). We glorify God when we do the work that He has called us to do (John 17:1-5, 20-24).

The place where we work can be a place of ministry. It took me several years of working as a nurse (RN) before I realized that God wanted me to go beyond the requirements of the job. God wanted me to minister to people and especially His children that I was assigned to take care of. I began to realize this truth when I was working on the night shift at the VA Medical Center. I was supposed to do two baths. One of the patients that I chose to bathe was an elderly man who was in dire need of a shave and a good bath. Supposedly, this man had been getting a bath every morning. When I returned to work the next night, I learned that the man had died. I realized that God had assigned this patient to me. His family did not have to come in and view his body in the same condition that I had found him. I have seen racist white men curse out Christian Black nurses. These nurses could have refused to take care of these men. These women had the fruit of the Spirit and they did the best that they could for these men. In one case, their care for the man went beyond the call of duty. This man saw their good works and repented of His sins and was baptized in the Occupational Therapy pool at the hospital.

I worked as a private duty nurse taking care of patients in their homes. I had the opportunity to provide nursing care for a young man who had suffered injury on his job. He was paralyzed. He was totally dependent on others to meet all of his physical need. Despite his physical condition this man’s skin condition was better than most people. His wife would instruct the nurses on soaps to use for bathing as well as which oils and lotions to use on his body. I asked the wife how she had learned so much about taking care of her husband’s skin. She told me that when her husband was well the two of them would go through the neighborhood and take care of the elderly people. They would help the elderly in any way that they had a need. She had learned about skin care through their bathing and dressing of these elderly people. This was their personal ministry.

Christians are called to minister to people in various situations that they find themselves. When we think of ourselves as ministers of God, we will be more sensitive to meeting the needs of people, and we will find joy when we glorify God by doing the work that we have been called to do in the name of God and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.