preach on, dear brother, preach on! now that i am out of paid ministry, i find myself loving and ministering more than ever! i’m finding myself in a rather interesting predicament, though. for quite some time, i’ve said that it would take God incarnet standing in front of me and telling me to go back into any position of ministry leadership for me to actually do it. now my life seems to be organically going that way, and it leaves me perplexed. so i’ve come up with a rather simple resolution: love. simply just love, knowing it is impossible for me to truly love out of my own capacity. you see, to love as YHWH loves compells justice, service, and truth. then and only then will true ministry (paid or not) happen. if i lunge into the firey passion of YHWH’s love and allow myself to be consumed, then i am capable of nothing less than a Godly love for the Body, and furthermore, the World. but i must let go of myself and be consumed.
amy´s last blog ..a few short thoughts

Good points about “paid” ministry. I’ve been there also and it is very easy to just punch the clock every day, collect a paycheck and feel like you’ve done your duty in ministry, when that’s really not what happened at all.

And it’s not necessarily the church/employer’s fault. Sometimes it is though. At times I looked back at jobs I had in the world and thought: “Wow, I used to do a lot more ministry when I worked in the ‘World’.” And that might be my fault but either way it’s dangerous.

Very little ministry actually happens inside the walls of Church. And that’s actually a good thing…kind of. It’s really only half of the concept. The idea is that we as believers can go to Church and get filled to the brim with the Word so that we can go out and minister to the people who are outside the “four walls” of Church. But the problem is that so many churches are delivering a “feel good” gospel now in place of solid, Bible beating, scripture cramming Word these days; and the people in Church aren’t being equipped enough to minister outside the “four walls”. We are witnessing it all over the country. Our focus has shifted from getting the lost into Heaven, to getting people into our Church.

Inward vs. Outward.

now, there is also the aspect of life as ministry. this is where the Body comes into play. as it says in Acts, “they shall know you by your love for each other.” (paraphrased, of course.) it is in the daily interactions between the Body that ministry truly happens. and it is in the way that the Body interacts with the World that ministry becomes real.

those are just some initial thoughts.

1) A staff ministry position in which you are PAID for full-time hours in which you are expected to minister to and serve members of your faith community and general community at large.

2) As some have said before. Life. It’s a faith walked out, lived out daily. Ministry in it’s basic form means to provide for the needs of others. So full-time ministry would be serving others, providing for the needs of others, all the time.

I know that’s kind of trite…but seriously, it’s not about whether it’s your full-time paid employment, but about whether you are being a minister of God’s Kingdom full time…or just part time.

Hot…or just luke-warm…
David´s last blog ..Refugees : Australia Cancels Your “Debt”