“Should I consider going into ministry?”
For years I found myself asking this question, even as I was already practicing and studying ministry. It is common, whether you grew up in the church or just came to faith, to feel a certain obligation or pressure to at least consider the possibility of pursuing a career in ministry.
You are here because you are wrestling with the question of what and where God is calling you. Let me be the first to say – it is okay to wrestle with this question! If you need some real-world inspiration, check out 10 Who Changed the World.
Sometimes God may give you clarity on what he wants you to do, and other times he will just give you the choice.
As you consider a career in ministry, here are four reasons why it might be where God is leading you:
You will experience God moving in other people’s lives.
People can go into ministry for selfish reasons: popularity, the external appearance of “faith”, social influence. However, I trust that you are not wanting to do ministry because of that.
One of the largest benefits to this career is that God will use you to impact somebody else. That is what you will be signing up for – a life chasing after other people.
You should consider going into ministry if you want to see sad people smile, broken people rejoice, Orphan children feel like they belong, and lost people feel found.
You must have the courage to relentlessly pursue people as Jesus did – that is what ministry is all about: people.
The most important positive in a vocational minister is their obedience to the Holy Spirit to influence other people into a deeper relationship with Jesus Christ.
You get to train people to do ministry.
Yet another reason that points to people. If you’ve gotten this far and decided that you absolutely do not want a career working with people – all kinds of people – then this field may not be for you. In that case, check out my blog 2 Big Reasons You Should Not Go Into Full-Time Ministry.
Training other people to do the work of the ministry (Eph 4:11-13) is one of the joys of ministry. Unfortunately, many people expect that the pastor should be responsible to do everything around the church, however, the Bible is very clear that it is the job of the minister to train his people.
This entails deep relationships and seeing people grow over a long period of time. There is nothing sweeter than watching somebody you’ve walked with begin to start their own Bible Study or to disciple their own friend 1-on-1.
Training people is messy. They will mess up. You will mess up. At the end of the day, though, ministry is about giving away as much of your ministry as possible.
You will get to do something new each day.
Ministry can be described as doing life with other people. In life, things happen. I promise you that you will NEVER complete the work of ministry.
You will always have families to visit, sporting events to attend, hospital visits, and people lighting you up for a coffee meeting to talk about their struggles and questions.
This is not on the list of positives, but one additional plus to ministry is the amount of free food and coffee that you will receive. Honestly, it is unreal.
I’ll admit that I am a person who loves discipline and routine – and it is challenging to have both when you work full-time in ministry. There are a lot of late nights and early mornings. There are a lot of sleepless nights too, especially if you don’t know how to deal with the burdens of everyone around you.
Ministry is a people business. And people are messy. However, the changing situations and providing hope to different kinds of people each and every day give you something new each morning to wake up and thank God for.
You will be challenged like never before.
Imagine running a 26.2 mile marathon. Some of you may have done it before. Some of you have the 0.0 mile bumper sticker on the back of your car. Either way, you can imagine the difficulty.
Now imagine running one with a weighted vest, while pulling somebody else behind you on a sled for the whole race. That is kind of how ministry feels. And this is the greatest feeling in the whole world. Let me explain…
Yes, there is a lot of pressure. Yes, you are expected to have your life together, finances in order, family first always, and still find time to know every person’s name whether you work in a ministry of 50 or 5,000.
In spite of this, though, this is when you see the power of the Holy Spirit and the promises of Jesus come in. All though I must admit that they are there from the get-go. You will experience the filling of his Spirit and accomplish things for the Kingdom that can only be a result of Jesus Christ.
You should go into ministry because God will increase your faith as you submit yourself in service to him. He will be glorified more the less that you get in the way. So, in that way, you are able to take all of this pressure off.
Clearly, there are a lot of reasons to go into ministry. First and foremost, though, ministry is in the business of helping people. Relationships (with God and with others) are the foundation for this career. Seminary helps, but nothing other than the Spirit of God can help you in the messiness of life.
At the top of this blog there are a list of resources that can help you uncover your calling to ministry. They were quite influential for me personally as I wrestled with this question of full-time ministry.
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