CHMN 201-D06 LUO
Essentials of Ministry
Part One: A Summary of Early’s and Gutierrez’s Essentials
Each of us who follow Christ have been placed on earth for a specific purpose.
Throughout our lives, God allows us to go through a process that will equip us for the calling
that He has placed on our lives. It is important to remember that our Creator has designed us to
perform that mission to which we are called. However, we must begin serving the Lord with our
abilities as He gives us opportunity so that we may learn how to serve others and, in the process,
glorify God.
Once we realize the call of God, it is up to each of us to prepare for that calling. We
should humbly thank Him for allowing us to serve Him. Acknowledging the Holiness of God
will increase our awareness of His divine purpose for our lives and empower us to do the work
that He has positioned us to do.
After we have begun the process of preparing our hearts for the calling of God, we may
then begin responding to the call. However, before we take that first step into full-time ministry,
it is vitally important to ask the Lord to confirm that there is, indeed, a call to pursue vocational
church ministry. God will confirm that calling through assuring us of our through our ministry
gifts, by the impact we are having on the lives of others, by an increase in the desire to serve, by
a true sense of completeness and joy in the calling and by a conviction that we can do nothing
else to be fulfilled in life.
Understanding the importance of prayer is the priority for anyone engaged in the ministry
of the Lord Jesus. As Dr. Early states in our text, “Prayer-first ministry is God-blessed ministry.”1
Ministers who understand the importance of having an effective prayer life also understand the
1 Dave Earley and Ben Gutierrez, Everyday Ministry: Applying the Christian Faith. B&H Academic, 2010, 1132
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significance of their calling to ministry. It is evident that those ministers who spend adequate
time in prayer are the ones who are better prepared to face the constant challenges of the ministry
to which they are called.
Our perspective in ministry often dictates our effectiveness. Those who are called to
become full-time ministers need to grasp the reality that we are sinners who have been redeemed
by God and allowed, by his grace, to be his servants in ministry. That takes maintaining an
eternal perspective, having an attitude of gratitude to the Lord for the privilege of serving Him
and others in ministry, keeping the focus of ministry on Jesus Christ and remaining positive
when trials and tribulations are experienced.
Remaining humble in ministry also means that we realize that we must continue to grow
in our relationship with Christ and in our efforts to become His disciples. Training ourselves
toward godliness is an ongoing discipline as we seek to become more like Christ. We are
reminded in 2nd Peter 1:3 that, “His divine power has given us everything required for life and
godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and goodness.” By
disciplining ourselves to continue to study God’s Word and by seeking knowledge from other
godly sources, we can rest assured we will continue to grow in our understanding of the
character and the attributes of Christ.
Simply stated, there has never been a greater example of love than Jesus Christ. To be
effective in ministry, there must be a constant emphasis placed on the importance of developing
relationships with others. As Dr. Early states, “If we hope to be powerful in ministry, we need to
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be like Jesus. We must be people of evident love.”2 We are commanded by Jesus to love each
other and obedience to that command must be priority for every minister.
Uncompromising faith
I believe it can be said that every person called by God to ministry must also understand
the call of integrity and the importance of godly character. Compromising the life of integrity and
the commitment to obey the teachings of Christ will certainly reduce the effectiveness of any
ministry. One of the most important ways to ensure a life of integrity is to surround yourself with
others who have the same commitment to living an uncompromising life. These true friends will
help to provide support and will be willing to speak into your life should they see you slipping.
Loyalty to the truth
Another essential of ministry is an uncompromising loyalty to the Truth. It is evident that our
enemy, Satan, is effective in his attempts to disguise the absolute truth of God’s holy Word as
being relative to our circumstances and situations. It is imperative for God’s people to understand
that since the eternal God is unchanging, and His Word is absolute truth; then every other idea or
perspective is unreliable at best. As Psalms 119:160 states, “The entirety of Your word is truth,
and all Your righteous judgments endure forever.”
Being the Biblical Church
It is important, now more than ever, for the church to regain its identity as the Body of
Christ. God has set a very high standard for His church and that standard is found in Jesus Christ.
At a time when the church is being watched and judged by a world that is moving further from
2 Earley and Gutierrez,
3
Everyday Ministry: Applying the Christian Faith, 1378.
the Truth, the church should be dedicated to obeying His Word and maintaining unity. That is the
clarion call for all of us who profess to be called “according to His purpose.” Our mission is to
take the gospel message and, not only proclaim it, but to live it before a world that is lost and in
desperate need of His mercy, grace and salvation.
Commitment to obedience
In his book best-selling book on becoming a leader, author John Maxwell states,
“Everything rises and falls on leadership.” 3 The same can be said regarding obedience to God’s
Word. Every person called to ministry is required to obey God and He has equipped all of us,
through the power of the Holy Spirit, to honor this command. There is no ambiguity in this
mandate. The Lord has made it abundantly clear that He expects us to obey His Word and to
model this obedience before the world.
Two areas of improvement identified
Responding to the call
Throughout my life, I have struggled with surrendering to the call of God on my life. My
response to this calling has been to hide behind the notion that I am not good enough or that my
sin is too great for God to use me. Having been in several ministry positions throughout my life,
two of them full-time staff positions, has still not settled this issue for me.
I have recently been called by God, and a local body of Christ, to serve as a worship
pastor. Again, I have struggled understanding why God continues to use me in this ministry.
3 John C. Maxwell, The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will Want to
Follow (Mumbai: Magna Publishing Co., 2012).
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However, after reading the section on “Essentials of Ministry,” the Holy Spirit has caused me to
finally understand that it is time for me to respond to this call as one who is confident that God
wants to use me regardless of my misgivings. This has truly been one of the most amazing
moments in my life!
Studying the material in this course has given me the necessary tools that I need to create
a plan to help improve my trust in the Lord and in my calling. First, I am convinced that my
weakness in trusting God is due to insufficient time spent in His presence recently. I know how
important this is and I have every intention, as I’m led by the Holy Spirit, to spend at least one
hour per day reading His Word. I also plan to commit at least 30 minutes per day in prayer. This
time in prayer will not be spent asking Him for simple blessings. It will be spent call on the Holy
Spirit to guide me and empower me to love God completely and to love the people He has
entrusted me to serve unconditionally.
This time will be spent in my home office away from the noise and clamor of life in a
spiritual retreat before my Lord. My plan is to spend 15 minutes in the morning before I leave for
work and 15 minutes in the evening after study time to pray. Author Shane Claiborne makes this
powerful statement about prayer, “Prayer is not so much about convincing God to do what we
want God to do as it is about convincing ourselves to do what God wants us to do.”4 I feel as
though I have spent more time trying to solicit God’s favor on my life than I have submitting to
His will for my life as I pray for others. The importance of lifting others in prayer has become
more alive to me than ever before.
4 Shane Claiborne, Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals. (IVP Books, 2008).
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I will also schedule 30 minutes in the morning to read the Word and 30 minutes on my
lunch hour each day. I believe it is important to set aside this time as “holy unto the Lord.” I have
also purchased a dated journal that will allow me greater accountability to schedule this time
with God and to journal as prompted by the Spirit.
Loving People
The second area of struggle for me has been in loving people as Christ loved the church
and gave Himself for her. The Lord has blessed me with many wonderful relationships through
the years and I am grateful for them. However, I have been rather lazy in reaching out to people
whom God has allowed me to serve in ministry who are not in my “inner circle” and I now
realize that I must begin serving them faithfully. Through this study on the Essentials of
Ministry, I am now ready to create a plan to spend more time and resources in obeying this great
command.
First, in my new ministry position, I have requested the names, addresses, contact
information, and birthdays and anniversary dates for each person who will be serving along-side
me in the choir and worship team. I plan to contact each of them within my first year of service
to develop relationship and to humbly ask for their prayers. I will also recognize important dates
in their lives such as birthdays, anniversaries, and new births. My goal here is to make their life
events important to me to develop a loving relationship.
Secondly, I will set aside time to pray for each person who is serving in the music
ministry at the church. This time will be either included in my personal prayer time as well as
time that I will meet with other staff members during the week. I currently have two hours each
week set aside for church visitation and prayer for our church family.
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Bibliography
Lastly, I will be assisting our Lead Pastor with occasional hospital visits and in-home
visits for those families serving in the music ministry. I currently do not know when these
times will be since they will be planned based on the Pastor’s availability.
These are only two of the areas that I will be addressing in the new ministry opportunity
to which the Lord has called me. I can honestly say that I have been convicted to pour
through
each of the essentials mentioned that I might serve the Lord and His people more effectively.
I
am grateful for how the Spirit has moved in me during this week of study of “The Essentials
of
Ministr y.”
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Earley, Dave, and Ben Gutierrez. Everyday Ministry: Applying the Christian Faith. Nashville:
B&H Academic, 2010.
Claiborne, Shane. 2008. Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers: Prayer for Ordinary Radicals.
Downers Grove, Ill: IVP Books, 2008. eBook Collection (EBSCOhost),
EBSCOhost (accessed November 19, 2017).
Maxwell, John C. The 21 Indispensable Qualities of a Leader: Becoming the Person Others Will
Want to Follow. Mumbai: Magna Publishing Co., 2012.
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