Philosophy of Ministry
Sandra Overly
Liberty University Online, CHMN 201-D06 LUO
Introduction
Ministry is a process. It is total dependence on God for everything! Ministry without God would
be senseless, idiotic, useless. It is from a place of total dependence on God that real ministry
takes place. God gives ministry true meaning. It is when we look to Him, spend time with Him,
and surrender completely to Him that He can form us and shape us to be what He has called us to
be, in order that He may fulfill His plan for us and through us. God has a plan for each and every
one of us … whether it is ministering to our family, our neighbor, or to a nation on the other side
of the world. We are all ministers for the Kingdom of God.
Part One: The Meaning of Ministry
My studies are in Christian Counseling. When I finish my schooling, I will not be hanging a
shingle or even working in an office as a social worker. My whole reasoning behind Christian
Counseling is to be able to minister to the women we encounter on the streets and in the safe
house. In learning how to do ministry, the nitty, gritty, get your hands dirty, day to day ministry,
what I call “the real deal,” this class, in particular, has taught me not only what that looks like,
but how to achieve it and how to do it with mercy and grace. I consider myself blessed and
fortunate to be walking in my ministry as I take my classes. This gives me the opportunity to
walk out what I am learning while simultaneously learning and growing.
The struggle is real. Ministering to these women can be intense and draining. Sometimes it
requires late night or all-night ministering to the women as they experience withdrawals and/or
night terrors. Finding time to slip away into the secret place with God can be difficult. Finding
someone to step in so you can slip away for a little time alone can be challenging at times. That’s
where discipleship comes into play. As I look for volunteers to disciple/train so that they may
step in and disciple and spend time with these precious ladies, I form a framework for others to
step in and do what I do so that my time is freed up to take a breather. This will enable me to
build up my “inner man” a I spend time alone with Him. As they learn and grow, they, in turn
will disciple/train others to do what they have learned to do. This will enable them to step aside
and spend much needed time in the secret place as well.
The important thing for me to remember is to serve Christ no matter what. Failure to do so will
make me weary and burn me out. We were never meant to do ministry in our own strength. All
that (I) we do must be done for Him, for His glory or it is done in vain. We must allow Him to
work in and through us.
Part Two: The Motives of Ministry
The ministry I am a part of is up under a ministry called “Take the City.” Take the City’s mission
is to see local churches unified and mobilized to revitalize entire cities. This ministry breaks
down walls of division of denominations, race, ethnicity, cultural, and social standing. We are
called to be united as one to reach cities, countries, and nations with the gospel of Christ. We
have to remember that the church is not a building, the church is the people, united together as
one, stepping outside the four walls of the church. Chances are, the people are not going to come
to us as we sit in our cushioned pews, singing songs, saying our little prayers and listening to a
word from the pastor. If we want to reach people for Christ, we have to go out and meet them
where they are. It’s all about relationship. The world today longs to see a church, a people, who
are authentic. They need to see people who love God and show the love of God in everything
they say and do. They want to see a people living out their faith before them. They want to see
the love of Christ pouring out through us. What they are seeing instead is a church divided by
politics, denominations, agendas and prejudices. They want to see a true, genuine people who
love the Lord and who love them. They don’t need for us to beat them over the head with the
Bible and/or have us throwing their sins ever before them. If we love Jesus, we must love His
people.
Our ministry believes the only way to eradicate human (sex) trafficking is through the gospel.
The gospel is the only answer. If we fail to present the gospel, in our words, in our actions, we
will fail to reach the very people we are ministering to. A lot of times, presenting the gospel
looks like meeting tangible needs. It may look like taking the time to notice them, to love them,
to affirm them. It may look like sharing your story of how God radically changed your life. It
may look like walking side by side with them as they go through the rough times of their life. It
may look like weeping with them when they are mourning or rejoicing with them in life’s
victories. It will cost you something. It may cost your time, your love, your finances, your pride,
your plans, yes, it may even cost you your friendship. We will look for every opportunity to
share the gospel. If we love Jesus, as we say we do, we will not be afraid to share the gospel. If
we love Jesus, we will take every opportunity to speak His name.
Part Three: The Essentials of Ministry
To me the top essential of ministry, of any ministry is prayer. Everything we are called to do
begins from the place of prayer. We start our walk with prayer, we will end our walk with prayer
and prayer must be the essential part of our journey along the way. We cannot and should not do
anything without first praying about it. Our ministry, our lives, our families should all be
saturated by prayer. Prayer is the most powerful tool we possess. Many battles are won in the
prayer room. Our whole lives should be lived through the posture of prayer. The battles in our
lives are won on our knees. Our best strategies are formed in the place of prayer. Prayer is an
essential part of putting on our armor. “praying always with all prayer and supplication in the
Spirit…” (Ephesians 6:18a NKJV) “Each piece of armor must carefully be put on with prayer,
drawing upon divine resources.” (Holman, 2003)
Next in line is loyalty to the truth. In our day to day walk in ministry, we must be careful to
remain loyal to the truth. According to Gutierrez, “…truth is the only thing that releases lost
souls from bondage and allows them to experience freedom in Jesus Christ.” (Gutierrez, 1572)
Where do we find the truth? The truth is God’s Word. If I am to be loyal to the truth, I must know
the truth, His Word. In order to know His Word, I must be loyal in spending time reading and
studying His Word in order to more effectively impart His truth into those I minister to. His truth
is the only thing that can save us. The Word tells us “…you will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free.” (John 8:32 NIV) Who is this truth? Jesus, He is “…the way, the truth and the
life…” (John 14:16 NIV). It is only by loyalty to His truth…His Word, that we will win lost
souls to Christ. Therein lies true freedom.
We are called to love people. We are to love even when it hurts, even when love is not returned.
We must make a conscious choice to love others like Jesus loves them. We are to love even those
who hate us, who persecute us, who turn their backs on us or falsely accuse us. Jesus did not wait
until we got cleaned up, straightened up and squeaky clean before He lavished His love on us.
Love will definitely cost us something. Are we willing to pay the price? Jesus paid the ultimate
price for loving us. We must be willing to “…lay down his (our) life (lives)…” (John 15:13
ESV). After all, Jesus laid down His life for us, ought we not to be willing to do the same? To
love is a daily choice we must all make. Love is a deposit we make in someone else’s heart and
life. That deposit is also stored up in heaven. “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be
also.” (Matthew 6:21 ESV) That’s where I want my treasure to be. The more we love, the more
capacity we have to love. Your love supply will multiply, it will not be depleted. Love deeply,
love unconditionally, love – expecting nothing in return.
When we are ministering to God’s people, we must always maintain an eternal perspective.
Whenever you deal with people in ministry you are dealing with people who are broken, needy,
and it can get messy. In order to deal with the messiness that is our ministry we must keep our
eyes on God. We must minister with eternity in mind. We must always reflect Christ in all we do
and say. We must have an attitude of gratitude. Gratitude to God for allowing us the opportunity
to minister to those in need, keeps us from getting discouraged and giving up. We must be
authentic in all we do; we need to keep it real. We will never be able to please everyone, and
people pleasers are not authentic, they are not keeping in real. It takes a lot of energy to be
people pleasers, we have to constantly be on our toes, be one step ahead of everyone else. When
we maintain an eternal perspective, we can trust that God will guide us and keep us through it all.
“His (Paul’s) attitude toward the ministry had some practical consequences in his life. It kept
him from being a quitter (v. 1) … It kept him from being a deceiver (vs. 2-4) … It kept him from
being a self-promoter (vs. 5-6).” (Wiersbe, 512-513)
Of course, to be in the ministry, there has to be a calling and we must, of course, respond to that
calling. There must be a “yes.” There is the initial calling, the call of salvation. Without this
initial call of salvation, there can be no other calling. There is the call to ministry as a vocation, a
call to advance the kingdom; then there is the call to a specific ministry, whether it be a call to
work with the youth, with children, with the disabled, to those who suffer from addictions, the
homeless, or maybe even to those caught up in trafficking.
We must continually strive to be more like Jesus every day. In everything we say or do, we need
to reflect Jesus. How do we become more like Jesus? We become more like Jesus by spending
time at His feet, stealing away to the secret place to spend time with Him in praise and adoration,
in prayer and in His Word. The more we spend time with Him the more we become like Him.
His reflection will be seen in us.
The way I plan to incorporate these essentials into my ministry is leading by example. I cannot
expect those I am leading in ministry to learn these valuable essentials if I am not willing to
implement them into my own life.
Part Four: The Methods of Ministry
In the ministry I am a part of it is imperative that continual intercession with the Father is always
made not only for the ones I serve, but also for the ones I serve along side with. We continuously
hold each other up in prayer. When one of us has a need, we know all we have to do is shoot a
text and know that intercession on our behalf begins the minute we know there is a need. When a
lady calls our hotline for help, we immediately notify our prayer warriors and intercession begins
and continues. When we go out on outreaches, we have intercessors praying continually for our
team and the women we will encounter that night. We are in the process of setting up an
intercessory team that will not only meet to intercede, but individual intercession will take place
as well. Once a need is voiced, the intercessors go to work, storming the gates of heaven with
prayers for the saints.
Jesus is our great intercessor. He is continually interceding on our behalf to the Father. Moses
continually interceded for his people. There are other examples of intercessors in the Bible like
Samuel, Paul and Nehemiah, that we can learn from when it comes to intercession. Intercession
is vital to the ministry. Intercession, like prayer, is vital, it is as necessary as breathing. We
should always be in a state of continual intercession for those we minister to and with. Hebrews
4:16 tells us to “...come boldly before the throne of grace with confidence, …” We have access to
the throne room day and night, twenty-four/seven. There is no good reason why you can’t
approach the throne room in intercession any time day or night.
Discipleship. The Great Commission commands us to “… Go therefore and make disciples of all
nations….” (Matthew 28:19 ESV) Jesus didn’t say some nations, or only these nations, He said
all nations. All means all! Till the whole world knows! When you disciple two people, those two
people will disciple two more people and so on… that’s how multiplication works. We are not
able to reach everyone by ourselves, but we can do our part. The end result is that discipleship is
multiplied, and more people are reached than you could have ever reach by yourself.
Small groups are how the church sees growth. People will come to small groups that would
never set foot in a “church.” Small groups are instrumental in reaching the lost. Small groups are
less intimidating more personal than the traditional churches. In the early days of Christianity as
we know it was small groups, meeting house to house. Small groups are how the early church
grew. Like churches, small groups must have some kind of order. You can’t just meet together
and call yourself a small group. In order for small groups to be effective much prayer and
thought need to be put into them. To see your small group grow you must pray for your members
only a daily basis. You need to continually be inviting new people to your small group. There
must be preparation made in advance. When your group starts growing, look to someone to
mentor to lead a small group and watch the church grow! After a time of fellowship and greeting,
the small group should start out with prayer and worship and then lead into a time of Bible study
and teaching. Small groups should always end in prayer and an invitation to return the next time
the small group meets.
When teaching and leading others, we need to make sure what we are teaching, and preaching is
biblically based. We need to make sure we are prayed up and that we are spending time in the
presence of the Lord, in studying His Word and spending time with Him in preparation for
teaching and preaching the Word of God. We need to make sure we are living out what we are
teaching/preaching. We are so totally dependent on the Lord for everything we do or say. We
need to live out what we preach. Our preaching and teaching are to no avail if we are not living
out what we preach. Our actions speak louder than our words. They will follow what we do
before they will do what we say.
There must be accountability. We need accountability. Our accountability must be among
believers. We can only find true spiritual healing within the body of Christ. Worldly
accountability can, at times, be misleading. True accountability must come from within the realm
Prayer has always been a big part of the ministry I work with. We are always holding each other
up in prayer. Every event, everything we do is covered in prayer. It is the only way we can
minister to the people we have been called to serve. We must be covered in prayer, there is no
way we would survive and be effective if constant prayer was not involved.
Discipleship is how our ministry grows. We started out with a core team of three or four and now
have thirty to forty volunteers who not only come out on outreaches but are drawing others
through discipleship.
We are in the process of setting up small groups within our ministry. I currently have a group of
ladies who meet at the safe house monthly for fellowship, Bible study, and discipleship. We are
also looking at starting a small group for the women we minister to and for their children.
In our ministry, we have some accountability, but this is something I feel we need to work on.
This is an area I feel like we are lacking in. We are working on this though.
Conclusion
Looking back on what I have learned in this Church Ministry class, I am excited about how what
I have learned will affect the way I do ministry. I have definitely grown in the area of church
ministry. Who knew there was so much to this church ministry stuff? I never realized what all
ministry really entails. I walk away from this class knowing that ministry can be so much better
if I take what I have learned and apply it. Like anything else we learn, it only works if you apply
it. Thank you for all I have learned, I am eternally grateful!
References
1. Holman. 2015. Holman Study Bible NKJV Edition. Holman Bible Publishers. Nashville,
TN.
2. Early, David and Gutierrez, Ben. 2010. Everyday ministry: Applying the Christian faith.
B&H Academic. Nashville, TN.
3. Weirsbe, Warren W. 2007. The Wiersbe Bible commentary. David C. Cooke. Colorado
Springs, CO.
