The Essentials of Ministry
Kristine M. Melius
CHMN 201
Part One: A Summary of Early and Gutierrez’s Essentials of Ministry
Preparing for the Call – We must be like Isaiah in saying, “Lord, here I am, take all
of me, send me, use me. “
Responding to God’s Call on Your Life - Saying yes to God’s invitation to serve him
fully and completely in furthering His kingdom and building up His church.
In their book, Everyday Ministry, Dave Early and Dr. Ben Gutierrez highlight several essentials
to ministry that they feel are important for being effective in ministry. In this paper I will identify
each essential that is given along with a brief summary for each essential and explain why I do
agree that these essentials are important. I will also list the areas that I feel I need improvement
in along with a tangible plan for improvement in these areas.
Prayer Life – Prayers is the most important part of any day, our “number-one priority”
“If you want to reach your maximum effectiveness as a Christian leader, you must
spend
more time in prayer”
Maintaining An Eternal Perspective – How not to lose Heart - Ministry is hard work, and
if we aren’t careful it can drain us, physically, emotionally and spiritually. We must
remain focused on the bigger picture, being thankful and trusting in God, knowing that
God sees a much bigger picture than we could ever imagine to see.
Refusing to Coast/ Continuing to Grow - Daily Disciplines that grow us closer to God
and help better us in facets of life.
Obedience – Understanding that we as ministers are held up to a higher standard in the
kingdom and that we have a high level of influence and make sure that again we are
assessing our hearts and lives to make sure that they align with God and His word and
how He wants us to live.
Loving People – “Taking the love that Jesus has given us and passing it onto others.” It
means having “invested relationships with others”, it means, “seeking what is best for
them” with a “sacrificial, selfless love”, like Jesus shows to us.
Living Up to Your Name – We must look at our hearts and the ministries we are doing
within the church regularly to make sure that we are “working” in unity, faithfulness,
dependence upon God and scripture and support each other and our ministries purely –
making sure we are aligned to how God wants us to “be” and not how the world wants us
to be.
No Compromise/Uncompromising Faith – “Remaining true to God, no matter what. It’s
making a commitment to stay true to God and your beliefs no matter what and
surrounding yourself with people and friends that who also stand firm in their faith and
will help sharpen and encourage you in your faith.”
Loyalty to Truth – “Not bending the truth to fit our purposes” but understanding that the
Bible, Gods word, is absolute truth and then using it (Gods word) to engage the world to
lead them eternal life.
Part Two – Identify Two Area’s In Need of Improvement
The first area that I feel I could definitely use improvement is in the area of prayer. I used to have
such an amazing prayer life where I would spend at least 30 minutes in prayer and reading my
Bible, unfortunately I have allowed the business of life and the yearning for more sleep to get in
the way of this. The second area that I could improve upon and felt most convicted when
reading is from chapter 20 and Keeping the Obedience Bar High. While I understand and know
that my life is held to a higher standard being a youth minister at our church and serving and
teaching within the church I unfortunately at times fall short to live the example that I should be
living.
Part 3 – Plans for Improvement
As far as improving my prayer life, I will begin with taking my children to school each day,
coming home and having my coffee in our quiet living room and commit to the next 20 minutes
of my day to prayer and time in God’s word. When it comes to living my life as a better more
I do agree with Early’s and Gutierrez’s choice of Essentials of Ministry. I believe these essentials
are important because they help us to understand and shape our perspective of what ministry
really entails and asks of each one of us. If we walk into ministry blind we will fail, Early and
Gutierrez’s essentials lay a blueprint down to help us to understand that in order to succeed we
must understand God’s holiness and respond obediently to that call with a thankful and real heart
in every circumstance that we face along with continuing to find ways to grow in our
understandings so that we can lead people further in their walks and in our own spiritual journey.
To understand that ministry is relational and about loving others no matter what is crucial and
being true to Gods word and living that out in a pure real way.
Bibliography
Early, Dave and Gutierrez Ben. Everyday Ministry, Apply the Christian Faith
Nashville: B&H Publishers,2010, Ereader
solid example I think that is more of a heart issue between me and God than anything that can be
put into a more scheduled or totally disciplined thing. I unfortunately at times have a potty mouth
so I can commit to being more careful with the words that I choose and the attitudes that I take
when others upset or annoy me. I can choose to stop and pray at those moments of anger or
annoyance and follow God’s leading with each situation rather than allowing my selfish nature to
take over.
