Thoughts about Ministry

Currently working on projects. At the same time a rush of thoughts and ramblings on my mind.

Full-time ministry. Is there such thing as a full-time ministry? Forgive the question. Or to make it clearer, which is better, full-time ministry or tent-making ministry? I've been faced with this question with the recent events in my personal ministry life and while reading Reimagining Church.

RC talks about the absence of full-time ministry in the NT church. (I'm just rambling now to myself, these are my personal opinions and I do not nullify both spectrum of ministry). Indeed when you think about it, Paul was a tent-maker, Peter and John were fishermen. I think it's just that during their time, there's no such thing as "church ministry". Ministry was their daily life. Their work (as well as their Sunday) was ministry, ministry in an image rarely known or acknowledged by us--because we see ministry as something done in the church, by the church and for the church. In their time there was no line between the church and secular, their form of ministry was seamless, it was their daily life. Their daily life was their community of faith--and even the term "community of faith" is so much different from what we have right now. They minister to the community of faith even outside of what we would call "church" (the common misunderstanding of church as a weekly spiritual and social club). I'm ranting now.

I came to this rambling because for the past few days my weeks have serious pockets of vacuum, because of semestral break. But I'm thinking, what happens when seminary life is behind me. What will a full-time ministry look like? I am content with what I'm doing right now, being part of and ministering to a community of faith. But what does the rest of the week leave me to do? "Church" administration, planning, visitation etc.? I think no minister should work alone, in fact, this is the task of the community of faith. This is not a false rant of ministerial laziness but a picture of what my role in the community of faith should be (In fact, when I said that I was bummed out these sembreak days, I do have a lot to do at work, but somehow there was this desire to do "ministry"). Perhaps I'm on a bias for "part-time" ministry right now because my exposure to the image of full-time in my environment is not what I believe to be the optimal usage of time and resources.

Let me quote Frank Viola of RC if it makes any connection: “Since the [pastor or a handful of leaders carry] the spiritual workload, the majority of the church becomes passive, lazy self-seeking (“feed me”), and arrested in their spiritual development … God never called anyone to bear the heavy burden of ministering to the needs of the church by himself … [Yet] the masses continue to rely on, defend, and insist upon [this kind of system]. For this reason, the [congregation] is just as responsible for the problem of clericalism as is the clergy."

"If the truth be told, many Christians prefer the convenience of paying someone to shoulder the responsibility for ministry and shepherding. In their minds, it's better to hire a religious specialist to tend to the needs of God's people than to bother themselves with the self-emptying demands of servanthood and pastoral care." (Frank Viola)

Also heard in an interview of Brian McLaren in Neue Podcast. This is how I understood what he said. That there is a danger in the "professional" clergy ministry because it's can be a potential ground for hypocrisy and lack of spiritual accountability to God and the body.

These authors can easily be misunderstood as people who move to the other extreme of the pendulum (I wish they would've kept a clearer picture of balance). They could misunderstood to be too idealistic. I could be misunderstood also, like I said perhaps this would be a reaction "from where I'm coming from" (from what I'm exposed to) and not necessarily from other points of view. In all things, there should be balance. If we as ministers could do our best to paint an image of what true ministry should look like--servanthood, humility, care and maturity among other things (as opposed to what positional leadership entails), we can secure His flock (they were never ours) from disillusion towards ministry and breaking away from the faith community.

Just thinking and rambling aloud.

To think of it, it doesn't really matter if we are called to full-time or "part-time" ministry. In fact, They are just labels that further divides the body of Christ. Regardless of our calling, all of us are called to be connected and intimately involved--serving and being served--by the community of faith. And that whichever and wherever God leads us, let's do our best to be true and faithful to which he was called us to do.