Examine and test and evaluate your own selves to see whether you are holding to your faith and showing the proper fruits of it. Test and prove yourselves [not Christ]. Do you not yourselves realize and know [thoroughly by an ever-increasing experience] that Jesus Christ is in you–unless you are [counterfeits] disapproved on trial and rejected?
2 Corinthians 13:5 AMPC
For days I have been struggling to post this article because of the fear of being misunderstood, but as a leader sometimes we step on toes to do what is right.
Ministry has been misused, misinterpreted, and to some extent abused. The coming of this pandemic, COVID 19 was a blessing in disguise, It came to expose whether you were in ministry or something else.
As a pastor and as someone who has been and seen ministry in different forms and shades I get bordered whenever I hear people teach and do ministry in a certain way.
To an average pastor or Christian leader out there, when you say the word ministry, what comes to their mind is mic, pulpit, crowd, preaching, and teaching.
Now if you think you need a mic or pulpit to be in ministry, I'm sorry to say you're not in ministry. The mic or the pulpit should be the least form of ministry, COVID 19 has shown us that.
When does ministry start?
Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
Acts 4:13 KJV
Tradition makes us believe that until you have access to the mic and pulpit you're not in ministry, this is a very despicable way of viewing ministry.
I really don't care about the kind of ordination or charismatic display you have, you are not in ministry until you know and have a deep relationship with whom you are sent to represent.
The people took knowledge of them, that they have been in fellowship with Jesus, true ministry starts with your fellowship with Jesus, not with your ability to express gift or expend truth.
We all think that preaching, teaching, building churches, hosting conferences, writing books, etc. I get it, there is a place for all that but the foundation for true ministry is knowing God, your relationship with God.
I don't care what anyone will say or explain, the truth remains that you can't claim to represent who you don't know. Ministry is simply expressing God and his message with and through your life, but you can't truly do this effectively without knowing God intimately.
Beloved brothers and sisters, you see in this ministerial journey men and situations will ask “WHO SENT YOU?” so it’s better you know God and cultivate a love relationship.
Then Moses said to God, “Behold when I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your fathers (ancestors) has sent me to you,’ and they say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?”
Exodus 3:13 AMP
Now I understand that knowing and having a good relationship with God is not that easy, because it’s time consuming, painful, very sacrificial, and boring but it is your surest anchor in ministry.
You will be deceiving yourself and will most definitely hit a dead-end if you think your surest and strongest anchor is in the money in the ministry bank account, intellectual pronounce, ability to preach, or the working of miracles.
We have people get into ministry not because they know God but because some pastor ordained them. When you hit the rock that's when you will know that the safest and strongest anchor is your secret place. It's sad but this is the truth, most pastors know everything about ministerial ethics and the gift of eloquence but are empty when it comes to knowing God.
John okoi
Leadership Expert.
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