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YOU KNOW YOU'RE IN MINISTRY WHEN...pt 3
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You're Bible College or Christian University Degree Means More to You Than to Anyone Else
This was something that took a little getting used to for me. I can remember after my first year thinking that I would be ready to go out into ministry and take the world for Jesus. By my final year, the ever living was scared out of me to do so. I remember reading this recently and it put it even more into perspective for me.
“Extensive Biblical knowledge, a high-powered intellect, and razor-sharp reasoning skills do not automatically produce spiritual men and women who know Jesus Christ profoundly and who can impart a life-giving revelation of Him to others.” Pagan Christianity, Frank Viola and George Barna, pg. 206-207
I don't know how many times I heard leaving school that everyone there was more than qualified to pastor a church and to lead a congregation (no matter whether they are children, teenagers, college students or the whole kit and caboodle). I heard things like "churches need you", "you are the future" and "you are ready." Upon arriving, I was not like others but there was sense that I knew what was up. I had all the classes, all the knowledge and all the passion. And no one gave a rip. In the most honest and truthful way. Parents didn't care, the staff at my church didn't care and the students didn't care. The measure of who I was as a leader was determined by how I lead people to Jesus. If I didn't, my degree didn't mean anything. If people weren't closer to Jesus, my degree didn't mean anything.
As a pastor, we can get caught up in how much we know and how much we have studied. That's not the end, it's simply our means. No one is going to care about our degree. They care about who we are. They care about how we treat people. They care about how we lead. They care about people meeting with Jesus as a result. When contained within the bubble, we can become convinced that we are ready to lead and can overlook our own inadequacies and areas we need to address because people like us, we've studied the whole Bible and are hipsters. If anything has hindered the church, it has been that the worth of a pastor is derived from that and not by their proximity to Jesus and their ability to draw others there. All the peripherals will go away very quickly but if we are able to lead people close to Jesus and keep the wolves away, we will be in good shape as a leader. Remember, no one cares about your degree. That's just for you.
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Now playing: Sigur Rós - Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
This was something that took a little getting used to for me. I can remember after my first year thinking that I would be ready to go out into ministry and take the world for Jesus. By my final year, the ever living was scared out of me to do so. I remember reading this recently and it put it even more into perspective for me.
“Extensive Biblical knowledge, a high-powered intellect, and razor-sharp reasoning skills do not automatically produce spiritual men and women who know Jesus Christ profoundly and who can impart a life-giving revelation of Him to others.” Pagan Christianity, Frank Viola and George Barna, pg. 206-207
I don't know how many times I heard leaving school that everyone there was more than qualified to pastor a church and to lead a congregation (no matter whether they are children, teenagers, college students or the whole kit and caboodle). I heard things like "churches need you", "you are the future" and "you are ready." Upon arriving, I was not like others but there was sense that I knew what was up. I had all the classes, all the knowledge and all the passion. And no one gave a rip. In the most honest and truthful way. Parents didn't care, the staff at my church didn't care and the students didn't care. The measure of who I was as a leader was determined by how I lead people to Jesus. If I didn't, my degree didn't mean anything. If people weren't closer to Jesus, my degree didn't mean anything.
As a pastor, we can get caught up in how much we know and how much we have studied. That's not the end, it's simply our means. No one is going to care about our degree. They care about who we are. They care about how we treat people. They care about how we lead. They care about people meeting with Jesus as a result. When contained within the bubble, we can become convinced that we are ready to lead and can overlook our own inadequacies and areas we need to address because people like us, we've studied the whole Bible and are hipsters. If anything has hindered the church, it has been that the worth of a pastor is derived from that and not by their proximity to Jesus and their ability to draw others there. All the peripherals will go away very quickly but if we are able to lead people close to Jesus and keep the wolves away, we will be in good shape as a leader. Remember, no one cares about your degree. That's just for you.
----------------
Now playing: Sigur Rós - Inní Mér Syngur Vitleysingur
