Thursday, July 1, 2010

The Unbiblical Myth of “Full Time Ministry” by Scott Volk

Through all times and places, humanity has not changed. There are God's principles of design that man can choose to live by or oppose, but the nature of man remains. But when man transitions into a Spirit led life, He may now supersede His own nature and become alive in the nature of God. That is the ultimate quest for mankind, to know His God, be filled with His Spirit, and begin to live in the eternal realm of life now and for the ages to come.

I want to put a challenge before you – are you ready? Okay, here we go! Pull out your Strong’s Concordance and look up the term ‘full time ministry’. I’m willing to award a prize to the one who finds the most references. As a matter of fact, I’ll gladly give an expensive gift to anyone who can produce one instance where that exact terminology is used anywhere in the original languages!

Let me save you some time. There is not one person in the entire Bible that is referred to as being in full time ministry! Isn’t it amazing how frequently we hear the phrase ‘full-time ministry’ and it’s not even found once in the Word of God? Perhaps we need to ask the Lord for a more Biblical paradigm.

Imagine the following scenario: There are two 30-year-old men standing in front of you. One of them is serving in a third world country and has diligently raised support so that he and his family could serve as missionaries for the next five years. The other man is a fireman in a city that is growing. This man is committed to being a Godly husband to his wife and father to his children. The amount of money that he makes is irrelevant to him as long as he keeps the Lord first in his life and is a witness for Jesus every moment of the day.

With the above scenario in mind, it’s unfortunate, according to the way many of us look at things, that the man in the third world country is considered in ‘full-time ministry’ whereas the fireman would be considered working a ‘secular job’ (by the way, the term ‘secular job’ isn’t found in the Bible either!).

Although this may sound a little confrontational and may ruffle some feathers, I believe that the term ‘full time ministry’ needs to be entirely eradicated from our vocabulary due to the unbiblical connotation that it portrays! Because it’s Jesus that has commissioned us, we are all called to be His witnesses whether we serve as a pastor or a plumber. The Lord doesn’t look down from heaven and recognize us by whether we’re in full-time ministry or not! We’re all His children and called to serve Him!

I’m continually grieved when I run into people who have given into the whisper of the enemy, who has convinced them that they’re not living up to their potential because they are settling for working a job that this age considers secular. There is a whole group of people who are reading this right now who feel like failures because they graduated from a Bible college or a school of ministry and are not employed by a ‘church’ or ‘ministry’.

Think of Moses for a moment…was he ever employed by a church or ministry? He lived within the confines of Godless Pharaoh’s house for the first 40 years of his life and then worked his tail off as a shepherd on the back side of the desert for the next 40 years. He was never written up in a magazine for his potential as one of the up-and-coming history makers of his generation. How sad it is that if he were alive today, many of our modern-day leaders would pay no attention to him because he wasn’t ‘in the ministry’. As a matter of fact, depending on where he went to church, he might even be rebuked for wasting the best years of his life!

Just this morning I was on the phone with a graduate who really felt that the Lord would one day have his family serving as missionaries in a foreign country. So, he quit his job (which, by the way, was a great source of income for his growing family) and prepared to make the next step toward the mission field. I listened intently as he shared with me that it seemed like the Lord was calling him back to his previous job because the time was not yet right to move overseas.

At this point, some of you might say, “Well, he just needs to step out in faith and do it because God’s word says, ‘Go!’” Although there is great truth in that statement, there is yet an underlying truth that requires us to not abort the preparation process so that when we do go, we are not going with our own power, but rather in the power of the One who has commissioned us.

It’s amazing to me that Jesus Himself, the Son of God, didn’t launch into His ultimate calling until He was thirty years of age! Looking at that from a worldly kind of wisdom, you might say that some of those youthful years could have been better spent seeing the dead raised and the blind eyes opened. After all, He would have gotten a tremendous head start on a ‘successful ministry’ if He began earlier.

Amazingly, when the Lord trumpeted from heaven that “This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased”, Jesus had not yet done anything that modern-day Christianity would refer to as ‘ministry’. God was pleased with His Son simply because He was a Son. That, my friends, is a truth that we must all embrace!

The value of our lives to our Creator is not based on what we do but rather on who we are! I want to encourage all of you that Father God loves you not for what you can produce for Him but simply because you are His son and daughter. Our ultimate eternal destiny on this earth is to glorify the Lord by being a demonstration of the Kingdom of God. That must take place as we preach, as we wait on tables, as we drive a taxi cab, as we teach kindergarten, as we practice law, as we counsel, as we mow lawns, as we break bread together, as we fish, as we fight fires, as we sell real estate, as we flip hamburgers, as we raise our children, as we…

I think you’re getting the picture. Be a demonstration of the Kingdom of God wherever it is that He has you serving. And, if you have yet to see His promises for your life fulfilled, keep hanging on to those things which He has spoken, remembering that “faithful is He who calls you, He will also bring it to pass”!

16 comments:

  1. Amen Scott,

    We have been there also, I know exactly what you mean. I agree,we need to know who we are in Him and walk . Then the Gospel can go forth in power. Becoming aware of what we do and if it is Biblical or not. To be secure with this truth. Thank you for sharing your heart of truth.

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  2. Just because the term "full time ministry" is not in the bible doesn't make it unbiblical to be or aspire to be in full time minstry. Some clearly have to give all of their service to God in ministry because that is their call to the five fold.

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  3. I want to thank you for writing on this subject, and shattering the lies of the enemy towards the children of God!
    Since we are His children, His chosen vessels, and His lights in this dark world we are to shine forth His Light, Love, Wisdom and Power WHEREVER we are on this earth! For there are many lost souls who will not enter through a church door, and Christ wishes to reach them also with the Good News!
    We are ALL in fulltime ministry if we are the Kings kids! To think anything less than this is to be blinded by the enemy, and he likes that for he is the Father of Lies.
    So thank you for writing on this subject and I look forward to other lies that the Lord will reveal to you to write about! For Satan's only weapon now is lies, and if we stop listening to them we will conquer our enemy forever!

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  4. Computer, electricity, and all sorts of words aren't in the Bible. "Full-time ministry" is simply a means of stating that an individual has responded to a strategic, focused call to become involved in the spread of the Gospel. Having faithfully served Christ in the business world and as a missionary in a foreign land, I KNOW there is a difference. One is NOT better or higher in the Kingdom, one is NOT more pleasing to God. They are simply different. Stop making a big deal over trivia and spend more time on the real issues of life!

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  5. Are you kidding me...?
    The Levites - were separated - set apart from the other tribes for the work of the ministry (too many OT scriptures to count) and supported by the church. That, my friend... I believe... is under the heading of full-time ministry.
    - from your website: "FIRE School of Ministry serves as a training center for the Jesus Revolution and is devoted to raising up, training, and sending out a Areholy army of spirit-filled radicals - ablaze with the Fire of God, grounded in the Living Word, and equipped in practical ministry experience - who will shake an entire generation with the Gospel of Jesus, by life or by death."
    This is... a training center... not a school...
    I found the FIRE website to be deceptive - in that it appears to the inquirer they would earn a legitimate degree - not one of these ' credits' ($1200 per tri-mester) can be applied at a community college , univerisity / i.e tech institution - for any furthering of their education - down the road. This begs the question - who approves your studies - to be legitimate in the first place...

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  6. Are you kidding me...?
    The Levites - were separated - set apart from the other tribes for the work of the ministry (too many OT scriptures to count) and supported by the church. That, my friend... I believe... is under the heading of full-time ministry.
    - from your website: "FIRE School of Ministry serves as a training center for the Jesus Revolution and is devoted to raising up, training, and sending out a Areholy army of spirit-filled radicals - ablaze with the Fire of God, grounded in the Living Word, and equipped in practical ministry experience - who will shake an entire generation with the Gospel of Jesus, by life or by death."
    This is... a training center... not a school...
    I found the FIRE website to be deceptive - in that it appears to the inquirer they would earn a legitimate degree - not one of these ' credits' ($1200 per tri-mester) can be applied at a community college , univerisity / i.e tech institution - for any furthering of their education - down the road. This begs the question - who approves your studies - to be legitimate in the first place...

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  7. 2nd 1/2
    Most - if not all legitimate accredited Bible colleges or seminaries seminaries offer and promote their classes - all of them free... online to those who don't care about a Bachelors' or an MDiv. Why isn' t this unaccredited education - free... provided by volunteers rather than paid staff people.?

    Everything that's being taught today in these kind of 'ministry schools' - are pumping the kids up to 'take this world for Jesus', but this 'pump' has a serious flaw.
    What else do you think the outcome would be? Them wanting to ultimately be like you,or who ever their mentor is & do what you do. This my friend is a mixed message... you - their mentor - are not flipping burgers...Do you - work in the world - or are you in full-time ministry? What example are you setting? Why are there so many workshops teaching them to worship, prophecy etc., why is there so much promo for supporting people in (so called FULL-TIME MINISTRY?) when you at the core - say that full-time ministry is not the goal. Events that people have to PAY for such as worship EVENTS,Speakers, seminars, and OH & the list goes on. Please friend don't over look the part you have had in helping to shape their thinking & encouraging their hearts to RUN HARD after Jesus ...in this way.

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  8. 3rd

    After paying for 3 years of education there should be a conclusion with direction as to what's next - there should be a resolve - not "now what do I do ." Then you give the answer - 'Not everyone is called to full-time ministry'... that's cruel.

    This is the underlying message - Because your school is not accredited - you're saying it's okay - get zero credibilty - it's no wonder they're discouraged afterwards and can't function - when their 'credits' don't transfer to a normal college or normal life... talk about a 'crash and burn'.

    So... when the students get to the decision-making place after being 'pumped up' for ministry and to 'take this world for Jesus - by life or by death.", in what they want to spend their life on & the answer turns up NOT flipping burgers or some RETAIL job, don't be surprised when they want to stay in that nice little environment where they've had a lot of fun getting no degree and no future - you have made them feel very SAFE & SECURE in & NOT want to step into the real world where we are called to be - salt and light...

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  9. To me, a person in "full time ministry" appears to be better able to focus on the Lord specifically, in the course of their work. In "secular" work, most of one's energy and focus is on the details of the work, and at the end of most days you just shake off the dust and then you can focus back on the Lord. It seems that the dichotomy of "secular world work" vs "spiritual world work" is what gets people to lose focus on God's love and His plan for our lives, because in secular work it IS harder most days to stay focused on the Lord. And deep inside we start to desire (i.e. "lust after") something we don't have that we think we need: a full-time "spiritual" job that will help us stay centered on Jesus. Thank you for this article because it helps me to realize again that God put me where He knows I be challenged to grow to know Him in truth, and at the same time will meet the needs of the world around me.

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  10. I appreciate Mr. Volks pointed reminder that if we have dedicated our lives to the purpose of pleasing God then ALL we do is ministry. Whether our paycheck comes from a church, the government, or WalMart in God's eyes there is no distinction between someone serving Him behind a pulpit or a cash register. It is doing the best we can in the situations He leads us to.

    Shame on those of you who strain at a gnat and swallow a camel.

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  11. It's so interesting that you guys would focus in on a 'school' or 'getting a degree' as to whether or not this article is legit. You're all missing the point. The point is that whether you work in a church or work in a fast-food restaurant you're all children of God, called to fulfill his purposes WHEREVER He's placed you. Don't miss the point...Scott Volk has hit the nail on the head with this article and I fully appreciate it as a word for me today!

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  12. Hey, Dude
    What I think you're really saying here is not to be religious. I get that.But I have to agree with the guy that said The Levites - were separated - set apart from the other tribes for the work of the ministry.
    Numbers 8:5-24

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  13. Before I entered the arena of "full time ministry" I also served the Lord in my daily job for which I was paid. To me the term "full time ministry" is simply the term one uses to describe the separated calling to spend most of your time doing the work of the ministry than "normal" work that would not leave you enough time for the ministry. We all understand what "full time ministry" means and I really can't see why one has to label it as from the devil - really

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  14. I believe a better term to describe what we call "full-time ministry" would be "vocational ministry". What the author is addressing is the fallacy that those who do not have all their time devoted to ministry are not ministers at all. Due to our mindsets being influenced by such terminology, we embrace applications that steer us away from the proper perspective. I know some who actually minister more in their roles in the business community as opposed to sitting in a ministry office behind a desk all day. This article is all about adjusting our mindsets to affect our perspective so that we come to the place of acknowledging that if we are born-again, we are in ministry by default.

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  15. Well said Bret.. If we are in Christ it is all ministry and we can distinguish the type of ministry we are in...

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  16. When all said and done it is what God calls you to do for him. The way and the means do not enter into it. If we do it all for God with a whole heart and we know that we are in the will of God. It does not matter what we do or how we do it. He is the one who decides. It can be cleaning the toilets or very prominent up front. We are all the same to God and he rewards us the same.

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