Have you ever heard the phrase “full-time Christian ministry”? I think it’s time we stopped using phrases like it. They help entrench an unholy dualism in Christian minds and cause us to imagine there are two tiers of Christians. On the one hand, we have the elites; those who ‘do’ ministry. These are the truly ‘on fire for God’ Christians. They are the ones who are ministering with all of their lives. Then there are the rest of us ordinary Christians who get along to church, but spend much of our lives plodding along doing less significant things. Sometimes, this group are thought of, as Douglas Wilson puts it, as ‘breeders’ and ‘tithers’. Yes, we’re back to the topic of vocation.
What is generally meant by ‘full-time Christian ministry? People who use this phrase are thinking of pastors, church workers, missionaries and people whose work is in parachurch organisations. Now, these are wonderful God-given roles. We should in no way denigrate them. Yet most Christians are not and will never find themselves in these situations. Does that mean that most Christians are living lives that are somehow less pleasing to God? Should pastors encourage church members to cut back on their ‘secular’ or non-church obligations so they can assist more in institutional church ministries by conflating this as giving up something for the sake of the gospel? No! God has not called every Christian to work as pastors or church workers, and that means that the positions we are called to, cannot be inherently lacking in value or less significant.
Interestingly, in Ephesians 4:11-12 we read that Christ ‘gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the shepherds and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ.’ This flies in the face of the dualistic perception we often have. We tend to think that it is the pastors and teachers of the church who do the work of ministry, and the members of the church assist them in doing it by giving money to the church. Not so! Our pastors, by opening the Word of God to us, are designed to equip us to do works of ministry.
So, every Christian is in full-time Christian ministry. If they are not, they are sinning. Being a Christian impacts everything. After all, Jesus Christ rules this earth right now. So as a father, you are called to engage in that duty as a subject of the king, loving and serving your children. That’s Christian ministry. As a doctor, you are called to minister as Christ’s agent by loving and serving those you try to physically help. That’s Christian ministry. As a retail assistant, you are ministering Christ to your customers as you love them and assist them to find the best solution for their needs. That’s Christian ministry. We need to get away from the nonsense that unless you are engaging in a five-point gospel presentation with a work colleague (as important as this is) that your work is just marking time or simply aiding you to feed your family.
Let’s cast off the dualistic notion that there is a sacred or spiritual realm that is more important than a secular or earthly realm. After all, God created this earth and described it as very good. He doesn’t zap us into heaven when we come to Christ, but calls us to live out our trust in the King as we live in his realm. We are to seek to see his kingdom come and his will be done here on this earth. That means Christian living is not just about what happens when we are praying or singing worship songs or helping out with an institutional church ministry. It happens all day every day in whatever legitimate arena of life God calls us to.