A worthless ministerial resume

In the past 10 years, my wife and I have never been less fired up about following Jesus. Through the roller coaster that is our life, our love for Jesus has remained a constant. After a decade, I can honestly say that that fact is a big faith booster for me. Our first love hasn’t flamed out or become lukewarm. The way that we show that love to Jesus has evolved, but it has never waned.

We have served the Body in a variety of ways over the past 10 years. We have stood outside directing traffic into worship services, held numerous Bible studies in our home, played in the worship band up on stage, worked with the tech team for worship services, helped to set up physical sets for worship services, visited friends in jail and on house arrest, been to hospitals and funerals a few too many times, held parties, meetings, and baptisms at our home, invited neighbors over to our home on numerous occasions, led Bible studies at church, at home, and even at work, preached sermons, evangelized on the street, at work, and just about anywhere else, been to one too many meetings, hosted youth group events in our home as well as chaperoning many youth outings, started ministries within the church, started ministries outside of the church, fellowshipped with many Christians from many different churches, etc, etc, etc.

The point is - we’ve been involved. Many people make the mistake of thinking that in order to get involved, you have to be called into ministry - as I said before, all Christians are called into ministry. You have to get over this mindset that getting a paycheck for “doing ministry” makes you any more important than those who don’t get paid for it. In fact, it may turn out to be the opposite. Jesus had quite a reputation for flipping the script when it came to our expectations and God’s reality. Especially in the transition between this life and the next.

If my wife and I were to pick up our roots, move elsewhere, and find a new church home, I wouldn’t expect to be able to write a ministerial resume for the new church showing how far we’ve come, with all of our experience counting for something. No. I’d expect to have to start all over again, building relationships, building trust, starting groups, hosting, ministering, etc. And any church that just wanted to see our ministerial resume probably isn't the kind of church that we'd be interested in plugging in to.

Here’s the bottom line: someone who hasn’t been involved in ministry can’t say that they’re being “called into the ministry”. They haven’t even been involved. If anything, they’re actually being called into living the life that all Christians are supposed to be living - a life of service. Remember, It’s Not What You Get, It’s What You Give.