What Is a Minister?

5 min. read

So what is a minister?

A good question for me to wrestle with (being a vocational pastor once again and what not).

What Is a Minister to Religious People?

First, let’s look at this question from the perspective of religion. Now by religion (specifically the Christian religion) I mean the system of organized doctrine and practices instituted by human initiatives and based on an underlying story of God’s initiatives. And an individual who looks at the world through the eyes of religious institutions tends to separate the world into two parts: sacred and secular.

This is not the lens through which I see the world.

Instead, my worldview is filtered through the person of the Triune God. This means I’m adverse to the definition of “What Is a Minister?” that follows.

The religious person expects to see the minister as profoundly serious and deliberate in his/her approach to life. The minister shoud be dignified in his/her denouncement of the world. The minister should attend to the needs and wants of the religious under his/her care and separate oneself from the world.

The religious person will be decidedly disappointed with me as a minister.

Seeing the world through the lens of the Triune God means I don’t see a separation between sacred and secular.

All is of God. All is good. All space and time is sacred space and time. 

“For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever!” (Romans 11:36).

I confess being influenced by Aquinas and his theology of glory. Consequently, the world is my parish.

What Is a Minister to Non-Religious People?

Now, let’s look at it from the world’s perspective. By world, I mean those not actively engaged with the system of the Christian religion.

A person in this context expects the minister to be optimistic, unobtrusive, and a sanctioner of  faith in a progressive world.

This person will also be underwhelmed with me as a minister. However, I will come closer to meeting these types of expectations than I will the expectations of the religious person.

For I do see a progressive world, but not a world that faith must ask permission to enter. Instead, the world is defined by faith as expressed through Scripture and the orthodox creeds.

The religious person’s expectations of the minister will reject the death required in God’s search for humanity. But death must happen when we realize all our false notions of reality in the light of God’s great love for us.

The non-religious person will reject the life offered in God’s search for humanity. But, life beyond our wildest imaginations can be embraced when we allow ourselves to be defined by our Creator.

What Is a Minister According to Me?

Now I’ll finally spell out my perspective: a perspective that has been honed for several yeas and will likely change with time, as perspectives tend to do.

I’m reminded that Paul wrote, “This is from me and not the Lord.” So be warned, this is of Brian and not necessarily the Lord (but it certainly doesn’t run counter to what I understand of Christian history and Jesus’ own ministry.)

A minister should have two primary purposes:

• to preach the gospel in word and action;
• to equip others to be ministers.

Let me flesh these two purposes out a bit.

Preaching the gospel is much more than what happens in a Sunday worship gathering. When I am done with the Sunday sermons, teachings, dialogues, experiences, I know full well I’m not done preaching for the week. Yes, one aspect of preaching is being God’s mouthpiece. But an equally important part of preaching is the way I live my life. I must strive for Christ to shape me into a walking example of Paul’s admonition: “Follow my example as I follow Christ’s.”

I don’t say what Paul says, but rather I try to live in such a way that my example can be followed. That means I am a servant, a giver, an encourager, a God-bearer.

I’ve been preaching this way long enough to know that I will have both good soil and bad soil in my sphere of influence.

What is good soil?

• Those persons who desire to be and experience Jesus above all else.

What is bad soil?

• Everyone else.

Can bad soil become good soil? Absolutely … but the outcome is not my responsibility. I simply spread the seed and leave the rest to the Spirit of God. When I find good soil, I focus the majority of my energy, time, and resource in that good soil.

This will inevitably mean that I can’t spend much time with those not hungering to be disciples. I hear the groans now: “Isn’t a pastor supposed to treat all parishioners the same, after all?”

In a word: No! A pastor who operates through this fruitless exercise may be more spiritual than even Jesus. Because Jesus invested his time and energy and resource in the good soil, not the bad. The greatest waste of my life would be investing in bad soil.

Now about equipping others to be ministers: this is exactly what Jesus did. He gathered twelve around him, invested his life in them, equipped them, and sent them out to ministry. Sure, one proved faithless. But through the rest of that rag-tag bunch, the world was turned upside down.

What if I invest in equipping just twelve other people? What if I disciple them to grow in grace? What if I enable them to be ministers who preach the gospel by the way they live their lives and, in turn, they equip others to be ministers? I think at least my little part of the world might be turned upside down!

So that’s what I believe my calling is: preaching and equippping.

I’m not called to:

• steady a sinking ship;
• mediate petty, un-Christlike arguments;
• be a quivering mass of availability;
• lay down God’s call and vision for the selfish desires and wrong thinking of others;
• marry and bury people;
• run programs;
• be the only dispenser of grace in a faith community;
• etc., etc., etc.

Oh, I may do some of that … only in as much as it serves the core calling. And in that calling, I am fearless for I trust a God who consistently and without fail weaves beauty out of brokenness.

So Tell Me Something

Do you see yourself as a minister? If so, how? Is it easier for you to suffer death or embrace life? Has your idea of what a minister should be changed at all?