Many people ask me about my particular calling to Utah and how I discerned and continue to know that God has called us to this context. How does one know that you are a right fit for a particular ministry? There are several keys to calling in ministry but I would like to focus on just one today--Spiritual Awareness. How self-aware are you? Many of us know our spiritual gifts and use them daily.....if not multiple times a day. A lot of us know our strengths and our weaknesses. We may also know our spiritual blind spots and presuppositions. that can lead to difficulties and barriers in ministry. But, what I want to address is the total package of all these things and how they have played out in ministry over the life of your faith in Jesus. How does the sum of these things help us discern whether the ministry opportunity is right for us?
There are two basic categories in my mind: The 0-50 Minister and the 50-100 Minister. Yes, I mean 0-50 and 50-100 people. These are two distinct types of ministers. Trouble usually arises when the 0-50 tries to be the 50-100 or vice versa. I've been in both roles before. Before 2010, God placed me in specific roles for 7 years where I was a 0-50 Minister. In 2010 I spent a year as an Interim Youth Pastor of a large church. The group was 75 students and more than a dozen adult volunteers. The church was very supportive. The youth were engaged and the adults were encouraging. But, I realized the Lord had not equipped me to lead a group dynamic like that. I served there for a year.
The 0-50 Minister:
The 0-50 is comfortable and excited about self-starting or acquiring something very small. They are not anxious about the size and losing sleep over how to grow it overnight. They enjoy the tight relationships with each individual in the ministry. They are shepherds at heart. The are Mentors at heart. The enjoy the grind of deep growth in a new or young believer. The usually will have an evangelistic bent. The 0-50 Minister gravitates towards all things new, small, or non-existent.
When the 0-50 Minister gets put in the position of having to be a 50-100 Minister problems occur. Immediately anxiety starts to manifest. They don't want to reinvent the wheel so they continue to build on another's foundation. The systems, the structure, the events, the volunteers, the leadership - all of they keep not for their sake but for the sake of others. But this is a position they have never been placed in before. Before they entered into situations where there were very vague expectations and any growth numerically and spiritually would be a plus. Now they come in with very clear expectations on how the growth numerically and spiritually should happen. Most of the time the 0-50 Minister, if given enough freedom, will kill a major event or branch of the ministry to build something else or something similar from scratch. WHY? Because that is who they are. That is how God has gifted and wired them. They also can be seen as playing favorites because of a few close relationships that they have among the congregants, leadership or volunteers. But they aren't playing favorites! Again, it is who they are! This is how they have always functioned in ministry.
Reality Check:
Just like Paul argued that the ear shouldn't desire to be an eye, the 0-50 Minister should know who God has wired them to be and leverage that for His Glory in Kingdom growth. There is a reason why Paul sends Timothy to pastor at Ephesus and doesn't go himself. Inevitably, the 0-50 will take a crack at the 50-100 position. They will think that they have paid their dues in the smaller churches/ministries and they are ready for the ministry "Big Leagues". If you are wired like me, then you will get to a point when you won't want to do it any more.
What Happens When the Ministry Has Outgrown You?
Full Disclosure - As I previously stated, I'm a 0-50 guy. I don't want to presume too much about my faithful, Godly and gifted 50-100 Ministers. Please understand my tone is not a negative one.
The 50-100 Minister is comfortable in the crowd. They are usually your "big event" speakers. Most of their time during the week is spent preparing for a sermon or talk to the masses rather than meeting individually with congregants. They love systems and processes that can properly organize and communicate the vision on a mass level. The systems provide proper discipleship and equipping of the saints. They evaluate on every level. They tinker and tweak usually avoiding complete overhauls. Starting from scratch makes them nervous. They are usually anxious communicating in smaller more intimate setting. They get anxious and lose sleep over the rate of growth of the group numerically and spiritually. Over time the Lord has put those ministers in places where a ministry already existed and they have come in and grown, strengthened, deepened, and even multiplied it.
When the 50-100 Minister is put in a place where they have to be the 0-50 Minister then problems arise. They are uncomfortable with small and brand new. They can get easily frustrated when things aren't developing quickly. They are truly out of their element. They are having to ask questions and come up with solutions to issues that they have never faced before. They have to spend more time with people than with message prep. If things don't build quickly enough, then they usually leave for another ministry that has systems in place that they can tweak, fix, or maintain.
The 50-100 Minister isn't a Church Planter.
You might be asking, when would a 50-100 Minister want to be a 0-50 Minister? In the realm of church planting is where I see this mainly play out. Now follow me on this. When I say church planting, I don't mean a transplant or replant. A transplant is where a church relocates 25-50 members to another location to start a church but in a sense they are already a church with systems and trained adult volunteers from day one. I am talking about a team of maybe two or three couples that have to be evangelistic and make disciples from new converts. Then a church is born out of those efforts. I have seen this play out in my state. The 50-100 Minister tries to stick it out as a lead planter with a group of 25-40 attending but only 12 are really bought in to the vision. They plant with the hopes that in less than a year they they will be a a more self sustainable size. When it doesn't happen at the rate they are used to, they usually burn out.
What is the point?
Ok, let's get to the point: Self-Awareness. Know who you are. Be who you are. Which one are you? What positions has the Lord put you in the past? Have you ever started anything from scratch before? I don't care if it was a small group Bible study when you were a college student. Have you mainly taken ministries that are already built and made them better? In what ministry situations do you find yourself anxious? In what ministry situations do you find yourself flourishing?
I have spent 9 years in ministry. I served in leadership in a large campus ministry as a student for 4 years. I currently serve a campus organization that has 25 students in attendance. I'm not looking for the "Big League" ministry position. I know who I am. I know who the Lord has called me and equipped me to be.
Go, and do likewise.
Ben Neiser is the Director of Equipping and Multiplication of First Baptist Church of Provo, Utah. He also serve as a volunteer with an evangelical campus organization at BYU.
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