Subject: Ministerial Formation of a Christian Minister

Faculty: Rev B .Rajasekhar Sir

Topic: Unit1 & Unit2
Submitted By: D Chennaiah(Jacob)
Understanding the nature of Christian ministry:
In Christianity, ministry is an activity carried out by Christians to express or spread their
faith, the prototype being the Great Commission. These ministries allow churches to provide
'age-appropriate' activities and content to maximize spiritual education and growth as well as
peer group fellowship. Ministries often provide fellowship activities outside of the church
service that encourage the involvement of non-church going friends and relatives.

1. Christian ministry as participation in God’s ministry in Jesus:

Throughout His ministry, Jesus doesn't just point the way to happiness—He leads the
way. Through His Atonement, He leads us to love. Through His teachings, He leads us to
eternal truths. Through His perfect life, He leads us to the path of obedience. An essential
part of Jesus' mission was, of course, to die for our sins on the cross and, through repentance
and faith in him, open the way for us to experience eternal life with the Father. As Romans
5:8 says, “God demonstrated his own love for us in this: while we were still sinners, Christ
died for us”.

Serving provides us the opportunity to know more about how we are created: our likes
and dislikes, what we can do well and what we cannot. God fills in the picture for us. We
discover more about ourselves and how He is growing us while He uses us to meet the needs
of others. We learn best by doing.

This passage from Paul’s letter to the Colossians explains the nature of Christian ministry.
Here are some of the main points:

1. There is sacrifice involved: Christ suffered for the sake of His body and as ministers,
we will also participate in that suffering. Does that mean there was something lacking in
the work of Christ? Not at all, only that He left a portion of His work to be completed by
the church, His body.
2. Paul describes ministry as “stewardship” which means we don’t own our ministry or
calling, God is the owner. We are called to faithful participation with Christ in fulfilling
that calling.
3. Ministry is given by God: I don’t choose ministry, God chooses us and our part is to
respond to His choosing.
4. Ministry is not for me, it is for others.
5. Our ministry is to make God’s word fully know. Ministers are to teach and preach the
whole counsel of God, not just the popular verses that get a lot of “Amens” from the
crowd.
6. Making God’s word fully known involves revealing a mystery that was hidden by
God but revealed through Christ. That mystery is revealed to His holy ones, not
 generally, and they in turn make the mystery known among the Gentiles. The meaning
of the mystery is found in Christ.
6. Making God’s word fully known involves revealing a mystery that was hidden by
God but revealed through Christ. That mystery is revealed to His holy ones, not
generally, and they in turn make the mystery known among the Gentiles. The meaning
of the mystery is found in Christ.
7. The mystery is very valuable, in fact I would suggest, the most valuable thing
anywhere, anytime.
8. The mystery is the meaning of “Christ in you.” Ministry is not about me, it is about
Christ in me (us). (see John 15 about abiding in the vine)

9. The hope of glory: from the human point of view this glory is often understood as
heaven, or the return of Christ, His millennial kingdom, or the new heaven and new
earth promised in the Apocalypse. But this passage is talking about God’s purpose and
His mystery, so if we ask, “What is the hoped-for glory from God’s perspective?” I
suggest that it is the fullness of Christ in us. The character of Christ, the dedication of
Christ to God’s purpose, the absolute surrender to the will of God, the power of God that
reveals His kingdom, and the full manifestation of what it means to be a child of God.

Christian ministry as the continuation of the ministries of the disciples and the early
church

During his earthly life and ministry, Jesus gathered many " disciples" around himself, some of
whom he also called "apostles," sending them out to preach, teach, and heal others (acc. to the
Synoptic Gospels). These apostles, especially Peter and a core group known as "the Twelve,"
would seem to have been the natural leaders of those who continued to believe in Jesus after
his death and resurrection. Yet his "brothers" James and Jude, members of Jesus' own family,
evidently also became influential leaders of the early Church, as did Barnabas and Paul and
several others who also came to be called "apostles."

Soon after the death and resurrection of Jesus, however, the early Christians also
began using a variety of other titles for those who led and served the community of believers,
as seen in various texts of the New Testament. Some of these titles were used for itinerant
preachers who spread the Christian message throughout the Roman Empire, while others
designated the resident leaders of local communities. At first, the most prominent leaders
seem to have been called apostles, prophets, and teachers, among various other titles. Yet by
the mid-second century, the church had developed a fairly uniform structure of leadership,
consisting of three different "orders" called bishops (overseers), presbyters (elders),
and deacons (ministers), despite some ongoing regional variations. In all of this, however, the
emphasis was not on the authority or status of the leaders as rulers, but remained on their
responsibilities to serve and care for the people in their communities.

 In 1 Corinthians 12:4-31, Paul stresses that the unity of the Christian community (the
one "body of Christ") is served by a variety of spiritual gifts and activities, including
the speaking of wisdom, knowledge, faith, gifts of healing, working of miracles,
prophecy, discernment of spirits, various kinds of tongues, and interpretation of
tongues (12:8-10). He continues by rank-ordering some leadership roles: "God has
appointed in the church first apostles, second prophets, third teachers; then deeds
of power, then gifts of healing, forms of assistance, forms of leadership, various kinds
 of tongues. Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles?
Do all possess gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues? Do all interpret?" (12:28-30).

 In Romans 12:6-8, Paul again stresses the unity of the community, despite the variety
of roles and activities of its leaders and members: "For as in one body we have many
members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are
one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another. We have gifts
that differ according to the grace given to us: prophecy, in proportion to
faith; ministry, in ministering; the teacher, in teaching; the exhorter, in
exhortation; the giver, in generosity; the leader, in diligence; the compassionate, in
cheerfulness."

 Acts 13:1 names five "prophets and teachers" as leaders of the Christian community

in Antioch. Several other Christians are also called "prophets" in Acts 11:27, 15:32,
and 21:10.

Understanding the vocation of Christian ministers:

The word 'vocation' comes from the Latin word that means 'calling'. For the Christian a
vocation is not just something that God calls us to do, it is also the person God calls us to be.
Every baptised Christian shares in the universal call to holiness and to be like Our Lord Jesus
Christ.
It is social and communal, not an individual experience or issue. It is mediated and
discerned within community, and it is given by God for the sake of community. Vocation
also requires sacrifice, obedience, and the demand to listen to the needs of others and the
world.

Call to ministry: biblical perspective

Someone who is called to “the ministry” senses that God wishes for him or her to devote their
life to serving in the local church or ministry fulltime. They often become pastors,
missionaries, non-profit organization directors, and par church leaders. God's call comes to
people in different ways. Biblical accounts of God's call vary greatly. It would be so much
easier if God would speak His will in a clear, audible voice or send an engraved invitation. It
would require less faith if He called us all in the same predictable way. Instead, He expects us
to be sensitive and obedient to His direction as He leads us step by step.

Micah 6:8: He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of
you?
To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

1 Corinthians 16:5-12 in writing to the Corinthian church, Paul taught that everyone who is
called to Christ is also called to serve. All ministry is the Lord's work: God assigns the tasks
and uniquely gifts a variety of individuals to work together to fulfil His plan for His glory.

There are some people who literally cannot recall a time when they didn’t sense a call to the
ministry. These ministers accepted a call very early in their life, and hadn’t wavered in it
since. The prophet Jeremiah was called to ministry before he was even formed in the womb
(Jeremiah 1:5), and the prophet Samuel was devoted to serving the Lord before he was born
by his mother (1 Samuel 1:11).
Call to ministry: ecclesiastical perspective

During the middle Ages in Western Europe a certain elitist attitude developed within the
institutional church. Christians were divided up between those who lived in the world – the
common laity – and those who were a part of the “spiritual estate” – priests, monks, and nuns.
The members of the spiritual estate were believed to have received a special call or
“vocation” from God to enter into a spiritually superior form of life. They lived not only
according to the ordinary requirements of God’s law, to which all Christians are bound, but
also according to the “evangelical counsels.” These evangelical counsels, especially “poverty,
chastity, and obedience,” had been derived from the Gospels with the use of a faulty
hermeneutical method that did not operate according to the proper distinction of law and
Gospel.
Martin Luther and the Lutheran Reformers totally rejected these unbiblical notions, and
emphasized in opposition to this teaching the truly evangelical teaching that all proper
occupations and stations of life are connected to, and based on, a divine call. This Biblical
doctrine of vocation is reflected in the preaching of John the Baptist, as recorded in Luke
3:12-14. John the Baptist, more so than any other New Testament figure, lived the equivalent
of a monastic, or anchoritic life. In his preaching, however, he did not invite others to join
him in this life. Instead he encouraged his listeners – tax collectors and soldiers, no less – to
remain in the callings that they already had, and to carry out the duties of those callings with
honesty, fairness, and integrity.

Bibliography: