When Apollos met Priscilla and Aquila, he was able to connect with the entire church network in Ephesus. But when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained to him the way of God more accurately” (Acts 18:24-26). This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things concerning Jesus, being acquainted only with the baptism of John and he began to speak out boldly in the synagogue. “Now a Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by birth, an eloquent man, came to Ephesus and he was mighty in the Scriptures. This was true even for the great evangelist Apollos, who had all the gifting he needed, but didn’t know the right people-and because he didn’t know the right people, he didn’t know what he didn’t know about finding a ministry post: The truth of job searching-whether in the church or in business-is that people like to hire people they know. It’s very possible that you don’t know the right people to find a pastoral job. Let God take you down a course of discipleship and training in the context of a seminary, local church, or church planting network to better equip you for the work to which you are called. “Do your best.” Don’t assume that any ministry position is owed to you. The Apostle Paul encourages Timothy: “Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth” (2 Timothy 2:15). Each of these avenues of training will give you the opportunity to deepen your knowledge of the logistics of pastoral ministry-and more importantly, your knowledge of God and his Word. But you may need to enter a 2-year pastoral residency in a trustworthy and healthy church planting network while you work a part-time job on the side. You don’t necessarily need to get an M.Div. graduates.Īfter four years of theological study, this can be discouraging.īut don’t lose heart! You may simply need to continue your education. Many Bible college graduates grow discouraged when they are unable to get pastoral ministry positions because they are competing against an applicant pool saturated with M.Div. Here are four tweaks aspiring Christian workers can make in pursuit of pastoral ministry that could be the difference between a never-ending job search and a divinely-appointed position. The reality is much simpler: You may simply need to tweak your approach. If this happens long enough, any rational human being will begin to question whether God has really called them to pastoral ministry. One of the reasons the pursuit of pastoral ministry can feel this way is that doors get slammed in your face for years. In fact, in the throes of seminary and ministry, it can often feel like a mistake. Oftentimes, pastoral ministry doesn’t feel like a calling. I became a servant of this gospel by the gift of God’s grace given me through the working of his power” (Ephesians 3:6-7, emphasis added). The Apostle Paul explains his own calling this way: “This mystery is that through the gospel the Gentiles are heirs together with Israel, members together of one body, and sharers together in the promise in Christ Jesus.
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