Subscribe to Every Post:Full-time Ministry – A Calling?
Does God call some people to full-time ministry and not others? This is another question I wrestle with and have wrestled with for many years. My recent study in the first half of I Cor. 9 has caused me to ponder this question. Biblically I am not sure. I believe God calls all believers to ministry. That I know.
Depending on the needs of the local church, there may be occasions where it would be beneficial for a few to devote more time to the ministry and forsake other vocations. In these instances, the Bible does communicate that there should be compensation for these workers.
I am not sure that God has a special calling on a person’s life for full-time ministry, however. Maybe he does or maybe there are simply several factors that are all working at the same time that provide the opportunity for full-time ministry for some. What are those factors? How about the following:
1) The church has a need for someone to devote more hours to a certain area of ministry that could not be sustained if someone was working full-time elsewhere.
2) The church has the financial resources to create that position.
3) There is a gifted, faithful, and available individual who is willing to devote his/her time to this area of ministry while the need and resources are both there.
Only when all three of these elements are there, should anyone ever be compensated in the church. The fact is these elements will be applicable to less than 1% of all believers. This is why I am not so sure God “calls” certain people to vocational ministry but perhaps he simply provides the circumstances for full-time ministry in a few unique settings. Again, I know he calls all of us to ministry in a general sense.
There is a middle of the road circumstance that seems to be common both in Scripture and in the world – if you look at the church worldwide. It is the circumstance typically called “tent-making.” The Apostle Paul was a tent-maker, which meant he worked part-time utilizing that skill and then received compensation from the ministry to devote the other half of his time to ministry. He had a unique role of apostle and church planter and devoted his time there. This circumstance is called bi-vocational ministry.
Some people feel strongly that they have been “called” to full-time, vocational ministry. Maybe God has called them. I don’t know. I know that I love what I do, and God has provided the circumstances for me to do it vocationally at this time in my life. Is there a difference between God providing the right circumstances at a particular time and a specific “calling?” …. Good question … Are there implications depending on the answer? … I think there are …