Developing a Personal Philosophy of Ministry

Posted on | by Laureen
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What I Believe About God

What people believe about God can both be universal and personal since at the end of the day it is upon a particular believer to make his or her personal choice whether to believe in God or not to believe in Him. As to the question of what I believe about God, I would first start by saying that there is a reason why we see what we see in this world. There is always an architect for every building and I believe the entire world portrays Gods creation. Some people argue that the universe appeared naturally. I believe that the complexity of the universe is proof that God had something to do with its creation. I also believe in the Bible and the Bible tells us that God is infinite and eternal. God is great and He is above all creation that is why I believe that God knows everything, all-powerful, present everywhere, as well as self-sufficient and self-existent1.

Though the old testament might be used by some to prove that God is temperamental, it still portrays God who is all-loving hence my belief that God is slow to anger and merciful. I believe God is righteous and just since He has always served those who believe in Him with utmost justice and righteousness as the Bible and history in general suggests.

What I Believe About Humanity And Humanitys Needs

I believe that humanity is naturally pure, but due to choices that we make in life, we end up becoming impure. These choices are greatly influenced by our needs that may sometimes be too great that we are willing to do anything just to fulfill them. Many are times that we feel we can only achieve what we need by ourselves hence when we cannot get what we need; we choose to turn to unconventional ways of getting it which then makes us impure. In other cases though, human needs may be achieved through impure means, but that doesnt mean that it makes us be sinners. For instance, all humanity needs freedom or rather the need to feel independent and spontaneous where we can make choices freely. This may be a challenge at times for instance where one is taken into slavery. In such a case, it would be right to fight and kill your captors which may not be a sin as indicated in the Bibles teachings even though the same Bible prohibits killing.

The need that is of specific interest to me is the need for security. This is the main reason that makes most human beings choose to believe in God since in Him they feel secure2. Security is not only from potential aggressors but also from any threat to human life such as poverty and diseases. All human beings want to be immune from these threats and hence they choose to believe in a higher power that can protect them from these threats.

What Ministry (Or Christian Service) Is All About

Christian belief often culminates in service, which is acting in a manner that improves the lives of humanity and the church, or else the belief in Christianity may die slowly. In the Bible, there are examples of people who lived their lives in the strenuous doctrine that was Christianity at the time as they sought to spread the gospel and ensure that Gods name was exalted by all humanity3. The acting according to the teachings of Christianity can also be said to be Christian service, especially where the actions of staunch Christians are in the limelight and their counsel is often sought to make major decisions. This is well illustrated even by non-Christians who often act according to the actions of Christians and if those actions do not make the world a better place, then it beats the whole logic of believing in God and being a Christian.

Christian service is often informed by the Christian belief and promoted by a call to do what is good to ensure that the presence of God is felt among human beings. This doesnt mean that Christian service only involves preaching the word of God, but it may also include charitable work and also serving in the church. Other people serve Christianity by proclaiming that they are Christians and people then join Christianity by their judgment of those peoples actions. It has often been said that the word of human beings is usually and easily moved by the example set in context with any perceptions held. The goal end of Christian service should be the exaltation of God through service to humanity, where the making of peoples lives better is of great importance and the promotion of the faith that is Christianity all over the world. This can well be illustrated in a case where if more people believe in Christianity they will join in the Christian service which will, in turn, make the world a better place.

The kind of ministry or service activities that will be effective in meeting the needs I perceive

One of the most important Christian service to humanity and the ministry is the empowerment of people. It has always been identified that where people are not empowered they often adopt unholy means of gaining power which then makes the whole campaign of making the world a better place useless. The empowering of people as the Bible puts it is giving people the power of choice4. Just to revisit the earlier example of slavery, slaves do not have a choice on what they can own and even what they can do. They normally do what they are told to do by their masters. In this case, the church in the 19th century did put a lot of emphasis on the abolition of the slave trade, which made people free and gave them choices as a Christian service. We have observed that most human actions are greatly influenced by the choices they make, which at a time becomes quite impossible to make good choices if an individual is not empowered to be in a position to do so.

One of the most broken Gods commandment is the one that says, thou shall not steal, but if a person is in a situation where he or she has no other choice, but to steal who then takes the responsibility for that sin?. Therefore, Christians must extend their service into solving the root cause of the evil we see today in this world. It is not enough to condemn what we see as evil, but we should also do something practical to make sure it doesnt happen again. Most Christians and churches in general have taken it upon themselves to alleviate poverty as a form of empowering humanity. They have realized that most choices to sin are often driven by the need to obtain what one cannot afford. It is very sad to see that in some cases the choice to sin is driven by lack of food by someone or his family.

How The Sense Of Calling, Purpose, Passion, Abilities And Life Experience Contribute To The Identified Needs

My sense of calling to give service to Christianity and humanity, in general, is to improve the lives of people not only spiritually, but also physically. People must believe in God as this is the basis of faith and the basis of improving the quality of their lives. Through the Bible, people get empowered and receive boundless advice on how to live good lives by showing them how to make educated choices. It has often been identified that staunch Christians make choices according to the teachings of the Bible even on how to engage in economic activities that are not evil.

I have always directed my energies in giving people the power of choice so that they are in a position to live comfortably and take responsibility for their actions. I also believe that no human being should be made to suffer while the rest of us live our comfortable and less stressful lives. Im able to relate to most peoples problems and needs with the use of my personal experience. Im also able to relate with people and form a relationship which then makes it easier for me to help them and for them to accept my help and believe in what I teach them. It is always important for Christian leaders to show compassion in their ministry work and relate more with the people they serve which will even make their work easier5. We should also adopt excellence, which is a trait that naturally occurs in us though we unknowingly choose to suppress it. Excellence ensures the prosperity of the Christian ministry and is based on strong foundations which make it outlive lifelong challenges that may come up long after we are gone. This is evident by what the early Christians did and it is their success that makes us enjoy the faith today.

Core Values and Convictions Used In Making Choices About Specific Ministry Programs And Activities

It is always important that we make decisions according to our core values. The most important point to note is that Christian service should adopt core values that are rooted in the Bible. Out of the many teachings that the Bible gives on this topic, the topic, which we can greatly learn from is the teachings of Paul to the early churches. Pauls advice that people adopting Christian service, either to expand Christianity by spreading the word of God or by improving the lives of people in their community and living as a Christian example should be transparent and exhibit the highest forms of integrity and honesty6. Out of some of the universally identified core values, some that I adopt in my Christian service include the putting of service before my personal needs, which is according to the teachings of Jesus as written by both Mark and Matthew. I also make sure that everything that is done in service to the church is meant to glorify God as he must be at the center of all Christian activities no matter their nature or the place they are done.

Christian service and service to the ministry should also be done according to the defined parameters and the culture of the people being targeted by the ministry. It is important to understand that even during the early church it was not common to find people with the same view of Christianity and religion in general. Even in modern days, we often find that there are people who will not accept any service from Christians citing religious boundaries. This will always make the ministry to fail in its endeavor in such places. Christians should also learn to adapt and apply innovative means in their service to the church, but this should be done with restraint not to compromise the traditional rules that govern the faith itself.

Personal characteristics I endeavor to develop further

Since I believe that it is inevitable to live a Christ-less life, I believe that it is upon all men and women who have accepted to believe in Christ and his teachings to take it upon themselves to spread the word of God to other people as their Christian obligation7. I endeavor to develop my people skills further and to invest more in understanding different cultures and religions so that Ill be better placed to relate to people from different backgrounds and successfully minister to them in a way that they will enjoy the Christian service and relate to it. The understanding of other religions will greatly help me in being a better apologist when challenged by non-believers.

Bibliography

Burton, Kate. Building Self-Confidence for Dummies. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2011.

Cook Communications Ministries. Can I Know Jesus? New York: David C Cook, 2004.

Corey, Marianne. Schneider. Becoming a helper. Upper Saddle River: Cengage Learning, 2007.

Ferguson, Everett. Baptism in the early church: history, theology, and liturgy in the first five centuries. Journal of Religious Studies Review 36, no. 1 (2010): 81-93.

Hoke Steve. Global Mission Handbook: A Guide for Cross-cultural Service. New York: Intervarsity Press, 2009.

Imes, Thomas. Humanitys Test. New York: Humanitys Test, 2007.

Monda, Antonio. Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion. Vintage Series. New York: Vintage Books, 2007.

Footnotes

  1. Antonio, Monda. Do You Believe? Conversations on God and Religion.Vintage Series. ( New York: Vintage Books, 2007).
  2. Kate, Burton. Building Self-Confidence for Dummies. (New York: John Wiley and Sons, 2011), 81.
  3. Thomas, Imes. Humanitys Test. (New York: Humanitys Test. 2007),28.
  4. Steve, Hoke. Global Mission Handbook: A Guide for Cross-cultural Service. (New York: InterVarsity Press, 2009), 43.
  5. Cook Communications Ministries. Can I Know Jesus? (New York: David C Cook, 2004), 126.
  6. Everett, Ferguson. Baptism in the early church: history, theology, and liturgy in the first five centuries. Journal of Religious Studies Review 36, no (2010): 82.
  7. Marianne, Schneider Corey. Becoming a helper. (Upper Saddle River: Cengage Learning, 2007), 48.
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