Ministry is an Act of God

After reading sections in William Willimon's Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry, I am going to blog what my understanding of this is and what I have drawn from it. I shall be doing it in dot point so it is somewhat understandable.

• The idea of service (which essentially is what ministry is) is one of God's - not ours.
• The Trinity is creative and communicative. Divine creativity is the basis for both the church and its leaders.
• The concept of 'Calling' can be given an example through the conversion of Saul on the road to Damascus. He is blinded by light, and for 3 days is isolated as someone who can neither eat or drink. People sometimes describe their calling to ministry as something they never thought they would do. Saul as someone who threatened and persecuted the first followers of Christ - he is then called by Christ to minister to them.
• The same can be seen with Ananias. Fearing to go near Saul/Paul, God reaffirms what he wants Ananias to do by saying "Go, for he is an instrument whom I have chosen to bring my name before Gentiles and Kings".
• My interpretation of the two points above is that ministers are instruments of God's divine creativity. We are called for a reason and a specific purpose and task. In Paul's case he is called to minister to the Gentiles.

• Ministry is not a profession. It is a vocation. Ministers cannot be paid for that is generally expected of them. They must be called in order to do it.
• We all struggle with what is is that God is exactly calling us to, and what it means to be called.
• Willimon says "Time and again, amid the challenges of the pastoral ministry, this divine, more-than-subjective authorisation is a major means of pastoral perseverance. To know that our ministry is first and finally validated not by our feelings, or even by the judgments of the Bishop [Presbytery], but by God; this is great grace!"
• Acts 5:29 "We must obey God rather than any human authority"
• We are representatives of something much bigger and more significant than our denomination.

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