In today’s world we find many ways of conducting pastoral ministry. If God has called us to be pastors, whether or not we have been called by a church to be a pastor, we can conduct pastoral ministry where God has placed us. We don’t need to call ourselves “pastor” or be called “pastor” to conduct pastoral ministry. Thousands (millions?) of lay people conduct pastoral ministry everyday and all the time while working regular jobs or being retired.
Let’s pray and think outside the box. If you are seeking a call to be the pastor of a church, in what ways are you conducting pastoral ministry now, while you are seeking that call? Sit down and write it out. When applying for a church position, you can articulate the pastoral ministry you are now performing with God’s call on your life and in God’s power, but without, perhaps, “an official call.” You can share with committees, sessions, pastors, friends, and others how you would like to help others perform the ministry that God has called them to where they are, even though they are not “pastors.” Hearing about the effective pastoral ministry of a candidate “without a confirmed call” might influence those involved in the hiring of a new pastor to call him or her.
Jesus said, “Whoever is faithful in a very little is faithful also in much” (Luke 16:10). When a pulpit becomes open, the first people that a church might consider would be those who can demonstrate that they have been faithful with whatever ministry God has given them where He has placed them. I firmly believe there are more opportunities today to conduct pastoral ministry than there have ever been before in the history of the church and the world. If we think and pray, we will embrace the opportunities God shows us and Bible-believing and Christ-centered denominations will grow to the point that they have more growing churches available than they have pastors available to serve them.
