Jon Sampson

You may have heard it before: “everyone’s a minister.” But what if I told you that everyone has two ministries?

In life, there are two ministry areas we need to be engaged in. They’re both important, but typically we focus on one and leave the other to chance.

You’ve seen it before:

The pastor who preaches sermons of grace, love, obedience, and impact, but his or her personal life shows little fruit of the application.

The businessperson who strives to live a Christian life at home, but at work believes life has tob e played by a different set of rules.

We each have two ministries: a personal ministry and a vocational ministry.

Our personal ministry is our obedience to God in our lives – how we love our families, treat our friends, serve the least, and share our faith.

Our vocational ministry is how we serve God in what we do – the actions we take, the choices we make, the relationships we form, and the things we decide to spend our time on in our field of work.

The pastor above focused all the attention on the vocational ministry and let the personal side grow anemic and cold.

The businessperson saw the importance of a personal ministry, but neglected to see the value of our ministry in our work.

A pastor’s vocational ministry may be more clear cut, but we all have a call to live out our faith in a way that impacts our lives and the world. Every business is a ministry. In fact, the pastor’s vocational ministry is really about equipping and empowering others to more fully live out their personal and vocational ministries.

Can I make a few application points?

+ We all have a vocational ministry – Whether a pastor, business person, stay at home parent, Home Depot employee, or Starbucks barista, how are you glorifying God in what you do and how you do it?

+ We all have a personal ministry –  How is God honored in how you treat your family? How you use your time and money? How you practice friendship? Are you reaching out to new people or seeking people who are just like you? Are you serving people in need?

And before the last point, I have to add that these are all personal. I write it because I feel it. But this one is the most personal…

+  If you’re a pastor or a high-level ministry leader, are you still digging into your personal ministry? We can’t let it grow cold. How are you treating your family? How are you sharing about God and serving Him personally? An effective leader delegates and builds teams. But you can’t delegate obedience.

Regardless of where we are or what we’re doing, we need to obey God fully, in our jobs and in our lives.