25 Reasons to be in the Ministry
1. Remember your first
love. God’s love for us is eternal. We reflect His love in our ministry to Him
and the ones that receive us as sent ones. What first got Chantal’s attention
was the total and complete love and acceptance of Jesus shown by her Sunday
School Teacher, Morne Du Plessis at a church in Pretoria, South Africa. The
irony is that she got saved in a church where my parents also pastored later,
Corpus Christi, which later became Doxa Deo. God healed me at age three of
tonsilitis, I gave my heart to the Lord the next Sunday and was filled with the
Holy Spirit at age four. The Holy Spirit helped me navigate immigration to
Australia and a new school and He has been my friend ever since.
2. Another important reason to be in the ministry, a term that needs to be redefined in a
follow up article, is that we imitate those who faith and patience, inherit the
promises of God. Hebrews 6:12. There is a way that has been pioneered, uncover
the ancient pathways of spiritual success by studying the lives and principles
of those who have shown courage to wait on the Lord and believe in His
prophecies over your life.
3. One of the main reasons to be in the ministry is to answer the calling of God
on your life. In my book “Leader: Develop the Leader Within” available from
pelsermedia.com, I reveal the origins and
principles of calling and how to live it out by God’s grace through faith, with
a little help from your friends!
4. I wept when I was in high school, because we
had moved around so much, and friendships took a knock as a result. The Holy
Spirit gently showed me to write down all the friends I thought I had lost
around the world on a few pages. I realized God had given me a global network of
friends.
5. Godly correspondence is a key to nations. By staying in touch with
all our global partners and affiliated ministries, God has unlocked the heart of
nations for us, and we love immersing ourselves in new cultures with all their
flavours and creativity. I store all my communications on our cloud networking
system over twenty-five years, this is a most valuable treasure to me.
6. Travel
is a high up on the list of reasons to minister to our generation. We have
reached all the continents of the world but there are so many unreached people
groups and regions left, we are strategizing and praying about the timing for
new missions.
7. Because of our love for nations, Chantal and I have developed
an All Nations School of Worship, we actually connected in the band while in
Bible College. We did a short course on sound engineering but were too
enraptured in our love to hear a word the presenter was saying. It took another
a few years for me to learn how to set up the sound system!
8. In ministry, you are forced to draw on all your dormant talents.
You will design, produce, create
on a whole new level because the force of God’s compassion to reach the lost at
any cost is so strong, it will supersede your inhibitions and release your inner
creativity.
9. While you create and release vision for others, you also have a
wonderful opportunity to develop the gifts and talents in others. Ministry
provides a wonderful platform to grow individuals into their full potential in
life. This is one of the most rewarding aspects of service in ministry.
10. While you are equipping others, God confirms his word with signs and wonders
following the preaching of His Word. Miracles are one of the main reasons I got
involved in ministry. I have seen miracles in our family and throughout the
churches we relate to. My dad captured the testimonials in a “Compendium of
Healings and Miracles” also available from our online shop.
11. The power of the Holy Spirit to change lives is a wonderful reason
to pursue your calling. Seeing
lives change completely with a Divine level of transformation, is amazing. I
want to see that more and therefore we continue to minister!
12. Seeing families
turn to the living God is one of the best rewards for ministry. There is a
spiritual fight for families, let’s dedicate ourselves to a level of ministry,
whatever that is, to see families heal and return to the living God!
13. When God took me through a year of deliverance, during my Bible studies, He
gave me a compassion to see the oppressed set free. We have witnessed powerful
deliverance with the accompanying transformational fruit in the long-term
testimonies of many believers. Jesus is anointed to set the captives free –
ministry is an extension of Jesus’ anointing through your life of dedication to
serve God and others.
14. Dreams, visions and prophecies are a great motivator
and help to steer your course of ministry on whatever level. Don’t get stuck on
the concept of full-time or part-time ministry, place your life on the altar and
let God use you as He wishes, be a living sacrifice daily and the ministry will
happen! I have had many dreams indicating exactly what I should do next, clear
prophetic words come to you like: “Rise and Build!” At the right time, I will
publish a book on all the dreams and visions God has fulfilled in our
experience. Keep a journal and write down the date and time God speaks to you,
later it will stand as a testimony of God’s sovereignty and your obedience to
His will.
15. Remember to have fun! Dr Alex Sachs, who has become part of the
folklore of Harvester Cape Town, explained why he kept coming to church: “Love
and laughter is what we are all after.” We have decided to enjoy the ministry,
which can become very serious and hard at times. Jesus enjoyed his disciples and
wasn’t ashamed of having a meal with sinners to love them and transform their
lives.
16. In ministry we sometimes forget that it’s all about a wedding! Jesus
is coming for His Bride the church. If you keep that in mind, it becomes a love
story versus a job. Love conquers all!
17. Making disciples is the core of
Jesus’ great commission. We are commissioned to go and commanded to love. In the
going, you are making disciples of Jesus’ ways, His life, his principles and
teachings. A disciple is a convert that has made a commitment to conformed to
the image of His son. A disciple is willing to be disciplined to become more
like Jesus and is willing to deny self, take up the cross and follow. To be a leader, you first need to learn to follow.
18. The genius of church.
When you have a revelation of the church that Jesus builds, not the
commercialized club that church growth schemes have created, but a living
organism that transcends cultural and denominational boundaries, then your life
will change. You start to realize that we are all one in Christ and that your
victory or defeat affects the entire body of believers. In his book “God’s
Genius: Apostolic Reformational Theology” Dr Andre Pelser explains a revelation
of a many-membered body working together in perfect unity and synergy. We are
scratching the surface of what is possible in a fully functional accurate
church, God is revealing new things we’ve never seen, and I am excited to see a
new beginning for our church in Cape Town in 2023 as the Lord wills!
19. We work in a confederation of churches.
This is entirely different compared to denominational structures.
A confederation is aligned to tenets of faith and
common purpose to fulfil specific mandates of God in the world. For more
information contact us and we will explain the vision and how God is growing our
affiliated network of churches and organizations towards 1000 churches in 2023.
20. Orbital Networking has rearranged our organizational structures and replaced
outdated and hierarchical pyramidal systems in the church. We have pioneered a
new way of operating in ministry together with our faithful partners across diverse cultures. I wrote “into Orbit” to describe how we can centre all our
thinking and activities around Christ, while the orbits of function help to
sustain life in the infinite galaxies of churches. We apply orbits in local
churches, businesses, family estates and many other ways. We use executive
coaching to help people to think in orbital terms with successful returns.
21. We take a sincere interest in ordinary people. To see Christ in someone is
seeing the riches in the saints. Be careful not to overlook the unsung heroes in
your ministry – they are the most faithful supporters and will end up doing
the great exploits. Often, the shooting stars burn out quickly, while the
planets quietly continue.
22. Become part of a bridge of living stones for your
generation. I saw myself as a brick on a stone bridge when we went to Scotland
for a conference. When you feel like people are walking over you to get to their
promised land, you are doing your job well!
23. Jesus’ qualities of
meekness and humility are a key to finding rest in ministry. Place your
strengths and weaknesses under His control. He is the author and finished of
your faith and your calling. Operating in rest is a wonderful way to value your
ministry. I will only do what the Holy Spirit leads me to do.
24. The glory
outweighs the suffering. When suffering comes, endure it like a soldier and look
ahead at the joy set before you and endure as seeing Him who is invisible always
before you.
25. God is a great rewarder of those who believe He exists and who
diligently seek him. Hebrews 11:6. If you spend time with Chantal and I, you’ll
notice we like to celebrate life and the way God rewards us and those who stand
with us in ministry.
I hope this meditation motivates you to enter a life of
service in ministry. If you are interested in chatting about your calling, drop us a
message and let’s connect in the new year. We are excited to launch people into
their calling.
I thank my wife Chantal and our children Cherie, Ethan Immanuel, and Zoe for walking this road with me. God bless you and make all your dreams
come true, as you help Him with His dream the church.
Thank you to those partners and affiliated ministries for walking with us
for 25 years! Thank you, Jesus Christ our Lord, and Saviour,
who showed us how to minister from the
deepest compassion and love – what an example!
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