On August 1st I resigned from my position on staff at a local church.  This was the 4th church I have been “on staff” (getting paid to perform a ministry job).  There are many benefits, comforts, and good things about being on a paid church staff position.  However, from experience and talking to others, it has a dark side.  As a friend said recently, the danger becomes when we only read our Bible or pray, as a part of what we are hired to do.  As most pastors know, reading scripture to prepare a teaching is not always the same thing as reading scripture to hear God’s voice and to grow in the faith.

Which brings me to the past 2 months…

I did not realize how refreshing it would be to continue in ministry (and following God’s call) with no paycheck attached to it.  In many ways, this is a very trying time.  I am unemployed, Natalie is working to keep us afloat, the process will be slow, fund raising is just starting.  I am learning to walk by faith in new ways.  I would not say that our sacrifices have been overly dramatic (we are blessed).  But there is a very significant difference in ministering as a job (with pay and benefits), versus ministring out of calling (with no pay and at personal sacrifice).

My point is not all that profound.  It is simply re-energizing to work hard at something solely because God has called me to this thing.   As I have experienced and others have confided in me, those who get paid to minister usually are called, but often confuse their calling at times with job responsibilities.  Sometimes it gets so bad, that some of us minister solely because it is a job that pays the bills and we can do it (superficially).

I wonder how many ministers/pastors would continue to do their daily work if the paychecks stopped.  Are these pastors ministering out of calling, or job responsibilities?  (this has all sorts of implications when brought into Jesus’ teaching on the good shepard verus the hired hand).

For me, I got confused along the way.  Somewhere in the last couple of years, I started doing a job versus obeying a call.  And I am grateful that after the paychecks stopped and the job ended, the call was still there.  The call will always be there.  And I will have to obey and follow it whether there is pay or not.  Of course, I pray there is.  And I know I am called by the One Who Provides.

“Prayer does not prepare us for the greater work.  Prayer is the greater work.”

For the past 3 years I have read and studied about missional church planting.  I believe that the church in America has some serious challenges in the sense that it has become an institution, building, one hour service, and irrelevant to every day life (I could go on).  I believe that structure matters and that we need to work hard to structure our communities in ways that make a difference in our world.

However, what we really need is not a new “model of doing church”.  If this is all we are seeking, we are just reinventing the same problem in a new way.  Don’t get me wrong, I more than most, believe we need to do things differently.  But what is deeper than new models and structures, is the vibrancy of our prayer life.  “Unless the Lord builds the house, the laborers labor in vain.”  The model of the house is irrelevant.

When Jesus ascended into heaven, he told his disciples to lock themselves in a room and to not doing anything…….. until…… the Holy Spirit came upon them.  When the Spirit came, God began to use the church to flip the world upside down.

Regardless of structure, what is the state of your church’s prayer life?  Has God poured His Spirit upon your community, your city?   Have you asked Him to?  Or are you trying to change the world by yourself… with cool music, great sermons, and creative logos?

If our churches are irrelevant and ineffective in today’s culture, it is not because we do not have enough technology, money, books, lights, and music videos.  We have all these things and more.  But do we walk with God in the power of the Holy Spirit?

God uses people who pray.

But if you do not pray, He probably will not use you.