Absolutely not. "Ministry" is not limited to work in churches. Street-sweeping is every bit as much a ministry as is ministering to a church as their "pastor". As Paul instructed the Colossians - whatsoever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord.
Quite the contrary, people should be encouraged, greatly encouraged, to pursue whatever calling suits their talents and interests. They should go as God leads; the most obvious indication of where God leads a person is his own areas of gifting and interest. If someone is being led to be an auto-mechanic, but feels pressured into "ministry" (i.e. working for a church), then whoever forced him into it has a lot to answer for by robbing the world of a decent auto-mechanic and giving it yet another less-than-worthy church employee whose heart isn't really in his work.
The idea that church ministry is in any way a higher or more noble or more important calling than any other ministry is, firstly, false, and secondly, incredibly dangerous and destructive.
God will choose His workers. He will choose some of His workers to preach His gospel. He will choose other of His workers to clean toilets. Others He will call to become President, to be doctors, to be missionaries, to be organ makers, to be fruit-pickers, to be web-site designers...
We should never force anyone into ministry, but trust that God provides whom He wills into those positions, because He has prepared their hearts for whatever ministry that He puts them into.
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NO!
Never force people to do such things. It can be quite traumatic. Encourage, sure. NEVER force. And if a person says no, do not press the issue too far. Let a yes be a yes and a no be a no.
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Originally Posted by Helle Gannestad (Utøya massacre survivor)
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“When one man could cause so much evil - think about how much love we can create together.”
Originally Posted by Albert Einstein
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I have repeatedly said that in my opinion the idea of a personal God is a childlike one. You may call me an agnostic, but I do not share the crusading spirit of the professional atheist whose fervor is mostly due to a painful act of liberation from the fetters of religious indoctrination received in youth.
__________________ "The greater the love, the greater the sufferings of the soul. The fuller the love, the fuller the knowledge of God. The more ardent the love, the more fervent the prayer. The more perfect the love, the holier the life." ~St. Silouan To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
The Father is my hope, the Son my refuge, the Holy Spirit my protection: All-Holy Trinity, glory to You! To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
PRAY constantly to FIND GOD. LOVE greatly to KNOW GOD. PARTAKE of His Sacraments to EXPERIENCE GOD. ~ from my little Orthodox Prayer book
As a soon to be seminarian, people are called by God alone to enter ministry (pastoral or otherwise). They discern by asking questions about their call and by praying.
Man, when I saw this post, the first thought that I had was--who are we to know what God has planned for someone else? I think that we have to trust God to move workers into areas of need. Sometimes, it's really hard to trust---especially, when there is such a huge need---and you're tired. But I have watched God move and work---it's amazing---like going from 0 to 90mph in two seconds.
I don't believe in "forcing" anybody to do anything. In my church we often realize that someone has too much work on their shoulders and needs some help, or we need someone new for a new committee or ministry. In these cases my pastor always encourages us to talk to those we think would be good for the role and recommend they get involved. There's so much to do and I always enjoy seeing people step up to the plate after someone has recommended them. It shows they are really confident because we are building each other up in Christ.
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