Doing ministry

[SamLovesJesus]

So I'm a 28 year old guy who is finally caving into the calling God has on my life to serve him. I've tried running away and done other things, but I realized that nothing satisfies my soul like bringing people to Jesus. I am currently not part of any church as I just moved to a new area. The church I was with before was a non denominational church. But I've done my research and I feel the Assemblies of God might be right for me, although i still need more research. I see on their website that they have different options for getting ordained. One of them is through their online school Berean School of the Bible. I was wondering how long I would have to be involved at an AOG church before I can properly bring up the subject with the pastor. I know Churches usually like to see you involved for a bit before they give you any position, but the program at the school would take 3 years anyways. So would I be able to start the process as soon as I get involved in the church, or would they require me to serve in something for a bit before I can start the process? And also under the AOG they start you as a certified pastor, then licensed, then finally ordained. Does anyone know if certified and listened pastors are internships or vocations? Thanks!

 

[Albion]

Only a pastor or someone similarly in the know can answer this question well, but it normally is not the case that a person who does not even belong to the denomination in question can start into the process of becoming one of its clergy just like that.

However, there are a few factors that could moderate that problem. For one, was your non-denominational church nearly identical in belief an practice to the AOG? If so, and if it could be verified, you might be able to present yourself as close enough to the AOG to make the transfer of membership...and any request for acceptance into the study for the ministry go much more smoothly.

Also, denominations that operate conventional seminaries like colleges do usually accept new students whether or not their studies lead to the ordained ministry in that particular denomination.

If that is the situation you face, you might be able to start your formal preparation without much delay.

However, I would expect that you will have to be a member of the AOG for a few years before being accepted as an official candidate. The only way to know for sure is to have a frank conversation about all of this with the local pastor and with the counselors at the Berean School of the Bible.

 

[Sholay2011]

I thought we should always be more interested in serving in God's house (in whatever capacity we've been enabled) than conferment of titles?

Why not join the church as every other member (if that's the church you're being led to by God) and eventually, you will be called out of others if truly you have a Pastoral calling. The Spirit is one. You can function in departments (Sunday School for example) that may enhance or sharpen your calling but when our focus is more about being recognized as a Pastor, instead of serving God, then there may be issues.

 

[lambofgod43985889]

it's well said "ambitious" to want to be a star of god

 

[mnphysicist]

I attended and was part of youth ministry and worship team at an Assembly of God church during my time at uni, but that was decades ago. Both of our pastors had masters of divinity degrees from seminary, in addition to bachelors degrees... basically 8 years of education after high school. I've run into a number of Assemblies of God pastors through out the years, and the vast majority of them in full time ministry in larger churches hold similar credentials.

However, this is not an absolute. My neighbors ex-girlfriend co-pastors an Assembly of God church and she never went to seminary. Rather, she actively participated for a number of years , and the congregation and leadership discerned that she was called to ministry. And after doing so, she had some hoops to jump as well as attending some form of training for a while. Granted, she is not a full time pastor and supports herself off of her day job, despite putting in close to 40 hours a week at church... but it is a smaller church with attendance running around 200 on a given Sunday.

That being said what a church says in print, vs how it truly operates are rarely in alignment. The idealized is in print, as contrasted with real life church operations which are a ton messier. It takes time to get a handle on this. I'd say it takes at least a couple years of very active participation with four being more realistic, such that you can ride through a series of positive as well as negative experiences. This doesn't mean you can't be pursuing education at the same time, albeit whether it would count towards becoming a minister or not would be subject to the specific church and school requirements. In addition, there is great value in coordinating your studies with your service in the local church... albeit for the first year its less important. (Hebrew and Greek verb parsing while mission critical for further study, is generally too distant from the local church to integrate),

As far as when to bring it up with the pastor... if you've got a lot of experience in serving in your prior church, and its beliefs were somewhat aligned with the AoG and you just moved, I see no problem bringing it up with the pastor pretty quickly. Attend for a few weeks, schedule a meeting to see about joining, where you might serve, and then as part of the discussion, bring up your thoughts on becoming a minister. Otoh, if you were not actively participating with your prior church, and/or its beliefs are at odds with the AoG, you still might want to meet with the pastor to see about joining, and/or where you could serve, but bringing up ministry aspects at that time would likely be premature.