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20 Questions about Ministry
James Cunneen
20 Questions about Ministry
Copyright © 2018 James Cunneen. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical publications or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Write: Permissions, Wipf and Stock Publishers, 199 W. 8th Ave., Suite 3, Eugene, OR 97401.
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To my daughter, Jennifer a servant of God
&
the Life To Life Ministry team
Preface
The apostle Paul said it best. For who is our hope or joy or crown of exultation? Is it not even you . . . ? (1 Thessalonians 2:19)
There are few joys in life comparable to that of Christian ministry: sharing Christ with others, and helping younger Christians to grow. This book is offered to encourage those who are ministering—or want to minister—for the glory of God and the increase of His Kingdom.
These are 20 key questions—of the many questions that have arisen—to which I’d like to suggest answers. I hope the discussions about these issues will be helpful.
I’m not going to present these as if they are specific questions from individuals— i.e. “J. L. from Raleigh, NC asks, ‘ What about such and such?’”— but rather as generic, though real, questions about ministry that have occurred numerous times—e.g. “How do I lead a good small-group Bible study?”
While this book can be read sequentially, from Questions 1 to 20, it’s really intended more as a resource to address whatever ministry issue may have arisen. So please feel free to skim the Table of Contents and go to the question that seems most relevant.
I hope these topics will be both encouraging and challenging.
–James Cunneen
Question 1
God has put it on my heart to do ministry; how do I get started?
God is well pleased when Christians want to serve Him. One of the clearest statements of this is found, I think, in the Lord’s words in John 17:18, As you sent Me into the world, I send them into the world. It’s a transfer of a job description. We Christians have a job—His job. And His instruction is to . . . make disciples of all nations . . . teaching them to obey all I have commanded . . . (Matthew 28:19,20)
Since these words are inspired Scripture, we can assume they apply to us today as well as to the original disciples. Otherwise, we’re just reading someone else’s mail.
If you desire to serve God, but aren’t sure what specific kind of ministry God wants you to do, you might want to skip ahead to Question 2: What kind of ministry is God calling me to?
There are different types of ministry, as noted in 1 Corinthians 12:5,6 . . . there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. And there are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things . . .
For the purpose of this question, however, we’ll describe a disciple-making ministry that (primarily) involves adults. This focus will probably be relevant to most ministries, as many types of ministry involve helping people become more knowledgeable and godly, and that’s a big part of disciple-making.
Remember, a common essential that applies to all types of ministry is this—your own walk with God must be solid. Effective ministry comes out of the overflow of one’s relationship with God.
Abide in Me and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me . . . he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit . . .By this is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit, and so prove to be My disciples. . (John 15:4–8)
The powerful implication of Christ’s words is a sense of inevitability of fruitfulness for believers who have a close, obedient relationship with the Lord. In agriculture, an orange tree with no fruit is either immature, diseased, or dead. A healthy, mature tree bears fruit. That’s its nature. A healthy mature Christian bears fruit. That’s our nature, through the enabling of God.
Let’s quickly look at Jesus’ ministry during His time on earth. We see that the Lord did four essential activities. And we can pattern our own personal ministry after His.
1. He ministered to the many . . .
2. He selected the few . . .
3. He spent personal time with the few, and imparted His life to them . . .
4. He trained the few for service, so they could do the same for others.
While you will most likely not find yourself feeding 5000 with a few loaves and fishes, you can involve yourself with a group of people (the “many”) whom you can teach and from whom you can select a few to disciple. Here are four simple stages—similar to Jesus’ ministry—you can do to have a fruitful personal ministry:
• find a good local church
• lead a small group
• pick a faithful one or two
• help that person to grow in a way that is reproducible (or pass-on-able)
That’s it!
Find a good local church to use as the base of your ministry. Hopefully, you’re already involved in a good local church; maybe that’s a key reason you’re interested in ministry. But it’s helpful to quickly evaluate if a particular church is the place in which you can conduct a fruitful personal
