For most of my school years I had no answer to the question, "What do you want to do when you grow up?"
It was not until my first year of university that I had a clear view of the future. I wanted to do Word ministry as my full-time job.
First stop for me was a chat with the Moore College Registrar, who was encouraged by my enthusiasm, but recommended I complete my university degree and then get a job for a few years before returning later. Given that Youthworks College hadn't been invented, I did as he suggested and headed down a career path.
Five years later, my wife Mandy and I were invited into the office of our Rector, who sat us down and asked us the simple question, "Are you feeling settled?"
His reaction to our hesitant head-nodding was to then tell us that he was about to make us feel unsettled.
My minister then invited me to become an MTS Ministry Apprentice. He asked me to consider leaving my well-paying job to become a member of his team in the leadership of our home church.
At that stage, Mandy and I had got into a routine, a daily rhythm. We enjoyed our work, we loved serving at church as a volunteer, and the adrenaline and enthusiasm of my first-year-uni-epiphany was way behind me. Even though I had planned for us to be in paid ministry together, I was drifting towards a life in the corporate world.
As Mandy and I left my minister's office, we felt as if we'd be hit by a plank of wood. Our world was spinning. We knew there was nothing we wanted more than to be in partnership in full-time Word ministry. We both knew our answer would be an unreserved 'yes'. But it took a jolt to get me to make the step of resigning my job, and heading firmly down the pathway of full-time paid Word ministry, which would end in four years at Moore followed by our present life as an Anglican minister.
Have you previously made the choice to pursue full-time Word ministry, but have got bogged down in your temporary occupation? Or, do you know someone who would be ideal to leave the security of their full-time paid job to become a Word minister?
Maybe it's time for you take the plunge and 'just do it'. Or, maybe you need to (metaphorically) whack someone over the head with a plank of wood. Either way, it's time for action.
Right now I am looking to grow my team of outdoor ministers by hiring six MTS Outdoor Ministry Apprentices to start in September. Applications close Friday.
Do you need to tap someone on the shoulder and encourage them to change their career? Do you need to make the big step, yourself? Are you feeling settled? Maybe it's time to become unsettled…?
