Three Kinds of Ministry

I've been a Christian now for five decades, and I've seen a lot of change through the years in both the world, society, and the church. But through it all, I've learned there are but three types of ministries, basically, that remain constant even through all the changes around them. I have observed that there are three distinct ministries.

Number one, the popular ministry. Here is the ministry of national prominence, where a pastor gets a national TV show or radio ministry and is the fair-haired boy of his denomination. He's always in great demand as a speaker and the drawcard for every conference.

His books are all bestsellers, and many seek out his opinions. He's often quoted by other Christians. Very few attain this status.

I would say less than 5% of those in ministry ever attain this kind of popularity. The second type of ministry is what I call the status quo ministry. This represents the bulk of those in ministry today, and this is the pastor who has a solid ministry within his denomination.

He is reliable, biblical, steady, hardworking, and is well-liked by his congregation. He is adept at maintaining the status quo of his church. He doesn't want anybody to rock the boat or cause division.

He wants smooth sailing during his pastorate and maintaining business as usual. He wants to make a difference in his community for God, and he wants to help his people get to heaven in one piece. Whether he's gifted as a soul winner or Bible teacher, he is solid in his convictions and jealous for the glory of God.

Whether he's bivocational or supported by his church, his ministry is one of faithfulness, usefulness, and stability. This represents 90% of the ministry. Then lastly, the third ministry is what I call the disturbing ministry.

Very few end up in this category, and very few would want to be found in this type of ministry. The disturbing ministry is a very unpopular ministry, and it has much rejection, misunderstanding, and draws persecution from both the established church and the devil. Nobody feels really comfortable under the preaching of this kind of ministry.

In this ministry, the preacher holds a Bible in one hand and a stick of dynamite in the other. His sermons are meant to alarm and awaken false professors to throw a spotlight on sin, raise the lid off the bottomless pit so folks can get a glimpse of a smoking, burning hell. The preaching is searching, penetrating, and disturbing.

He will make you feel there's a non-splinter under your thumb or a tack on your chair that you're sitting on, and you'll squirm beneath the truths and doctrines of the gospel. His pointed preaching will take you by the hand and lead you to Mount Sinai by the law to where you can feel the thunder and see the lightning as Sinai is altogether on a smoke. His disturbing preaching will smoke out all your false refuges of safety, such as self-righteousness and a good opinion of yourself, while he'll bring you into Holy Spirit conviction where you're confronted with eternity and the God of that eternity.

The preacher in this kind of ministry will face more opposition from man, face more hardship and want from lack of support, face more misunderstanding from his peers, and face more fierceness of Satan and his demons than any other kind of preacher. He'll be viewed by the bulk of the church as either an oddity or a dinosaur. He's looked upon kind of like a sideshow attraction, like a freak show at a carnival in his own denomination, doesn't want anything to do with them.

Most churches won't have them, and few will lay claim to them or want fellowship with them, and he walks a lonely road of rejection. But he does get to see souls saved. He does get to see and experience revival.

He gets to see transformed lives, and he sees what God can do with the worst sinner in town by transforming his life through conversion and sanctification. His ministry is a ministry of the cross and reclaiming backsliders of God and reconciling sinners to God through the blood of Jesus Christ. This type of ministry represents less than five percent of the church.

Well, friends, I believe all three categories are needed and used of God to establish his church and advance his kingdom, and I will end this message with the sorrow of Jeremiah the prophet. Here now is the word of God. The harvest has passed.

The summer is ended, and we are not saved. For the hurt of the daughter of my people am I hurt. I am black.

Astonishment hath taken hold on me. Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why, then, is not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?