A Philosophy of Ministry
Bill Baldwin
THE GOAL OF MINISTRY
To arrive at a philosophy of ministry, I begin with the goal of ministry and work backwards. I desire that the sheep I serve should one day stand before God clothed in a righteousness that is not their own-that does not come from the Law or any works-but is the righteousness of God himself, received by faith in Christ (Philippians 3:9). This is the heavenly goal that must drive everything I preach and counsel and put into practice as a minister of the word of Christ.
I think beginning with this goal will guard us from many errors. It is possible, for instance, to have good moral conduct as a goal for the people of God. That is an excellent goal. Yet if we pursue that goal directly, we may well produce a congregation of Pharisees, proud of a righteousness that is their own and condescending toward those who are not as far advanced. Pursuing the faith-based, heavenly righteousness will avoid this pitfall.
Or we could pursue the worthy goal of unity only to find that our unity arises more from shared culture or politics or ethnicity. Pursuing a unity based on a shared Gospel and a common heavenly destiny will produce the true unity we all desire.
As a third example (I am sure there are many more) we could
pursue the desirable goal of purity of doctrine. Yet that might
produce a congregation proud of its learning who look down on
those who lack such wisdom and love the intricacies and precision
of the doctrine more than the life-saving message of it. Focusing
directly on that life-saving message will again, by God's grace,
keep us safe.
THE GOAL PURSUED
How then do I as the minister of the word pursue this heavenly goal? Paul has given us a clue in the passage cited above. This heavenly righteousness is received by faith alone. And in the verse that follows, he becomes more specific: "that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that by any means possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead" (Philippians 3:10,11).
To sum up: By faith alone we are united to Christ in his sufferings, death, and resurrection and thus we are brought to the heavenly goal.
As Paul says in another place "Faith comes from hearing,
and hearing by the word of Christ" (Romans 10:17). The whole
of my ministry must in some way be the preaching of Christ. That
is the central thrust of my ministry. I seek in all ways, at all
times, and to all people to bring this Gospel of Christ to bear
upon their every situation that they might fully know Christ,
being united to him by faith and sharing in his sufferings and so
attain to the resurrection from the dead and life eternal.
THE MINISTRY OF WORD, SACRAMENT, AND PRAYER
This Gospel is a message I will preach every Sunday from the pulpit. Every Sunday I will minister this Gospel in the way I invite the people to worship at the throne of grace and in the way I pray for the needs of the people. I will minister this Gospel in the sacrament of the Lord's Supper as I invite the people to feed upon Christ by faith. I will minister this Gospel in the sacrament of baptism, reminding all baptized persons that they too have died to sin and been made alive to righteousness, just as their baptism preaches to them (Romans 6:1-14).
In this way, I seek to send the people away each Lord's Day, filled with the Spirit of Christ, to do good works in his power rather than their own. And I seek to bring them back next Lord's Day, hungry for the true food and drink that is found only in the Gospel of Christ.
My ministry during the week will flow out of this message from
the pulpit, and back into it. The visiting and counseling and
teaching I will do are not an addition to the pulpit ministry,
but an extension of it. I seek to respond to Paul's exhortation
to Timothy, "preach the Word; be ready in season and out of
season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and
teaching" (2 Timothy 4:2).
VISITATION
Thus, as I visit the sheep, I will seek to turn their eyes
always heavenward. I will set their eyes on the heavenly prize
that comes at the resurrection of the dead. I will encourage them
to see their own sufferings and struggles as conforming them to
the sufferings of Christ and breaking up their love affair with
this world (a discipline that hurts but comes out of the Father's
deep love for them in Christ Jesus). And I will remind them again
how, being united to Christ, they are dead to sin and have been
empowered by his resurrection and his Spirit to walk in a new
life.
COUNSELING
That message will also be at the center of my counseling. In
counseling, I seek to teach husbands of the love of Christ for
them that they may be moved to give up their selfishness and
sacrificially love their wives. I seek to teach wives of that
same love that they may with patience submit to their husbands,
knowing that in such a way they submit to Christ who loves them
perfectly and makes no mistakes. I seek to communicate the
forgiveness of God in Christ to those who struggle with sin. As
they understand this, they will be freed by grace to turn from
their sins rather than motivated by guilt or fear of punishment.
And I seek to communicate the assurance of Romans 8: to those who
struggle with assurance. They will not find such assurance by
looking inside themselves but by looking to Christ and his
perfect work.
THE WEAK AND NEEDY
Because of this Gospel message, I will spend a
disproportionate amount of time with the needy. The poor, the
widowed, the ill, the unemployed, the distressed, those who
struggle with assurance of salvation or find themselves often
overpowered by sin-these are the members that we ought to call
prominent and worthy of greater honor, just as Paul does in 1
Corinthians 12:22,23. This is an indispensable part of the mind
of Christ who taught us that a good shepherd will leave the 99 on
a hill and go seek the one that is lost (Matthew 18:12,13). He
himself has done this for us. How can his minister do less.
THE NATURE OF THE HEARERS
In saying all this, I have implied something that I wish to
make explicit. I presume that those who hear this message are
true believers. When a person becomes a member of the church, the
elders judge that person to be a Christian, chosen in Christ from
before the foundation of the world. If the minister does not
address them as Christians, he risks effectively excommunicating
various members of the congregation from the pulpit. Those who
struggle with assurance of salvation can be especially damaged by
preaching that teaches them that they might not really be
Christians after all. But when Paul addresses even the
Corinthians, with all their problems and sins, he calls them
"saints" (1:2) and "brethren" (1:10) and
those who have been "washed," "sanctified,"
and "justified." The writer of Hebrews as well, though
warning his audience not to abandon the faith, says boldly to
them "We are confident of better things concerning you, yes,
things that accompany salvation" (Hebrews 6:9). I will speak
to the congregation in that manner as well.
ONE GIFT AMONG MANY
Thus far, I have spoken of my philosophy of ministry in terms
of my own ministerial gifts and how I seek to use them. But
Gospel ministry is not the only gift given to the Church. The
Father has been much more generous. There are gifts of ruling and
serving and helping and giving and teaching and many other
things. So I must also speak of how I would seek to exercise my
own gift in the context of all the other gifts that have been
given to the church.
Fellow Ministers
To begin with, of course, I am not the only one with a gift for ministry. I will seek as I have opportunity to encourage other Gospel ministers to remember this same goal of seeing the sheep clothed in the righteousness of Christ, and to pursue that goal with the same relentless Gospel focus. At Presbytery and General Assembly meetings I will seek always to speak to the issues from the word of God, specifically pointing to how the Gospel may be brought to bear. I love our confessional documents, but I am zealous that they should never replace the Word. Instead, let the Confession of Faith and Catechisms point us to the Word and let our decision spring from it, our final authority. Speaking from that perspective will be my contribution to such meetings.
Naturally, though, I will have fellow ministers in other denominations and communions. With them as well I will seek to focus on this Gospel of Christ as central, and indispensable, and unifying. We will have differences, of course. But focusing on the Gospel will keep our differences from becoming more important than what we hold in common.
The Elders
This Gospel message will constitute my contribution to the session as it meets. Those who serve the sheep of Christ by guiding them must themselves be served. They too must be reminded of the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God. They too must see their labor in terms of that heavenly goal and of ministering Christ one to another. Without this understanding, the elders might become overbearing or impatient, willing to place burdens on the sheep where Scripture has left them free. But with this understanding, the elders will forgive seventy times seven, and will most tenderly care for the sheep, laying down their own lives figuratively if not literally.
At session meetings especially, I will seek always to answer the question, "What does the word of Christ say to this situation?" The elders are gifted with practical wisdom and a mandate to rule only according to the word of God. Sometimes, in discussing practicalities, the question of the word of God can become secondary, though no one wants it to. It is the joy of the minister, who labors daily in the word, to sever the elders by constantly bringing this focus to bear on every question they encounter.
The Deacons
In my visits and counseling I will naturally encounter sheep
with physical needs. I dare not say to them "Go in peace, be
warmed and be filled" (James 2:15). Yet neither is it
fitting that I should neglect the ministry of word and prayer to
attend to such matters (Acts 6:2). The work of the deacons, then,
is crucial. The minister depends upon it and thanks God for this
gift constantly. Together, the deacons and I will minister to
physical and spiritual needs, each one using the gift that
God has given that the body may be fully taken care of.
Missionaries
I also wish to encourage those who go as missionaries, formally or informally, far or near. I will seek to pray for them from pulpit and study according to this Gospel that they may set their minds on the things that are above and fear nothing from men, and that they may know the love of Christ in a way that is obvious to all. As I have opportunity, I will also delight to preach this Gospel to them-from the pulpit or in simple conversation-that they may be strengthened for the task to which they are called.
Many Other Gifts
There are many other gifts in the church, and as a minister I
hope to notice and encourage them all. And it is my duty and joy
to nurture those gifts by ministering the Gospel of which I
constantly speak. For those who teach studies and classes, I seek
to keep them firmly planted in the soil of Christ, constantly
looking for how the Gospel is found in a certain passage or
applied to a certain situation. For those who exercise
hospitality, I urge them to do so according to the Gospel of the
sacrifice of Christ, making no distinction between rich and poor,
between the prominent and the "nobodies". For those who
give, I seek to fill their hearts with gratitude for heavenly
riches that their giving may be cheerful and from the heart.
Whatever other gifts there are, they must arise out of and be
fueled by this Gospel of which I speak.
THE WITNESS OF THE CHURCH
As all this happens, the whole church will together bear witness to the grace of God which has been displayed in Christ. The people of Christ will be constantly nourished on the words of salvation and thus ready and able to speak of the hope that they have. Unbelievers will come to the service where they will hear the message of grace from the pulpit and see the message of grace in the unity, purity, and love of the people. By God's grace, this Gospel will transform their lives as well.