I Want To Start My Own Ministry

Length: 8 Minutes

When a believer really starts digging their teeth into the knowledge of Jesus, it produces such an excitement and zeal that almost immediately, on its heels, is the desire for a Bible school degree, a position in the church, or even their own ministry. Let’s talk through all these emotions.

Firstly, I am not saying that God would never call you to have your own ministry. There are a lot of people that God has called to do this. But even though God can call someone to have their own ministry, I believe that this is far less common than it would seem. 

We have seen it so many times. Many believers, when they have their hearts flooded with the gospel, understandably get very excited about it. And you should be excited. The gospel is the best news ever! Because we have all this truth built up inside of our brain, we immediately search for an outlet. So we assume that the outlet we are searching for is a higher position in the church or even starting our own ministry. But position within the church, or even starting your own, is not something you do because you’re excited about the gospel. 

As you get to know Jesus, you will be excited. As you get to know Jesus, you will want to tell other people. So, here’s my advice: Tell them! You do not need to have someone hand you a position within the church to tell other people what you’re learning. You don’t need to start your own ministry to preach the gospel to others. All of us are ministers of the gospel because the Holy Spirit lives in us (2 Corinthians 3:5-6).

Even though I could tell so many people this, many will still not feel legitimized in preaching the gospel to others, until they have a teaching position within the church or their own ministry. But if that’s the case, then position within the church is not for you. Not right now. The only people that should be in a teaching position within the church, or should start their own, are people that would be content simply telling others about the gospel with no position at all. 

Even after saying this, many people reading will still be antsy to start their own ministry. We are excited, and many times that leads to hasty decisions and taking position upon ourselves. For some, they will seek position within a church, and if it is not given to them, they will leave and start their own. This haste and this discontentment are not from the Lord. As much as the gospel you’re hearing may be the truth, being discontent apart from having a platform is not from the Lord.

True maturity in the knowledge of Jesus would make you content with simply your relationship with Him. If you were mature in your knowledge of Jesus, you would be content with knowing Him and speaking to whoever He brought across your path. You would not need position or a ministry of your own to legitimize you or to make you feel like you’re really preaching the gospel now. 

I love the example of Stephen, in Acts 6. If you don’t know about Stephen’s position in the church, he was basically the lunch lady. He ran the food service for the early church. He didn’t have what many people would consider a glamorous position, but he had all the position that he needed, knowing the position he had in Christ. He was content in knowing Jesus for himself. He did not need a lofty position to feel like he was a legitimate minister of the gospel.

God was doing miracles through Stephen and preaching with such wisdom, that the Jews did not know how to refute him. All of this while he ran the food service. He wasn’t an apostle. He didn’t write any books of the Bible. He didn’t even have a teaching position in the church. Yet, if you were to read the book of Acts, and did not know his position, you would think he was surely an apostle. He was a man of God who knew that he didn’t need a bible school degree to know Jesus as much as he wanted. He didn’t need a title to heal the sick, raise the dead, and preach to others. He didn’t need to be recognized. He didn’t need his own ministry to give him purpose.

Do you know what your purpose is? Your purpose is simply to know Jesus for yourself. That is your only purpose in this life and in the one to come. God only has one commandment in the New Testament and that is that you would believe on His son (John 6:29). Read our obedience of faith material for more on this.

When you know that God has only asked one thing of you and that is to learn from Him, to know Him, you will always feel fulfilled in your purpose if you’re getting to know Him more. As far as ministry is concerned, no one is holding you back from doing miracles and God fulfilling His will through you. Position, or having your own ministry, is not required for any of this. Even though God has called certain people to start their own ministry, those that really know Jesus would not care what position they held in the church. Those that are mature just want to get to know Jesus more, and ministry comes naturally wherever they are. They don’t need a title to be a blessing! 

Go to church. Prosper the church that you’ve chosen. Support the leaders and the gospel that they’re promoting. Are you going to like everything they do? No, you’re not. I’m sure they won’t like everything you do either! Are you going to agree with the leaders all the time? Of course not. We’re all growing. Is this reason to leave and start your own ministry? Not even close. Apart from something abusive, disorderly or contrary to the gospel, reconcile differences rather than run away from them, love one another, give grace to people because God gave grace to you. 

Bear with one another’s differences when they’re not that important. This produces what’s called a “bond of peace” that holds things together, rather than unnecessarily breaking them apart (Ephesians 4:2-3).

If you’re going to a Jesus-centered, gospel-friendly church, be a leader without seeking position. We would have much stronger, larger, and more influential churches if we had legitimate, knowledgeable men and women of God supporting the leaders of our churches, instead of leaving to start their own every time they became knowledgeable. We need people that are strong in faith, working within our churches and ministries to support those that are in charge. This makes for a strong, robust ministry, that not only has a faith filled person in charge, but strong, faith filled people to support the mission and get things done.

A few final words of advice:

Don’t serve where you are, with your attentions on a future position. Your eyes should be for Jesus alone and everything else gets added to you (Matthew 6:33). 

If God has genuinely called you to have a certain position within the church or to start your own ministry, in order to fulfill it properly, we need to turn the fleshly zeal down to zero, keep our attention on Jesus, and allow Him to bring it to pass (Psalms 37:4-5 and 1 Thessalonians 5:24). David was anointed to be king and had so many opportunities to take the position for himself, but he continued to do what God had called him to, letting God bring it to pass (1 Samuel 16 – 2 Samuel 2).

Don’t be hasty. Moses was 80 years old before he led the people of Israel out of Egypt. John the Baptist and Jesus both spent most of their life growing in wisdom for a ministry that only lasted a few years. Even if someone is called to teach or have their own ministry, there’s a whole lot of time involved. It’s called “proving” a leader (1 Timothy 3:10). 

If you pursue position in the church because you want more in ministry, you haven’t realized that position is not for you, your contentment, or your finding purpose. That’s what knowing Jesus is for. Position is for serving other people (Matthew 20:27-28). 

Your fulfillment in life cannot be ministry. Your fulfillment needs to come from keeping the commandment of God, which is to get to know Jesus (Ecclesiastes 12:19). Love Him, get to know Him, believe Him. He is everything to you. Allow your contentment and fulfillment to come from pursuing the knowledge of Him. Then, when the Lord exalts you to a particular position, it will be because He knows you’re needed for the position, not because you need the position.

As far as your own contentment is concerned, you already have everything you need.

If this blessed you, share this with someone else!