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When I first became a teacher, I was offered two jobs. One, teaching kindergarten at a private school. The other, teaching kindergarten at a public school. Same grade, same work; one private, one public.
I remember wrestling through the decision wondering where God wanted me? And someone told me, “Oh definitely take the job at the private school. That way you’ll know for sure you’re really working for God.”
That’s right. It was implied that the private school, where everyone was a Christian, and you could read your Bible and pray during class, meant God was there. That was the one His hand of blessing would be on.
I used to think being in “full time ministry” meant you worked 40 hours a week at a church and had an official title as to what you did for the kingdom. That the true Christians worked with other Christians, for Christians, so that lots of Christians could become better Christians and make new Christians.
I realized God didn’t just spend time with the already saved. God was just as present in public school as He was in private school. My gifts are being used for the kingdom when I’m teaching kids how to read just as much as when I’m teaching them to read the Bible.
So I took the job at a public school. I knew God had called me to be salt and light, to seek and save the lost, and to be in the world, just as He was. I knew He had given me this gift to teach, and it really didn’t matter where, as long as I was doing it to honor Him. And that was my ministry.
Do you realize that anyone who is in Christ is IN full time ministry? Anyone who professes Christ as Savior gets invited to use his or her gifts for the kingdom, even if your work environment isn't Christian.
We live under the perception that there is this great divide between secular and sacred. We still believe answering phones at a church office seems more holy than answering phones in any office, because well, it’s at a church.
So here’s permission to stop dividing secular and sacred, and start embracing your call to full time ministry, wherever that may be.
When I am teaching those kids how to read and trying not to bang my head against the wall because they still can’t tell the difference between hop and hope in 4th grade - full time ministry.
When my husband goes to work every day to balance the school district’s budget, using His gifts in a quiet, diligent way - full time ministry.
When my friend is exhausted at the end of the day from negotiating with a 3-year-old terrorist, cleaning pee off the kitchen floor, while dinner is on the stove, trying hard not to punch her husband when he comes home and asks, “What did you do all day?” - full time ministry.
When my friends moved into a neighborhood in town to live among the disadvantaged, inviting their neighbors over for dinner, trying to be salt and light - full time ministry.
The reality is, most of my “ministry” doesn’t happen in the four walls of our church building on a Sunday. It happens in my classroom, in my living room, at Starbucks, in my prayer place or right next door at my neighbor’s house.
So, whether you’re plunging toilets at a church, at a school, at an office or at your home, plunge to the glory of God!
I think it would all do us some good if we started to realize that the full time ministers aren’t just the ones paid to serve on Sunday. We are all full time ministers. We carry the Spirit of the living God everywhere we go. There doesn’t have to be a divide between the secular and the sacred. The work we do has been given to us by the Lord and we serve Him when we do it well.
"Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ." – Colossians 3:23-24