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My Philosophy of Ministry
By Justin Hoke

My philosophy of ministry begins with the idea that all Christians are called and gifted to do the work of the ministry to greater and lesser degrees (Rom. 12; 1 Cor. 12; Eph. 4). At this point I would like to define Christian ministry, as “Seeking the glory of God through the advancement of His kingdom by means of the gospel of Jesus Christ”. 

Paul teaches in 1 Corinthians the first chapter that God is concerned to take glory for Himself through a foolish message (the gospel), a foolish method (preaching) and foolish men.

The message of the gospel is not, for us who believe, foolish, rather, for us, it is the power of God by which we have learned the meaning of life and been restored to our offended God through the atoning work of Jesus on the cross.

The method, for us who believe, is not foolish as it is the means by which God graciously brought to our hearing the gospel of life. It was the method that the Spirit of God blessed to affect the change of heart and new birth that made it possible for us, “God haters”, to repent and believe.

God chooses the weak things of this world to display His mighty power. While the world runs to autonomous man for speculation and philosophical ideas, God has given in clear terms all that man must know for life and godliness in the gospel of Jesus Christ. The world runs to greater and grander methods of communication and persuasion even manipulation, but God uses a single message heralded by preachers. 

Sadly, this gospel focused philosophy of ministry which sees all aspects of ministry as gospel focused and gospel empowered will too many, in the modern church, seem less than ideal. In the modern North American Church an exclusively gospel focused ministry is considered insufficient to meet the felt needs of real people. I would suggest that this is not the fault of true gospel ministry, but rather the fault of unfaithful gospel ministry.

A herald is one that proclaims the edict of the king, his job is to communicate a message that is not his own. Sadly, many in the church today have changed or amended the message and by doing so they have done great damage to themselves and to their hearers. By changing the message, they have robbed it of its power to save, to meet the real needs of real people and made it as ineffective as all the vain ideologies and philosophies of men.

The purpose of gospel ministry is discipleship and evangelism. The goal of all gospel ministers should be to equip the saints so that they are enabled to engage in both discipleship and evangelism in all aspects of life as they learn to die to the stuff of this passing world and live for the King of heaven and the life to come.

Pastors, missionaries, youth pastors, and any other specialized ministers must have (gospel centered) evangelism and discipleship as their central focus or they are not valid ministers of the church. The lack of this standard can sadly be seen most clearly in many churches today by the criteria they use to choose a youth pastor. Many churches want a young guy hopefully married who can identify with younger people and make church fun. Sadly most churches are looking for a man with a heart for youth rather than a man with a heart for the theology of the gospel. I don’t care how much a young man desires to serve the youth, I care that he be equipped to lead them to Christ and from there disciple them to grow in the faith. I don’t care how much a man feels called to serve the people of Africa, if he is not equipped to rightly divide the word of truth it is sin for us to send him out before he is equipped.  

Summery

Ministry is “seeking the glory of God through the advancement of His kingdom by means of the gospel of Jesus Christ”.  Ministers are not philosophers or speculators, they are heralds of The King of the Universe and they proclaim a message that is not theirs to change or amend. The focus of all ministry is the gospel and the goal of all ministry is to reproduce ministry reproducing ministers through evangelism and discipleship.