Ministerial Credentials

It is not the most frequent way God communicates His call but, when He does, it is dynamic, maybe even breathtaking. Read about the Apostle Paul’s call, as described in Acts 9.

Unlike the instantaneous revelation, when the entire picture of God’s call is revealed, often the Lord unpacks His will by pieces and allows people to digest and adjust to an ongoing revelation about His will.

Experiences, circumstances, Scripture, mentors, counselors, teachers, words of knowledge, prayer, tarrying in His presence, impressions from the Holy Spirit, peaks, valleys, milestones. God frequently includes these means and experiences to communicate His call to serve.

Most frequently, God reveals His will and call when people who love Him are already faithfully following and worshipping Him with their lives.

As with the Apostle Paul, who was then known as Saul, a hate-filled enemy of the church and Jesus, God sometimes calls people to a saving relationship with Jesus and provides a direction for life and service simultaneously.

We cannot live by allowing our emotions to control our decisions and outlook; however, emotions are a gift from God and He sometimes speaks through emotions as a witness or confirmation of His will. Frequently, this includes a broken heart for people who do not know Jesus as Savior and Lord.

God makes it clear that our minds must be in alignment with Him in order to understand and be all that He desires, “… let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect” (Romans 12:2, NLT).

If God has called you into ministry for Him then it is likely godly leaders have noticed something about you that validates God’s call. They observe how God has gifted you with enabling characteristics, heart, and abilities that resonate with being a vocational minister. This is more than just close friends affirming whatever you choose to do. It is confirmation beyond buddy support. It is recognition by key people that God is shaping you for service.

This is an undeniable, inner tug that is like a push from the Holy Spirit. “Yet preaching the Good News is not something I can boast about. I am compelled by God to do it. How terrible for me if I didn’t preach the Good News!” (1 Corinthians 9:16, NLT).

The psalmist wrote in Psalm 119:11 (NLT): “I have hidden your word in my heart.” In 2 Timothy 2:15 (NLT) we are instructed to “Be a good worker, one who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly explains the word of truth.” Open Bible Churches is founded on a commitment to the understanding, interpretation, and application of truth from the Bible, God’s Word for life today. Becoming a credentialed minister who loves people and points them to answers from the Bible necessitates developing competency with the Bible, interpreting and applying its truths, and understanding how to live by them.

A credentialed minister must have more than knowledge of the Word and the capacity to interpret it. A minister must also be personally established on a firm spiritual foundation, to intimately know and walk with the Author of the Bible, experiencing a growing depth of relationship with and anointing from the Lord that enables and sustains a loving and grace-filled ministry presence with people. The Apostle Paul wrote: “I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me” (Philippians 3:12, NLT). Spiritual formation involves ongoing growth in relational intimacy with Father, Son, and Holy Spirit and personally incorporating spiritual disciplines which build faith-filled endurance and stability in testimony, and model joyful consistency in message and leadership.

An outgrowth of gaining Bible knowledge, of faithfully interpreting it, and establishing a depth of spiritual formation is realizing the importance of adhering to biblical truth in decisions and conduct. Open Bible Churches is decidedly evangelical and charismatic in persuasion, trusting and believing that the inspiration, promises, directions, and corrections for life in God’s Word and the gifts of the Spirit are vital and in no way diminished today. A person who desires to become an Open Bible minister must be in theological alignment with Open Bible’s biblical convictions regarding core truths for Christian living.

Passionless ministry is merely going-through-the-motions ministry. An Open Bible minister must do more than grasp the church’s purpose and mission. That minister must be committed from the heart and soul level to active engagement in the mission, to become God’s agent on assignment. Being missionally passionate means not waiting for people to come to church to hear about Jesus; it means going to them. Before ascending to heaven, Jesus proclaimed, “Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you” (Matthew 28:19-20, NLT). An Open Bible minister must be eager to lead and invite others to follow in pursuit of Jesus’ command.

Every organization or denomination develops and follows “rules for the road,” policies and procedures that provide a foundation for purpose, mission, relationships, leadership, and ministries coordination. An Open Bible minister needs to understand and identify with who and what Open Bible Churches is and desires to be. The Open Bible Manual provides source and guidance for all of the above. Open Bible Churches’ mission is to globally make disciples, develop leaders, and plant churches. Every person and church can pursue that mission individually, but Open Bible is committed to the belief that ministry effectiveness is multiplied by working together rather than as disconnected islands. The resulting strength, encouragement, and mutual accountability lead to fruitfulness.

It is important for a minister to understand that leadership is not lordship. Jesus made a distinction between common cultural definitions of leadership and a new understanding of leadership: “You know that the rulers in this world lord it over their people, and officials flaunt their authority over those under them. But among you it will be different. Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant” (Matthew 20:25-26, NLT). The first leadership “skill” is understanding this character quality servant leadership. Effective leaders communicate through both Spirit-enabled gifting and developed skills, a blending of Spirit and personal work. In addition to learning how to lead by casting vision, organizing, and influencing, a minister must also learn how to develop relationships and work with people. People skills translate into leadership skills.

A credentialed minister is in the communication business and leads by communication example. Ephesians 4:15 declares: “we will speak the truth in love, growing in every way more and more like Christ, who is the head of his body, the church” (NLT). Ephesians 4:29 additionally states: “Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them” (NLT). It is imperative that a minister is committed to developing and refining communication skills – allowing the Holy Spirit to anoint – learning presentation, teaching, and writing skills with the objectives of winning people to Christ and leading them to become disciples of Jesus, or doers of the Word. “Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works” (Hebrews 10:24, NLT).

While the competencies defined above are important to the development of ministers, individuals also have personal developmental needs. Open Bible believes in providing or directing ministers to training that develops and refines distinctive gifts or compensates for areas of leadership deficiency. Personal coaching encourages and resources ministers for continued spiritual and leadership growth. Ephesians 2:10 declares: “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago (NLT). A minister’s coach is committed to helping that minister discover and effectively focus on those good things. The Apostle Paul had a coach in Barnabas. Paul became a coach to Timothy. A ministerial coaching relationship includes a system of accountability that is motivated by Proverbs 27:17 (NLT): “As iron sharpens iron, so a friend sharpens a friend.”