I was involved in pastoral ministry at our church for about 6 months. I was on the church council for 2 years. I taught Sunday School for 4 years and led a Bible study for 5 years. I was involved in the Overseas Christian Fellowship at uni for 3 years and got involved in coordinating camps, outreach events and serving on the leadership team for a year.
At the time it felt like my experience was very piecemeal, but now as I look back I realise that it was a great opportunity to try out a range of ministry options and explore where my gifts lay. At the same time, I was learning a lot of skills that set me up for leading ministries in the future.
The 6 months of pastoral care showed me that I needed more life experience before trying to care for people older than me, but it also provided training that I use now in my care for missionaries. Coordinating a uni camp taught me that onions shouldn’t be cut up and transported in a car 2 days before you plan to cook them. It also gave me the organisation skills needed to coordinate a conference many years later.
Questions:
What ministries have you tried?
What skills have you learnt?
Next steps
Most missionaries need to have learnt some of the following skills before going to the field, so see if you can give these a go in your church or Christian group.
- Leading a Bible study
- Sharing your testimony
- Explaining Jesus to someone for the first time
- Discipling or coaching/mentoring someone one-on-one
- Coordinating an event
It is really helpful to try to get some cross-cultural ministry experience too if you can. Learning to see the world from a different perspective can help you understand why the church seems so strange to outsiders. See if you can:
- Find a ministry that does outreach to a different culture than the one you grew up in
- Offer to help serve in a ministry to overseas students
- Join a bilingual Bible study group
- Find a church to attend occasionally where people are from a different cultural background
