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Philosophy of Pastoral Ministry

The Bible gives us very clear understanding of why we are called to ministry. In Matthew 28:18-

20 it says, “Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to

me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the

Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely, I

am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matthew 28:18-20). This is the Great Commission given

to us by Jesus Himself, where we are instructed to teach the Word to all nations. By way of faithful

teaching and preaching, we are to baptize everyone that accepts Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior.

Their profession and baptism signify that they are willing to let their old sinful life die, to become

resurrected through the grace of God, and to begin walking anew with Christ Jesus. The promise of

baptism is receiving eternal life and salvation, which Jesus paid with His blood for us all. Ellen White

further explains this in her book My Journey to Life, Step 3 by saying, “For the Christian, salvation means

being redeemed or rescued from sin and its curse of eternal separation from God. It means being

restored to relationship with Jesus Christ. This restoration of humanity with their Creator through His

death and resurrection is the universal theme of Scripture. Salvation is experienced by grace though

faith” (White, p.1). A pastor’s role in this process is described by Ellen White in the preface of Pastoral

Ministry, “The minister stands as God's mouthpiece to the people, and in thought, in word, in act, he is

to represent his Lord” (White, preface). Therefore, pastors must take the role they occupy with

seriousness, humility, and leadership. It is a challenging role to take on, but it is possible to be successful

as Ellen White describes in her book Christian Leadership, “The path of men who are placed as leaders is

not an easy one. But they are to see in every difficulty a call to prayer. Never are they to fail of consulting

the great Source of all wisdom. Strengthened and enlightened by the Master Worker, they will be

enabled to stand firm against unholy influences and to discern right from wrong, good from evil. They

will approve that which God approves and will strive earnestly against the introduction of wrong
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principles into His cause” (White, p.4) Pastors are entrusted to make disciples and need to make clear

that the way to becoming a disciple of Jesus is through obedience to God’s Word. Ellen White supports

this in her book Steps to Christ by saying, “And if the law is written in the heart, will it not shape the life?

Obedience—the service and allegiance of love—is the true sign of discipleship” (White, p.60).

My background in ministry is varied, but every experience was enlightening and brought me

closer to answering the call of pastoral ministry. My initial call to ministry was in the 4th grade when I was

given the message that God has a plan for my life and that I’ve been called to do the Lord’s work. The

first time I began serving the Lord I was 16. My church planned a 5,000-mile mission trip around the

United States. At each stop we put on a play about the life of Jesus. At the end of the play, we invited the

attendees to come to the front for prayer. For the first time, I saw the power of prayer right before my

eyes. The people we prayed for were deeply moved, sometimes brought to tears and dropped to their

knees. I was seeing the power of God at work in people’s hearts and knew that I wanted to continue

doing that with the Lord. Since then, I have looked for the opportunity to pray for anyone that I can, both

in and out of the church. The Spirit has given me the gift of praying and moves through me in a special

way when I pray, so I feel that I am responsible for sharing that gift with everyone. I have been involved

in many service opportunities, especially in the community. I have enjoyed volunteering at soup

kitchens, homeless shelters, clothe drives, building renovations, food banks and evangelistic outings.

Whenever possible, I love donating to the church on top of tithing. It has been a great joy to discover

that I love serving God’s children.

Spiritual gifts are the areas of strength and excellence that each of us exhibit to those around us.

God has either given us these gifts at birth or bestowed a particular gift upon a person who has asked

Him for it. Then, through His guidance, both origins of gifts are developed to the degree that the Lord

wishes for us to use them in service. I am privileged to say that God has blessed me with many spiritual

gifts, those of which I exhibit most naturally are teaching, discernment, faith, and hospitality. These are
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important gifts for pastoral ministry, as a pastor is responsible for developing and deepening people’s

faith in Jesus and committing them to the Lord. I will use the gift of teaching to edify the body of Christ

with scripture and help give understanding of what it means, how to apply it to our lives and how

scripture is the path to grow closer to God. The gift of discernment will be used to assess where

individuals and the congregation are in their spiritual growth and how I can help them grow more. I can

discern whether a person or congregation is receiving the message, applying it to their lives or not, and

to bring light to unspoken needs so I can help meet them. The gift of faith is one that God has been

cultivating inside of me since I was a young child. He has given me countless opportunities to choose

faith over fear, in some of which I failed to choose faith and suffered the effects of that, but also many

where I chose faith and rejoiced in the boldness of God to make known that I had made the right choice

to believe in Him. We must be faithful to the Lord in every aspect and decision of our lives, trusting that

He is coordinating everything for our higher good and according to His will. Once we invite His will for

our lives to be done above all else, we can start to see where remaining faithful produces the fruits of

the Spirit that we cannot produce for ourselves without God. The gift of hospitality will be used to make

every guest and member feel welcomed and valued. God has commanded us to love one another, and

each person will be offered personalized and generous love to be an example of how God wishes to love

each one of us.

The temperament I was matched with is analyst/melancholic. I am a thinker and organizer, which

means I will always be looking for ways to deepen the level of connection and relationship between

Jesus and the congregation. I will also be praying for ways to strengthen the connection between myself

and the congregation, between member-to-member relations, and between long-standing members to

new members. My preference is taking time in thinking of and implementing new ideas because I want

to think of all possible pros and cons, and of course to consult the Lord. I am a natural born leader and

comfortable being responsible for the safety and spiritual development of the members. I enjoy
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interacting with and leading all types of people. I have high standards in the work that I do and believe

that we should all do our best for the Lord. I desire to see order and respect amongst everything

happening in the church. Chaos is not conducive to worshipping God and every human being on this

planet deserves love and respect.

Areas of growth for me include evangelism and finances. I have never led an evangelistic

series/outreach before, only participated. I need to develop skills on how to prepare for one, how to

organize it, and how to execute it. For financial growth, I need to start taking my personal finances

seriously. To learn how to properly manage my own money and how to save it for specific purposes. I see

the importance of this now because while the church team will include an administrator and treasurer, I

need to take a vow of responsibility for the proper delegation of tithes and offerings. To make sure the

church is saving for its goals, saving for internal repairs, and properly delegating funds towards

community outreach and evangelism. I want to value the members’ contributions and donations the

church receives openly before the Lord and always seek His guidance when the board is meeting to

move forward with a plan. I want the members to see their money being put to good use in the church

and community.

Next are a few goals that I have for my personal ministry. My first goal in ministry is to grow the

size of the congregation. This can be done through developing a team of greeters and closers who are

stationed at the entrance of the church and are available throughout the entire service. Some people

walk in late and deserve to be warmly greeted into the service. The closing team will station by the door

before the service concludes, in case a visitor decides to leave early. The goal of the closing team is to be

able to thank the visitor for attending and explain that the church would love to stay connected with

them. A form should be provided with many areas of interest. This includes offerings to them such as

baptism, prayer requests, joining a bible study, the ability to serve in the church, and to connect those in

need of assistance to resources in and outside of the church including transportation to services. My
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goal of growing the size of the congregation can be met and measured by collecting these forms and

formulating charts to keep track of responses. One chart will include new visitor attendance for several

weeks to a month to see if they return. Another will include who has responded to their request for

prayer and who has called in hopes of seeing what we can do to encourage them to return if they have

not. At least 7 connections need to be made for the visitor to feel fully welcomed, seen and encouraged

to stay. This applies to all visitors, even those who have not filled out the form. Two small teams will be

assigned to not overwhelm the visitor and a chart will be created to keep track of their connections.

My second goal in ministry is to oversee emotional healing in the members’ lives. My desire for

each member is to come as they are and build a relationship with them where I can get to know the

personal issues that they are facing. I will develop a plan with them to begin addressing issues one by

one, with personalized Bible studies and ongoing support from myself and other members. Through the

Bible studies, we can come to understand how much Jesus loves us and that His love is a healing love.

There isn’t any part of us that He can’t heal and when rooted firmly in a loving community of people

who believe the same, we can begin to experience healing. This can be tracked by keeping notes after

home visits and after times of confession of emotional burdens. Weekly, monthly, and quarterly check-

ins will be done to assess how the members are coping with their life, see what has changed within them

and to form new strategies for support when needed. Increased personalized support can be offered

depending on the needs of the members.

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White, Ellen. Christian Leadership. p. 4.

White, Ellen. My Journey to Life, Step 3. p. 1.

White, Ellen. Pastoral Ministry. 1995, p. Preface.

White, Ellen. Steps to Christ. p. 60.

The Bible. Matthew 28:18-20.