What is full-time vocational ministry, really?

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This is a question that I’ve distilled from a much larger and more complicated set of issues in my life right now, but I wondered what you guys have to say to this facet. What does it mean to be in full-time vocational ministry? I know that’s really vague, so let me elaborate. I don’t think anyone would argue that a man who spends his working life during the week fulfilling the responsibilities of a modern pastor (studying, visiting, witnessing, leading his flock, etc.) would be considered to be in full-time vocational service. But what about the church business manager who shuffles paperwork for the church during the week and draws a salary from the church doing so? Moving away from church, can, say, a secretary working the front desk at the home office of a missions board be considered in full-time vocational ministry? And what about those whose qualifications and certifications are secular in nature but who use those in a full-time capacity, like a science teacher at a Christian school? What about a Christian science teacher in the public school? And what about the guy who works as a plumber during the summer at a Christian camp and a general contractor the other eight months out of the year?

I’m not putting up these examples and saying “please comment on each.” I’m using them to show that there’s a lot of types of jobs at a lot of types of employers which, by their very nature, are designed to advance the Kingdom purpose. But where is the line between “working for a Christian organization” and “in the ministry” to be drawn?

Discussion

[mounty] This is a question that I’ve distilled from a much larger and more complicated set of issues in my life right now, but I wondered what you guys have to say to this facet. What does it mean to be in full-time vocational ministry? I know that’s really vague, so let me elaborate. I don’t think anyone would argue that a man who spends his working life during the week fulfilling the responsibilities of a modern pastor (studying, visiting, witnessing, leading his flock, etc.) would be considered to be in full-time vocational service. But what about the church business manager who shuffles paperwork for the church during the week and draws a salary from the church doing so? Moving away from church, can, say, a secretary working the front desk at the home office of a missions board be considered in full-time vocational ministry? And what about those whose qualifications and certifications are secular in nature but who use those in a full-time capacity, like a science teacher at a Christian school? What about a Christian science teacher in the public school? And what about the guy who works as a plumber during the summer at a Christian camp and a general contractor the other eight months out of the year?

I’m not putting up these examples and saying “please comment on each.” I’m using them to show that there’s a lot of types of jobs at a lot of types of employers which, by their very nature, are designed to advance the Kingdom purpose. But where is the line between “working for a Christian organization” and “in the ministry” to be drawn?
I’ll add one… A man I know left secular employment to work in facilities management for a large church. When the pastor fussed at him for not being involved in the ministry of weekly visitation, the man replied, “I consider myself to be in the ministry the 45+ hours I work here.” “No,” the pastor replied, “that’s your job. Visitation…choir…bus route…Sunday School…children’s church—those are ministries!”

I think a good starting point is that “full-time vocational ministry” could be defined broadly as a paid career position established to further the cause or fulfill the mission of a nonprofit religious organization, such as a local church, Christian school/college, Christian camp, etc.