Advice for New Ministers

The following list of items are advice that, if possible, I would go back in time and share with myself having now been in full-time ministry for over a decade. They are by no means the pinnacle of wisdom, and they may not be applicable for everyone in every situation. Also, they are in no particular order of importance.

1. Don’t be too urgent to go from volunteer or part-time ministry work to full-time and leave a secular full-time job. As much as your heart may long for the opportunity, God will use the time in secular work to help you relate to people down the road who know that you know what they are going through on their jobs. Sometimes people don’t come to extra services because they worked 70 hours that week, not because they don’t love the Lord. They’re tired and haven’t seen their family all week.
2. Don’t belittle the leaders and don’t be critical of them. They are probably doing the best they can, and they probably struggle with all that they know they could do better. But, also don’t make too much of them. As great as a leader/mentor may be, they are not the Lord and they will many times let you down. Give them the same grace that you would want others to give to you.
3. Learn to discipline yourself so that each day there is some kind of prayer and Bible reading, even if it is tiny. Spiritual work requires spiritual energy, and spiritual work will always have something more important, more urgent, more has to be done right now. Your Bible and prayers will sit quietly on the shelf waiting for you, while the latest emergency will scream for your attention.
4. Many emergencies aren’t really emergencies. Important, yes. But not so important that you should drop everything to be right there. Of course, there are exceptions.
5. “The only people who will remember that you worked all that overtime and were gone all the time 20 years from now are your family members. The people won’t remember.” Of course, you are not punching a time clock. But on the other hand, ask yourself how important non-essential meetings are. I missed Ella-Grace’s 2nd birthday because of something that was just so important I had to be there when I really didn’t. Ella-Grace was asleep when I left that morning and she was asleep when I got home that night. Don’t make that same mistake.
6. Spend time with people from other Christian denominations over lunch and just talk. You’ll learn that your similarities are big and your differences are small.
7. Don’t quench the emotions of people but don’t exaggerate to get them worked up. Let your doctrine speak louder than your decibels.
8. Never be alone with a girl. It isn’t worth the temptation and it isn’t worth the ruined reputation. Go to the extreme so that if people can point a finger at anything else, they won’t be able to point a finger at your purity. This includes electronic communication.
9. Look deep into your heart and actions and ask yourself if you have treated people differently because they are more attractive or more popular in the church. Don’t punish someone because they are lovely and liked, but make a point to go out of your way to show attention and appreciation to the people ignored or looked over and on the sidelines.
10. Use the drive time to listen to theological podcasts. I think that made one of the biggest impacts on me in the last decade than almost anything else.
11. Develop a filing/organizing system. Look at all the information you have to keep up with in the first few months. Then imagine yourself a decade later with 25x more information to keep up with and a mind that is getting older. Put it in place early and adjust it in the years following.
12. Use calendar app for all appointments, apple notes for all information, apple reminders for all todos, and put everything possible into it. Being able to search when you met someone 18 months ago or when you did that task 6 months will be more handy than you think. And somehow make notes so that the next time you meet you’ll be able to remember how things went.
13. If possible, only have one meeting or big thing scheduled each day with someone. Then you will be able to give them your undivided attention, and they won’t get the impression that you are in a hurry and just moving to the next meeting on your lists.
14. Start keeping a journal and write at least a few sentences a week. You’ll be able to look back at blessings you forgot. And, you’ll be reminded of things that seemed like huge disasters at the time but have proven to be tiny forgotten blips on the radar.
15. When in front of people: wait until the room is quiet and you have their attention before you start. And once you start, don’t think of it as being in a room singing/speaking to lots of people. Think of it as singing/speaking to one person at time for 5-10 seconds each. Then hopefully people won’t leave thinking you were speaking to a crowd; they’ll remember what you said overall and especially to them.
16. Character is more important than credentials.
17. But get all the credentials you desire while young.
18. Remember that spiritual work requires prayer. Not always long prayer but often prayer.
19. Just as a coach wouldn’t understand a doctor’s stress or a production worker wouldn’t understand a policeman’s stress, unless someone has been in the ministry they can’t relate no matter how sincere they are or care. They just can’t. There’s spiritual burdens they don’t understand. So don’t try to seek sympathy from people who don’t understand what you’ll face.
20. Find someone you can trust that does not go to the same church you do that you can open up to and talk freely. And don’t repeat what they tell you and make sure they never repeat what you tell them. And the things that are even more confidential than that, trust that Jesus really does hear you when you talk to him.