Deep Calling

Have you been called to ministry? Have you served the Church long enough to wonder at times what God could have been thinking when He called you in the first place? Are there days when you think you must have heard Him wrong? Do the costs and demands of ministry leave you exhausted and empty? Perhaps you are training for a job as a pastor, a Christian counselor, a Bible teacher, or some other leadership role in the Church. You need to know something going in: ministry is a minefield. Fifteen hundred pastors burn out, drop out, or fall out of ministry every month. No doubt, you've already taken into account that you will be overworked and underpaid. Often you will be over-scrutinized and under-appreciated. Then there are the lethal hazards you will face. Chronic fatigue is just one of them. There's also relationship erosion, spiritual anemia, toxic expectations, and moral compromise.There is so much more to this life than fulfilling a job description, even a ministry job description. God did not call you to a profession. He calls you every day to dive the depths of His all-consuming, transforming, re-creating love. God does not need your ministry; He can raise up pastors and counselors and teachers from stones. What He is calling you to is deeper than any career: Consummate oneness with Him. Are you, like the Disciples, prepared to leave all and follow? Could you give up your vision for ministry, or a Church career if it meant truly knowing the One who loves you, and drawing ever closer to Him? It is possible, of course, to navigate the minefield and remain healthy and balanced in ministry. Deep Calling explains in a practical, no-punches-pulled manner how to establish intimacy, authenticity, and true community in ministry, and how to root your identity deeply and securely in the person and purposes of Jesus Christ. Then, come what may - success or failure in ministry, fulfillment or discontentment, peace or persecution, whether your career soars or crashes and burns - who you are and what you know to be true about yourself will not change.If your ministry leaves little or no sand in the glass for intimacy, authenticity, and community, then it's possible that being good at your Church job has replaced your Deep Calling.It's not the same thing, you know.