BE A VERSATILE, MULTI-FACETED LEARNER, AND DEVELOP IN MINISTRY (Copy)
When I first began in ministry 50 years ago, it was in street ministry with a Jesus People group. We ministered mainly to drug-users as well as witnessed and shared the Gospel with "regular" people in many different settings: on the street, door-to-door, in schools, etc.
In 1981, Britta and I went to Bible School at RHEMA. There I observed our lecturers and learned how they structured, built, and systematically taught their subjects. This knowledge was a great help to me later in ministry.
After I attended Bible School and returned to Sweden, I started my own Bible School in Linköping. We were a small school with only 32 students. It was there that I put my newly acquired knowledge on systematically teaching Bible subjects to use and taught as a Bible teacher should. I prepared 21-hour courses on healing the sick, and on the life and the ministry of Christ; 15-hour courses on the Holy Spirit and His gifts, 15 hours on faith, as well as several other courses on different subjects.
I was then asked to help start the Word of Life church in Uppsala, and to help start and teach at the Word of Life Bible Training Centre. I closed my own little Bible school, took a couple of my students with me, and we moved to Uppsala to work under Pastor Ulf Ekman, the founder of Word of Life.
I taught there for four years, and during those four years we saw the Bible school grow to over a thousand students (if I remember correctly). In any case, we were the largest Bible school in Europe at the time. During those years I grew in my own capabilities at teaching subjects systematically as a Bible teacher. I also travelled all over Europe as a guest teacher in different Bible schools. I still have my notes from that time and am still fully capable to teach as a Bible School teacher. That experience never goes away.
During those years I was also developing in my mission work: teaching, holding seminars, and doing evangelistic work - starting in Roman Catholic Churches in Poland. I taught priests and nuns and preached to ordinary people.
Then came our Gospel crusades. Asia, Africa, South America, and the rest is history.
During COVID I put out over 200 lessons on different Bible subjects on YouTube. In addition to teaching in Bible schools, I have taught Bible courses to thousands of pastors and people all over the world. I have trained ministers, held large open-air Gospel crusades with up to 300,000 people in a single service, started Bible schools and, together with my teams, planted over 2000 churches. I have even done a significant amount of counselling of people in need, led a Pentecostal denomination for 15 years, and given oversight to several hundred pastors and churches in Africa.
My point is this: As you seek to grow, develop, and find your place in God's plan, NEVER LET PEOPLE PUT YOU IN A BOX. By this I mean that don't let people tell you that you are "THIS" and therefore you cannot do "THAT."
Do not let anybody tell you nonsense like, "You are an evangelist, so you should not try to be a teacher" or vice versa. I have done both and God by His grace has used me in both. If God has called you to do both, you can do both. Just stay with God's calling upon your life, whether it is to do one or more things.
In my case when people ask me, "what office do you stand in?" I answer, "I am like a spare tire, because I have asked God to use me wherever I am needed."
Everybody has a "niche," or thing that they "specialize" in, where God uses them the most, but do not let that mean that God cannot use you in anything else if you make yourself available to Him. Be versatile. You may be a pastor or an evangelist, but learn to teach and to do other things, because the Lord can use you in other areas where people may have needs.
DO NOT run after "titles." The names of the five-fold ministry gifts are "job descriptions" rather than titles. At the same time, remember that the five-fold ministry gifts do not always have crystal-clear demarcations between them, but they often "intermesh" with one another. Paul said to Timothy, "Do the work of an evangelist," although Timothy was not an evangelist. So, learn, grow, and be multi-faceted. As I said earlier, I consider myself to stand in the office of a "spare tire," available to the Lord wherever He may need me, and I have developed in that way.
That is why I encourage all pastors to go on mission trips, and evangelists to help in churches whenever possible. I therefore encourage young ministers to study, watch, and follow older ministers and learn from them. Learn from different kinds of ministers. Take every opportunity you get to do different kinds of ministry and to grow. Take every such challenge as a learning experience. Never park yourself in one place as a "Besserwisser" who thinks that he or she has it all figured out.
I have always been a "curious" and "adventurous" kind of person, always wanting to learn more. This has helped me, and I am still in the learning process of life as I serve the Lord.
So, never stop learning, growing, and stretching yourself outside of your comfort zone as you serve the Lord. It will benefit both you and the people you minister to.
Originally posted on Facebook by Pastor Christopher Alam