Ministers Of The Gospel

Ministers of the Gospel

Paul lived and worked with them, for they were tentmakers just as he was. Each Sabbath found Paul at the synagogue, trying to convince the Jews and Greeks alike.

Acts 18:3-4

Many people do not realize that even when Amish men are chosen by lot to serve in the ministry, the work involved is something above and beyond their ordinary jobs and family life. Like the apostle Paul, they do not quit their regular jobs to become ministers. Instead, ministering becomes an extension of their jobs and lives.

A weakness of the Amish system is the fact that it provides no opportunity for its leadership to assume responsibilities wider than those of the local district. But, from the Amish point of view, this limitation is a source of strength. Leadership is not drained off. The congregation remains one united body. During the course of the week the leaders, no matter how gifted, cannot be distinguished from other Amishmen. They wear no special garb or insignia; they are not addressed with special titles. They receive no material rewards for their spiritual labors. They tend their fields and barns and make their livings as farmers. On Sunday, however, these men stand before their fellows to expound the Scriptures and their religion as the guidance of the holy Spirit and the experience gained in the daily chores move them to do.

“Talent develops in silence, but character only in the stream of life,” wrote Goethe in the eighteenth century. The more we work at a skill, the better we become at it. Yet character in the stream of life means that an Amish minister is fully involved in all that his congregation is involved in. When an Amish minister shares from God’s Word, his words are backed up with the experience of the day-to-day concerns in his own life. His preaching isn’t merely of concepts but also the fruit of experience.

It is not wrong to receive one’s living from the gospel, as proclaimed in 1 Corinthians 9:14, yet we also must never become so book smart that we forget the everyday needs and questions of the people we serve.

Dear heavenly Father, today I pray for the ministers of your gospel, those who give their lives and hearts to bring Your Word to the people.