– Pastor Bimbo Animashaun
Ministry is DYNAMIC!
Ministry is not STATIC!!
Ministry is PROGRESSIVE!!!
Ministry is not REGRESSIVE!!!
“Changes” often occur in ministry and these are subject to the prerogative of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.
Metamorphosis is defined as a change of the form or nature of a thing or person into a completely different one.
According to Wikipedia, metamorphosis is a biological process by which an animal physically develops after birth or hatching, involving a conspicuous and relatively abrupt change in the animal’s body structure through cell growth and differentiation.
In a nutshell, metamorphosis talks about CHANGE, and this also occurs in ministry as we follow the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
A minister must recognize both “THE CHANGABLES” and “THE UNCHANGABLES” of His calling.
God doesn’t change – Mal.3:6. God’s Word doesn’t change – Ps.119:89, 1 Pet.1:23. God’s love doesn’t change – Jer.31:3. The Holy Spirit doesn’t change – Heb.9:14, and so on and so forth.
But then, times and seasons change in ministry. Strategies change in ministry. Atmospheres change in ministry and men also change in ministry.
A significant part of this metamorphosis is that even though we cannot say that the call of God “changes” because it’s an “eternal calling”, but sometimes the man of God can metamorphose into a new mode of calling by the eternal prerogative of God the Caller.
You cannot box God to a fixed or rigid pattern of operation because He can decide to move in your ministry in ways that bewilder your imagination.
God can take you unto a new calling and assignment different from what you have been used to because He has a purpose in mind for your ministry.
That’s why OPENNESS and FLEXIBILITY in the hand of the Holy Spirit remains a critical factor to moving on with God into the fullness of His plan and purpose for our lives.
It is wisdom therefore not to say things like, “This is what God wants me to do in ministry for the rest of my life and I can never do anything other thing aside that in ministry”.
No, you don’t know what God will tell you to do tomorrow. You don’t know the assignment He’s gonna give you to carry out tomorrow.
He can ask you to move in a particular direction tomorrow, contrary to your personal prejudice.
What you should do in ministry is TO FOLLOW AND OBEY HIS INSTRUCTIONS “PER TIME”.
Do what He asks you to do per time, and leave room for the possiblity of His supreme will dictating your future steps.
That’s how to follow God from glory to glory. So, I advise ministers to always say, “This is what God wants me to do FOR NOW”.
Even in terms of ministry gifts, never say things like, “I am an Apostle and I can never be a Teacher” or ” I am a Teacher and I can never be an evangelist” or “I am a Prophet and I can never be a Pastor”.
No No No!!! Don’t say you can’t ever be something. God determines that. That’s left to God to decide.
Sometimes, He can make you to function in more than one ministry office, and you have to be open-minded.
We see a pattern of this in Paul’s ministry. He was an APOSTLE, an EVANGELIST and a TEACHER.
He told Timothy:
2 TIMOTHY 1:11
Whereunto I am appointed a PREACHER, and an APOSTLE, and a TEACHER of the Gentiles.
We also see in another place that he “could also” have been A PROPHET.
It’s very clear from New Testament account that before he was called into the apostolic office in Acts 13:2 which is also stated in Acts 14:14, he was either A TEACHER or A PROPHET according to Acts 13:1.
ACTS 13:1
Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain PROPHETS and TEACHERS; AS Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and SAUL.
We know this because he was named alongside those called PROPHETS AND TEACHERS, but then eventually he stood primarily in THE OFFICE OF AN APOSTLE – this he indicated in the opening statement of most of his letters to the churches.
All these patterns show us one thing – MINISTRY IS DYNAMIC. You cannot box God to a corner – He leads us from glory to glory by the Spirit.
Now don’t say you can never function in a particular office – you’re not the Controller or Commander in Chief.
Don’t say you can never live in Lagos or elsewhere just because of the traffic gridlock characteristic of such cities. God can lead you there tomorrow.
Don’t say you can never start a Bible school, start a radio program, hold crusades, write books, start a University or organize a particular kind of programme.
Leave room for the Lord to lead and guide you. The danger of fixing your mind without making allowance for God-ordained and Spirit-inspired changes in your ministry is that you will remain on the same spot.
CHANGE in ministry happens at the instance of the Spirit:
2 CORINTHIANS 3:18
But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are CHANGED into the same image from glory to glory, even as BY THE SPIRIT OF THE LORD.
As we wait upon the Lord daily in fellowship and we open ourselves up to His guidance for our lives and ministry, He will lead us from glory to glory and we will have THE REAL SENSE OF FULFILMENT that comes from following God’s plan for our lives.
Shalom!!!
Aphorism CITY 