On Non-stipendiary Ministry- Overview

God's Calling
Just after gaining a lot of learning insights from our class in non-stipendiary ministry, I can say that involving one’s self in such calling is also responding to the service of what God wants. The World Book Encyclopedia states that the term “Minister” came from a Latin word which means servant. In Evangelical groups where I was exposed, the minister is usually called the pastor of the congregation. They perform the functions of conducting worship services, administering sacraments, preaching, and assuming the responsibility for the pastoral care of the congregation. The Anglican side, on the other hand has

the same functions except that being a minister is immersing oneself in the ordination process. Lay people can also be considered ministers but their main role is to assist the priest, read parts of the liturgy, conducts Bible study, help distribute communion etc.

Now that gives the clear idea of involving oneself in Christian ministry. It also gives the paralleled definition as to how I perceive being a minister in the church. On the side of their job, I also know, of course that a leader or head of a church is being salaried which comes from the congregation itself. However, what struck me are those persons involved in the Non-Stipendiary ministry. Can they still survive

in the Christian world of fulfilling their passionate duties amidst of receiving nothing? What maybe the challenges of a non-stipendiary minister at the height of volunteerism?

Challenges

Allow me to deliver the heart of my reflection on those questions. I may not have a total package of excellent ideas about it but I will base from my experience being a leader and president of the youth ministry of our church for almost six years. I know that my role for the service I barged in the church cannot be equated to the duties and responsibilities performed by our deacon and priest but I want to focus on my volunteered function which can possibly have the same outlook of being a non-stipendiary minister. There may be other challenges of being a non-stipendiary minister but I listed two challenges that I experienced which others might also have experienced.

The two challenges are on the feelings of being burned out or spiritual dryness and the other talks about future of the ministry and on being treated as a second-class minister.

These will all be discussed in the next upcoming articles.

See also articles: 1. On Non-Stipendiary Ministry- Burn out and Spiritual Dryness 2. On Non-Stipendiary Ministry- Fields of expertise and Second-class issue