J. N. N. Ng’ang’a – Meditations for 5^th dec , 2011 …….why are professionals not integrating their faith and profession?-:The fifth lie believed by professionals is: You cannot minister the Gospel to the world unless  you  have a title of ‘a pastor’?

 

Day 1

Acts  ¹⁶

While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols. ¹⁷So he reasoned in the synagogue with both Jews and God-fearing Greeks, as well as in the marketplace day by day with those who happened to be there

Paul needed no title to address the market. This is another  lie because rather than lack of pastor title being a hindrance ,your job allows you into places the title pastor would bar you from accessing. It is true  the tile pastor can open certain doors but it also close others.

On a visit to one of the countries I covered when doing a regional job , a workmate who is  from another religion took me out in an evening with her family. Once enjoying the diner the topic moved to who God is .If they knew I had anything to do with being a pastor or reverend, they would have had absolutely nothing to do with me. All they knew is that I am a professional; they enjoyed what I do, and were very impressed by my output. They were interested with my professionalism, not my Christianity. Thus the fact that I am a professional opens the doors to families of other religions.

So as we discussed life in general I was able to talk about Jesus to them at their own invitation. They wanted to know what makes me work the way I do and I was able to show them how my belief in Jesus contributed to my professionalism.

You know what the devil has discovered, a laity that regards its profession is area of ministry would do great damage to his kingdom. He knows that if ‘non – pastors’ were to do what God wants them to do, to be God’s representatives in industries, or wherever they happen to be , the world would be totally different. But because the devil fears what could happen, he has allowed even our own pastors to give the impression evangelism is their responsibility.

Day 2

Acts  13

³⁶ “Now when David had served God’s purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep; he was buried with his ancestors and his body decayed. ³⁷ But the one whom God raised from the dead did not see decay.

Once the devil has been able to make the young people think that a pastor is the only one called then they wonder,’ how can I witness, what if they ask me who I am? ‘. What you don’t know is that for many industries, if you go at the reception and you say that you are a pastor, you will not be allowed in. If you go and say you are a management consultant, doors are open and once you are inside, your consultancy will ‘pastor’ the people you come into contact with in the organization, in addition to doing the service for which you are paid.

But that will happen only if, you are aware of the fact that you are in the consultancy to achieve both professional and spiritual aims. You do not preach at work but the way you do your consultancy attracts them to the solutions you have, that makes you work the way you do. For a Christian ,you are only an achiever if both goals are achieved.

Day 3

2Chronicles14:8
Asa had an army of three hundred thousand men from Judah, equipped with large shields and with spears, and two hundred and eighty thousand from Benjamin, armed with small shields and with bows. All these were brave fighting men

The title pastor or elder or bishop is not required for the gift of God in you to be effective. Like I argue in my book ‘The Secret Of Contentment’, contentment is only possible when you fulfill your mission in life and you do so when you are what God wants you to be. If he wants you to be a pastor then be one and serve him as such but if he wants you as an engineer then be one and you will still serve him effectively.

However Pastors are very critical people because it’s them who empower us to attack the devil in his Kingdom out there in industry. They are facilitators and without them the church would fail in its mission of outreach. They stay at the headquarters just like all the army commanders do. They don’t go to the war front; their work is to strategize and to equip the real fighters.. then laity. They buy and bring in new armament. We in industry do the job of reaching the world with the good news that will help each in the world find fulfillment

Day 4

Ephesians 4

⁷ But to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it

So unless you want to agree with the devil, (that you should witness to people only when you are called a pastor, evangelist, elder, reverend, or hold a recognized church position), the truth is the world is open to you and for all who want to activate God’s gift in them. If you want to be effective in industry, you need to remove the ‘dog color and its title’ because it’s the thing the devil wants to use to stop your effectiveness.

A pastors role  is to empower the laity for the church mission. But a pastor who does not understand that his work is to facilitate and that the actual outreach job is done by the foot soldiers, the real soldiers, will lead to the loss of the war against the devil. I suggest that their job is not even primarily preaching because they can develop lay people with gifts of preaching and train them to do it. Pastors job is to facilitate, to equip, to develop the ministry gifts in lay workforce who will do it in the course of the week.

If Pastors saw their jobs as facilitators then even when they do not appear at the pulpit you know they are still busy helping those in the pulpit to develop their gifts.

Day 5

Genesis1:28
God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish in the sea and the birds in the sky and over every living creature that moves on the ground.”

When I hear a Church where people are blaming the pastor saying, “our church is not growing, our Church is in trouble, what kind of pastor do we have?”, I tell them they have no understanding of shepherding. May be they never grew up on the slopes of aberdare ranges like me or elsewhere where they looked after sheep. If they did, they would understand that shepherds never bear lambs. I have never heard of a shepherd whoever bore a lamb.

So, if you go to a place and find ten lambs during this Christmas, then you come back one year later and you find still ten, don’t blame the shepherd. First of all find out, has he been feeding the sheep, if he has been feeding the sheep the problem is not the shepherd ,it is the sheep that had failed to bear lambs. You need to understand that it is not the business of shepherds to bear lambs. So, if the church does not fill up, it is hardly anything to do with the Pastor if he has equipped them. The work of bringing people to the church and the Lord is not the pastor’s, his work is to feed the sheep and the sheep will bear the lambs (bring the people to the Lord and the church).

If we are busy witnessing in industry, on Sunday we shall come to church with the people we have been talking to.

Day 6

2Peter3:15
Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him

So it’s the lie of the devil to give you the impression that if only you are called reverend or a pastor, you would witness better.

Peter refers to Paul as brother? Paul was a great, we like to call him “Saint Paul “(big title), but you need to understand that Peter refers to “the teachings of Brother Paul”.  Peter in referring to Paul did not call him ‘Saint Paul’. For you to penetrate, the kingdom of the evil one, the only way you do it, is when you forget these titles and remember that you are just God’s instrument to affect industry.

Industry is likely to accept a message from  its own more than the clergy, which it regards as not knowing what affects it.

 

Day 7

^{Ephesians 4:}

¹¹ So Christ himself gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, ¹² to equip his people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up ¹³ until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ

 

 

Why do Christians think that the higher the title the more the anointing?

In Africa; we started calling our church leaders  pastor then they  became reverend, then overseers and now everybody is a bishop even if of one  church  of fifty people. For people to accept to hear you,  you think you must have a big  title. When I go to preach in for example the universities, the student are always apologizing for calling me Brother Ng’ang’a. they ask what they should call me, saying that it doesn’t look right for them to call me just brother Ng’ang’a. But that’s who I am; brother Ng’ang’a. They feel like you must be called something bigger  if you have blessed them with a message so well .You cannot be ministering to us and be simply brother Ng’ang’a.

As we have seen above that is a wrong theology, and that’s the lie that has completely destroyed the market place evangelism. You even want to introduce yourself in the market place as an elder or the pastor of a  church. Ministry is for laity. The scripture says:,

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, some to be pastors and teachers. Those are people with titles. Listen to the reason for the church having pastors

;

to prepare God’s people for service …..or as the King James Version calls it for work of ministry, so that the body of Christ may be built up.

So pastors are not called to do  ministry, but rather to equip the people who are supposed to be ministering. When I read it first, I couldn’t believe it was in the Bible, because we always call being a pastor being in ministry, implying we others in the church are not in ministry.

Some ask me  “Brother Ng’ang’a when are you joining the ministry?”. The work of pastors and apostles is to equip the body of Christ for ministry. In church leadership ,some are to be evangelists ,some to be pastors and some to be apostles but all  to prepare God’s people for ministry. Thus the  work of pastors is not to minister but to prepare ministers. The scripture say so. Pastors are not supposed to be ministers; we are supposed to be minister. But the pastors enjoy the title of minister ,so they also don’t tell us what the word of God is saying, they are instead happy to be called ministers. What they don’t realize is that in the process, they are destroying the work of Christ! Ministry is too wide to be done by just a few.  Because ,for example two pastors in a church( like the one I come from, where there are around twelve to thirteen thousand members), if they are left to witness, they would not witness to many. The word of God is practcle. It is us who are supposed to be in ministry. The work of pastors is to equip us. But because the lie has come, that we cannot be ministers of the gospel because we do not have a title of a pastor, many of us feel : the day I  will hear God’s call to be a pastor then I will start ministering. Please read the word of God. If you want to be a person who has a big direct  impact for  the kingdom of God, please do not become a pastor. The title itself already destroys you. I went for daughter’s graduation in London and there was somebody coming to the aircraft and they had a collar, thus making others  keep off. But as for my wife and I who were dressed as other passengers , we sat next to a white man who was coming to Kenya and my my wife easily started witnessing to him. But if he knew that Ng’ang’a was a reverend the discussion couldn’t have gone on easily because he would be guarded. You need to understand that titles don’t help you to witness. They will rather disturb your witnessing.

However, titles are useful in the church, but outside the church please don’t tell people that you are pastor so and so; it will put them on guard. All pastors are brothers; it will still be okay if you introduced yourself as a brother.

Requirement for titles is therefore a lie of the devil to give you the impression that you are not expected to do ministry. I have witnessed to neighbors  everywhere I go to live. I introduce myself as the neighbor next door or whichever house number  I live in, in  the neighborhood. All you  need to say is that I am from the house in the neighborhood. Once you have said that, they will welcome you comfortably. But if I said that I am reverend, I may not even go beyond the gate. They would ask questions like: from which church, and so forth. But once  I am inside as a neighbor, chochote chaweza kutokea (anything can happen). You can discuss neighborhood security then go on to eternal security. But a church  title will stop you from entering a house of someone from another denomination.

I hope you can see how serious this lies are. They have completely destroyed God’s work in the market place. This is because the church has not taught that the work of ministry is for those of us who are not pastors.

In conclusion, we need to have the type of values that will cause us to influence society through or professions or our businesses. If we believe the devil’s lies, we shall think we are successful professionals yet in reality we are not achieving the reasons God has put us in ministry.

For example someone may be a  professional auditor, and  regard themselves as  successful . But did God call you to be just a chief auditor or also  a witness? You need to understand that for God to evaluate  your  success, He will  not just  measured it the way it is measured by your shareholders. God has his  way of measuring. It will be whether you became a witness during your profession both by doing a good job and in addition utilizing the opportunities  to reach out to your contacts .Your title as auditor will assist rather than hinder your witness .

If we believe the devil’s lies, we shall think we are successful when we are not. This is part of the message in my book ‘Are leaders source of influence?’