How Your Vocation Influences Your Ministry

Proverbs 22:6 - Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it. 

Before becoming a teacher, I knew that in whatever I chose to do, I wanted to help children. I live in the coal fields of West Virginia and in our area, many kids suffer from poverty on almost the same level as developing countries. When I decided to become a teacher I was not a Christian, but in the sovereignty of God, I believe He was working out His plan for my ministry. My first position was teaching sixth grade. The teacher I was replacing was also the school’s prayer club sponsor, so I inherited that position too. I very quickly learned how to approach middle schoolers for ministry. 

Being a bi-vocational evangelist and pastor, I am blessed that God also placed me in a profession where my career complements my ministry. My principals have always been very understanding of the demands of being a pastor. I am blessed with an accommodating work environment, and an added benefit of my career was building relationships in the communities that I served. 

When I began teaching in 2011, I quickly learned that in building relationships with students, I also was building relationships with their families. Parents that I did not know began to approach me after church and thank me for doing various things for their kids or to ask how they could help with different things at the school. This taught me the value of relationship building in ministry. I recently transferred to a new teaching position closer to the church that I now pastor, and I found myself doing the same thing as a new pastor that I did as a new teacher: building relationships with my neighbors. Even though I have lived here for almost thirty-six years, I really had never taken the time to get to know many of my neighbors on a personal level. 

I have found that the most critical part of ministry, in both church and career, is cultivating relationships. —Justin Baisden

In West Virginia, the Bible is allowed to be taught as a literature elective in high schools. In seventh grade social studies, we teach world religions which includes a unit on Judaism and Christianity. I also volunteer as an on-call grief counselor for different public schools in the area. These ministry options are available not because I am a pastor, but because I am a teacher. No matter our career path, we must look for opportunities for ministry within the profession. I have found that the most critical part of ministry, in both church and career, is cultivating relationships. I cannot shout that loud enough. Whether the people we are serving are eight or eighty, relationships are valuable. 

When Jesus was traveling, He invested in people. They did not welcome Him into their homes just because He was a charismatic speaker. He fed them, He loved them, and He cared for them. We must do this in every aspect of life with the people God gives us to influence. When pastors do this, people gain so much more from their pastor than a sermon once a week, and pastors, in return, grow and learn, too. In my experience, I have learned so much about ministry from the youth I have served. 

One of the first things I learned is that children’s way of worship is not always traditional, but can still biblical. Being from a country Baptist church, traditional worship is my comfort zone and the idea of things like a mime team scared me to death ten years ago. However, a twelve-year-old quickly changed my mind as she signed the words to a Casting Crowns song hoping to get the opportunity to perform this for the prayer club. While this was not something I would ever do myself, I realize worship is personal, and for her, this was as real as when I sing hymns. Differing styles of worship should not be discredited just because they are different. The message we preach should always be the same while the styles of worship may change. 

Additionally, if we want children to be open to spiritual care we must also provide physical care and safety for them. I have been in homes with dirt floors, no power, no running water. I have seen kids eat ramen noodles straight out of the package because they are so hungry. I have seen adults try to tell me, a stranger, how they want better for their kids but because they are so deep in illicit substance use, they cannot take care of themselves or their children. As a pastor and a teacher, I cannot fix all of these problems. What I can do is alleviate their burden a bit and show them God’s love through my love for them. I have spent most of my career hiding pop tarts, cereal bars, and granola bars in my desk to give to kids that are hungry and may have not had a meal since lunch the day before. 

When kids and their families see that we love them like Jesus loves them they are most open to the gospel message. Our care for them is the gospel message in itself. God can use whatever profession you are in to do this same thing. I have dried tears and prayed with kids who are moving, co-workers who have lost children, students who have lost classmates, and co-workers who have lost spouses. Just being there and genuinely caring for people is crucial.

Youth ministry is not optional. Youth ministry is viewed by most churches as something that they do if they have extra resources and extra staff. Those same churches will be lucky to survive past the current generation they are serving because to the kids, church is an “old person place” and not meant for them. Churches must have ministries that reach every inch of the community God has placed them in. I remember years ago being in a major U.S. city and noticing that a church I was walking by had different services for different language speakers. Our kids that are a part of generation z speak a different language than millennials, generation x, and the baby boomer generation. They need their own ministries that can reach them where they are. Notice the disciples preached the same gospel, but they preached it in different ways to different groups. In order to reach the Jews, they often went to the temple, and to reach Gentiles, it was often done in town squares. The local churches that will be the most effective in reaching the next generations will be the ones that are the most willing to do what it takes to be effective.

Youth ministry is not optional. —Justin Baisden

I am a lead pastor, and I often feel that I am more impactful with the youth in my care than the adults. Every wedding I have officiated has been for former students or their families. I have been blessed to help baptize students and pray with them during their most tragic and difficult moments. 

Let me encourage you to invest in the lives of the families around you. It will be a worthwhile investment and could have eternal implications. The care shown to young people has a ripple impact on their families, and can impact entire communities for the glory of God.