If you haven't thought about giving your life fully to vocational ministry (Cru being only one of thousands of ministries) I would wonder "Who is in the driver seat"?
The Gospel is a paradox; it is free and costs you everything.
If I knew you, I'd challenge you to read this article. And if I knew you, more importantly I'd challenge you to think about giving your life fully to the Church (that is the body). If you thought it unimportant, unnecessary or a question not for you but someone else, I'd challenge the person in whom you follow, only if I knew you of course.
"I'm seriously thinking about vocational Christian
work, but how can I be sure of God's will?"
This is probably the most common question believers
ask. Any sincere, Spirit-filled Christian who wants to
know the will of God concerning his life can know it, but
this is typically a process, not a dramatic revelation.
Multitudes of well-meaning Christians are wasting
their lives, powerless because they are waiting for some
unusual sign, signal or flash of light from God before they
There is a lot of mythology surrounding the issue
of knowing God's will and "being called." Many Christians
think that a call from God will be an emotional experience
when they hear God boom: "Do this! Go here!" In the
words of Dr. Howard Hendricks, "The will of God is not
nearly as focused on location or vocation as it is on character."
Being called primarily means being obedient to
the ongoing direction of the Lord's leading in your life.
God is calling every Christian to submit his whole life to
Him and thereby bring glory to His name. "Whether then
you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of
God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).
The call to be a vocational Christian worker is no
different from the call to be a doctor, a homemaker or a
ditch-digger. Any vocation to which God directs you can
For further information on how to know the will
of God for your life, write for a free copy of the Paul
Brown Letter. After years of counseling students and
adults in career decisions, Dr. Bill Bright wrote this helpful
article. You may request your copy from: Campus Crusade
for Christ International, Staff Opportunities (2500), 100
Lake Hart Dr., Orlando, FL 32832; 1-407-826-2538.
"What if I plan to get a secular job and use my position
If God is clearly directing you to a career in a
secular field, then you will need commitment to your employer
and his firm. He is not paying you to evangelize on
the job, but rather to make a profit for the stockholders of
his company. You are to work heartily, as unto the Lord,
Sure, as a Christian you are called to be His ambassador
every minute of every day, but you need to be
sensitive to your employer's expectations. Your opportunities
to witness and disciple will be significantly more limited
than what you've been experiencing as a student. It is exciting
to have a ministry in a secular context; however, keep in
mind that it is very difficult to balance your commitment of
time, talent, creativity and energy in your professional goals
Kick back for a moment and think: What kind of
ministry do you want to have? What will it look like? Will
you be an usher passing the offering plate in the 9:00 service?
Will you be a member of the Christian education
committee? Perhaps you are thinking of something more.
You probably see an attractive, creative outreach
to your colleagues and clients. Perhaps you envision a discipleship
group of people who have come to Christ through
your ministry, and they are being built and trained to have
their own ministries. You expect that soon a Christian influence
will prevail throughout your entire company.
Let's ask the hard question: How many people do
you know who are having this type of ministry? The scarcity
of men and women having potent ministries of evangelism
and discipleship in the work place should give us
some indication of the difficulty of the task. Now, it is
certainly not impossible. Yet it is often more difficult than
what students anticipate. Therefore, they get ambushed by
naive expectations and insufficient preparation.
A survey of young professionals seeking to minister
in the market place revealed four predominant barriers
to an effective ministry: 1) Pressure from employer not to
"dispense religion" in the context of his business. 2) Pressure
from the boss to "produce" leaves little time for ministry
during the work day. 3) Commuting time included, 50-
What about discerning God’s will?
But wait… I have some Questions.
to 60-hour work weeks are the norm. That leaves little time
or energy for ministry after work. 4) Little to no environment,
encouragement or accountability is available to foster
a ministry. Brian Birdsall, a Denver attorney, said:
My client is paying the firm $100 per hour for
legal advice. He has a right to the best legal work I
can produce. My boss knows I am a Christian, but
he is definitely not paying me to share my faith in
the office, even if the client's need is basically spiritual.
The difference between having a ministry on
campus and in the business world is the difference
between day and night. I have to perform in the
work place. I have to be prepared every day. There
is much less time for me to minister. And, those I
want to reach have little time or inclination to talk
North Carolina physical therapist Lynn Rendleman added:
If I shared Christ with a patient, I would be
censured by my boss. He would say, "You have a
good education and training. Use It! Don't use this
God-business." ... When you get out of school and
start your first job, you feel tremendous pressure
just to do your work correctly. There's no time to
develop the creative evangelistic approaches necessary
to be effective in a business context.
Even though I have a Bible study with some
of the staff at the hospital, few of them have a vision
to make a spiritual impact. I often feel
weighted down by the mediocrity of the Christians
"How can I prepare myself for an effective ministry
within the context of a secular career?"
Many Christians fail to develop disciple-building
opportunities "on the job," because they simply are not
equipped to work through the complexities of a ministry in
If God calls you to develop a lifelong ministry
within a business environment, then you need to equip
yourself just as a physician, attorney or CPA invests several
years of additional education and experience in preparation
Two years of vocational Christian ministry will
give you the basic training you'll need to be a well-equipped
ambassador for Christ--wherever God leads you. Think of
it as a graduate school in life effectiveness. As a Campus
Crusade for Christ staff member, you'll have unlimited opportunities
to develop and sharpen skills that will be important
for the rest of your life--skills in the areas of personal
ministry, leadership, communication and relationships.
Realistic preparation for a lifetime of ministry in a secular
position may include taking two or three years of "graduate
work" to strengthen your walk with the Lord and develop
personal ministry skills.
"Wouldn't a secular job be more secure financially and
therefore better stewardship of my money?"
Financial security is probably not the major factor
in your decision. If it is a specific issue, however, consider
that there really is no financial security in any position.
Tens of thousands of men and women have spent years of
their lives working for major corporations only one day to
turn around and have no job.
Yes, God calls us to good stewardship and responsible
planning for our futures, but there is no security
apart from the Lord. When you started college, some of
the best-paying jobs in America were in the oil and hightech
industries. Today many of those companies have gone
out of business or have been swallowed by mergers or takeovers.
One out of every four jobs in the oil industry has
disappeared in the last four years. Men with graduate degrees
in petroleum engineering are pumping gas at Houston
service stations rather than exploring for new wells.
A commentator on the January 6, 1987, edition of
"Today's Business" said flatly: "Let's face it, there's no such
thing as job security anywhere in America today." You are
more secure in a fiery furnace in the will of God than anywhere
Financial security can only be found through obedience
to Him and His direction for your life. The bottom
line is our obedience to His call. It is only in Him and
through faith in His promises that we find lasting security.
Our lives are in His hands--therefore, we are ultimately His
