Ryan Bing

Philosophy of Ministry Paper

Theology of Ministry

The idea of Pastoral Ministry and the different facets of it can be seen throughout the

Bible. It first gets highlighted with Moses with the Israelites. Throughout the book of Exodus

Moses is seen as fulfilling a pastor of the people. He shows us interceding for the Israelites with

God1, he communicated God’s word to the people, he led them both physically and spiritually.

This sets up the foundation of Pastoral Ministry and can be seen carrying out throughout the

rest of the Bible. From the example from Moses as well as from Paul in 1 Corinthians, we see

that the church and ministry is not a singular task but for the whole church, like what Angel

Rodriguez said “theology is to a large ex- tent a collective activity of the church as the body of

Christ.”2 Showing that the church does not rely on only the pastor for spiritual leadership but it

should all work toward learning and studying the Bible. Therefore it is crucial for pastors to

develop and train disciples within the church such as the great commission from Jesus says for

us to do.3 Ministers must train others and trust the rest of the congregation to disciple to

others, otherwise they can end up doing more harm than good which Ellen White says “Some

churches would prosper more if their ministers got out of the way and let them work.” 4

Paul in his pastoral epistle to Titus also shows that ministers are to teach others and to

guide and teach people in how to live good lives and that through the grace of God we receive

1
Exodus 32:11
2
Cassimy, Steve, Abraham Jules and Nikolaus Satelmajer. A Guide to Effective Pastoral Ministry. Nampa, ID: Pacific
Press Publishing Association, 2009. (pg. 30)
3
Matthew 28:18-20
4
White, Ellen G. Pastoral Ministry. Silver Spring, MD: General Conference Ministerial Association, 1995. (pg. 150)
salvation which trains us to live self-controlled, upright lives. 5 This shows that pastors are to

teach others and help them to live godly, upright lives in waiting for Jesus’ second coming.

However, he shows that while we are to help people live good lives it is not through their work

that they are saved but through the grace of God.

Ministry Skill and Experience

I became a Theology student my sophomore year at Walla Walla University, however

my ministry experience and skill doesn’t start there. Since, I grew up in the church having both

parents involved in the church I grew up doing small things for the church. Things such as

praying for church or reading scripture, as well as being a part of several different praise teams.

Then I was also asked to preach the sermon a couple of times which really started my focus on

Ministry. This kind of kickstarted me doing ministry and I began to look actively for more ways

to do ministry such as working at a summer camp, and then also becoming a theology student.

This opened lots of different doors such as interning at a couple different churches. Have more

preaching opportunities, as well as some bible studies. I did my first internship at the Milton-

Freewater SDA church which lasted about a year, and I worked with planning and running the

youth group, as well as learning and shadowing the pastors as they did visitations, board

meetings and several other daily tasks. This helped me develop several different ministerial

skills, such as writing and planning devotionals, doing visitations, and talking and

communicating with church members. I then got to do another internship with the Kent SDA

church, this was just a summer internship however, it exposed me to several different and

unique kinds of ministry. We had several members moving away, so we ended up helping lots

5
Titus 2:11
of people move and visit them in that way which was interesting. I also was in charge of

preaching and doing devotionals to larger groups more frequently. As well as working with the

church’s food for the homeless ministry that they did and being a camp pastor for a week at the

local summer camp. These experiences really helped solidify and build off the previous skills

from the first internship. I really worked on being a better preacher and being smoother in my

delivery and presentation. Then I also improved visitation skill as I had to do several visitations

by myself and was in charge of setting them up and leading it.

Spiritual Gifts

God looks over and provides for his church in multiple different ways, one of the main

ways he does this is through the giving of spiritual gifts. We see in 1 Corinthians Paul shows that

we are the body of Christ and there are multiple different uses and skills for each member and

that the Holy Spirit gives the spiritual gifts as needed and depending on the situations. Ellen

White also shows that it is our job to use the gifts and to share them with others otherwise they

will fade and when we need them, they might not be there. From this it is important to help

build on the members gifts and help them be able to use their gifts and be a blessing to those

around them.

I believe that there are a couple spiritual gifts that God has given me that greatly benefit

my ministry, trying to recognize that gifts can grow and change and be added throughout time.

I think one major Spiritual gift that impacts my ministry is the gift of giving. I have seen this in

helping me give my time and attention to others, it has helped me be a servant and look for

ways that I can give to others. I also have the spiritual gift of teaching; I have found great joy

and enjoyment in being able to teach others and watch them grow in that skill or
understanding. I have found that this goes hand in hand with my ministry as I get to teach

others about Christ and help them understand different lessons and stories from the Bible.

With my last main spiritual gift being almost a combination of the first two which is the gift of

helping/supporting. I have found out through giving and teaching I mainly want to help and

support those around me. I believe that this shows for my ministry that I have a broad view of

what ministry is and how I do it. I want to show Christ and lead others to him through support

in whatever way they need, so it does not just rely on sermons or church services, but it takes

place throughout my life, just being a witness and example of the impact and power Christ has

in one’s life.

Temperament and Personality

My temperament is phlegmatic and melancholy, this paring makes me a quiet go with

the flow type of person. This has some benefits to it in ministry, but it also has some challenges

with it. While every personality has positives and negatives to it and change the way people

minster, my personality is quite different than most typical pastors. While pastors can tend to

be very talkative and outgoing, I am more on the quiet and shy side which shifts my ministry

from a large group or people to being more focused on individual and background ministries.

This means I tend to favor doing visitations with people during the week and meeting them in

small groups or one on one rather than spending lots of time going around and chatting with

people after church.

Since, I am melancholier I am good at being scheduled and orderly which will help me

keep on track of the multiple different tasks in ministry, I also tend to be self-sacrificing, which

helps me be a servant to others and to minister in all kinds of ways. I am also a good
administrator thanks to also being phlegmatic. Some other strengths that my temperaments

help me with are, sensitive to others, good listener, sympathetic and kind, mediator, creative.

All of these are very helpful in ministry and with dealing with people while they go through

hardships and just making a good impact on them and being there for them when they need.

These combinations of temperaments kind of counterbalance each other in ways which help

me to be more neutral and not to extreme in one area, such as melancholy tending toward

being a perfectionist, while Phlegmatic side of me lacks motivation, so it keeps me from doing

everything and being a perfectionist while also giving me motivation to do things right.

Growth Needs and Ministry Goals

There are a few areas in my life and ministry that needs to see growth to help my

pastoral ministry skill and ability. I think the first area that needs growth is my ability to talk and

be open to others. I think this will help me share and talk with people after church and connect

with members well. This also pairs with my ability to talk to strangers and be open to share and

talk to people about religious topics who aren’t in the church. This will help me bring people

into connection with God a lot more. These areas I think will greatly help me to share God and

to minister to people who aren’t already Seventh-day Adventists. I think my long-term Ministry

goals is to be a pastor for a while and then become a Ministerial director. I think this will really

help play to my strengths and help me to minister to large groups of people while still working a

lot with individuals, by being a pastor for pastors. This will take some time to achieve and there

is no clear-cut path toward this goal, so I hope to achieve this goal by being a good pastor and

just by following the will of God and not trying to ladder climb my way up.
 Bibliography

Cassimy, Steve, Abraham Jules and Nikolaus Satelmajer. A Guide to Effective Pastoral Ministry.

Nampa, ID: Pacific Press Publishing Association, 2009.

White, Ellen G. Pastoral Ministry. Silver Spring, MD: General Conference Ministerial Association,

1995.