Qualifications for Ministry

Earlier this week, while visiting Taiwan, my grandpa said to me, "你沒有資格走神的道路" (which means "You do not have the qualification to be walking the path of God").

I was so shocked of this comment out of nowhere that I asked, "What do you mean?"

He explained his strong belief in moral relativism, namely that there is no such thing as right and wrong. He explained that no one has the qualification to tell others about right and wrong (which ironically is exactly what he is doing to me).

I was confused, hurt, and upset. I was confused that he, an atheist who has been strongly against Christianity since before I was born, would even mention God in a sentence. I was hurt that my own family, especially one who watched me grow up, would say this to me. And I was upset that he was condemning the very thing that I hold dearest.

The only consolation is that it seems he was more condemning a philosophy than he was condemning my character, though I'm sure there's a bit of both.

It is not the first time something like this happened.

Walking with my grandpa on the streets of Taipei.

But thinking about it now, it hurt me so much because I knew he was right. I don't have the qualification to be doing this. He watched me grow up, he has seen me at my worst (or close to it). I am not qualified to speak to thousands of people about God and life transformation.

Many excellent blogs (i.e. Acts 29 blog) talk about the qualifications for a pastor or minister. They are all correct. However, I am giving a different point. For every qualification one passes for ministry, there are two more one fails. A minister must be gentle and not quick-tempered (Titus 1:7), yet is there any among us who has not grown impatient at something or someone? A minister must be holy (Titus 1:8), but is there any who can claim to be holy like God is holy?

No one is qualified for ministry; instead we are transformed into the image of Christ one degree at a time (2 Corinthians 3:18) in the process of doing ministry.

Should we forget the qualifications then? No! Instead we look hard at them, strive for them. But when we realize we fail, we fall back on the grace of God. Not to stop trying to meet the qualifications, but to recuperate in order to be better in the future.

So if you ever feel discouraged or like you do not qualify for ministry, know that I feel it too. My grandpa's words will likely continue to sting me for many more years to come. But hear the words of God through the apostle Paul, "God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong" (1 Corinthians 1:27).

You are not qualified, of course not. For you represent not man, but God. But he chose you and he wants to use you. He chooses the weak to shame the strong. more than that, in your weakness he makes you strong. You do not need to be qualified, you just need to be called. And you need to be willing. Transformation always happens after the call, but not always before.

PS. You need only worry when you are already doing ministry yet you fail on every single qualification on those blogs. Then maybe some self-examination is in order.