Career Choices: Leaving Secular Work for Ministry

[Note:  This is a special guest post from Lance Leavens.  Lance is the involvement minister and Deacon with the Piedmont Road Church of Christ in Georgia.  He is married to Susan and has four daughters.]

Lance and Susan Leavens

Not all decisions carry the same weight or consequences.  Some are more important than others.  Three years ago I made the most significant career decision of my life.  I made the decision to leave a successful secular career for a career in ministry.  I want to share some things I’ve learned in making this change. The thoughts shared will fall into two categories: General thoughts about working in ministry and specific thoughts pertaining to things I’ve learned that I wish I would have better understood as a member.

General Thoughts:

• Ministry is about people.  Specifically, it is about impacting people’s spiritual lives on a daily basis.  This can be done in many different ways.  It is a blessing to be able to focus so much time on the spiritual well being of people.  I love being able to work with people on a daily basis.
• Ministry produces spiritual growth.  By the nature of the job, a minister spends more time in Bible study.  The growth that comes from dedicated and routine time in God’s word is indescribable.  I have grown more spiritually in the last three years than at any other point in my life.
• Ministry can be enhanced by previous secular work experience.  Many skills and lessons are transferable from secular work to ministry work. My time spent in secular work has helped me far more than I could have imagined.  It has helped me relate to people and for people to relate to me.
• Ministry needs dedicated men.  There is such a need for dedicated men who love the Lord and love souls.  I am continually impressed by the faithful men I meet currently working in ministry.  I am also constantly humbled by the fact that God can use someone like me to potentially help others.

Specific Thoughts:

• I wish I would have better understood the importance of visitation.  I am always impressed at the impact a visit seems to have on a person.  It may be a hospital visit, a shut in visit, a member visit or any other type.  Visitation can have a positive impact on relationships maybe more than anything else a person can do.
• I wish I would have prayed more for my elders.  In ministry, I have seen more of what elders do and go through than I ever had before.  Even seeing what I have, I recognize there is so much more I don’t see or know about.  These Godly men sacrifice so much in their duties as Shepherds.  They need and deserve our prayers and support.
• I wish I would have been more mindful of the needs of my ministers.  I never took the time to stop and think about the needs of the minister.  It is the greatest job in the world.  It can also be a lonely job at times.  Ministers have personal struggles, family struggles, marriage struggles, etc. just like everybody else.  They need people to lean on and support them too.  I wish I would have developed closer friendships to help be a support to them.
• I wish I would have been a better Bible student.  I was a good bible student but I could have been better.  I wish I would have taken advantage of resources like World Video Bible School, Apologetics Press, Polishing the Pulpit, and other resources.  There are so many ways to grow as a Bible Student and the end result is so rewarding.

I can’t write this without mentioning the fact that the decision to leave secular work was extremely difficult.  I was worried about money, health insurance, retirement, etc.  If you are contemplating a career switch to ministry work, you may have these same worries.  If I am honest, I have had and continue to have moments where I worry about those things.  However, my faith has grown tremendously in the past three years and  I am constantly amazed at how the Lord provides.

There may be some who will read this that are considering making this same type of career change.  Others will read this who have no desire to work in ministry.  Regardless of which category you fall in, I hope you will find this article beneficial. The key is to remember that the Lord needs faithful Christians in ministry and in secular work.  Our responsibility is to be faithful to Him whatever the situation.