It may be that you have felt God calling you to ministry, but you are unsure of the specifics. Perhaps you know you want to serve God as a vocation, but you are seeking guidance about what area of ministry to serve. This may overwhelm you, as there are so many areas of ministry that are important. You may worry that you do not have the skills necessary to preach, teach, or evangelize.
While God certainly calls us out of our comfort zone, the good news is that He can use our existing gifts and talents to fulfill various roles in the church. These gifts and talents can serve as a guide to help us understand where God can best use us.
The beauty of the church is in its diversity. There are many gifts, but God is the giver of all of them.
“There are different kinds of gifts, but the same Spirit distributes them. There are different kinds of service, but the same Lord. There are different kinds of working, but in all of them and in everyone it is the same God at work.” 1 Corinthians 12:4-6
Being in ministry is not about fitting into a particular role, but is about God using you as you are to fulfill the purpose of the Kingdom of God.
So what role in the church can help you fulfill God’s purpose your unique gifts? Below are a few possibilities.
If your gifts are:
- Organization
- Working with numbers
- Planning
- Coordination
- Logic
You may be a good fit for an administrative role in a church! Church secretaries and finance committee leaders help set budgets, make sure the bills are paid, organize church events, create files on computers, send mail, and more! This is behind the scenes work that is often taken for granted. But a church could not function without good administrators.
If your gifts are:
- Creativity
- Sports
- Childcare
- Event Planning
You may be a good fit for working with the children’s or youth ministry in a church! Children’s and Youth Ministers must be creative and adapt easily to changing times. They plan events for the children to take part in and must have the energy to keep the younger generation engaged in learning about the Scripture in new and inspiring ways.
If your gifts are:
- Knowledge
- Public Speaking
- Prayer
- Counseling
- Caring for the Sick
You may make a great pastor or teacher! Pastors must have the ability to interpret Scripture in a relevant way and be gifted in expressing that message to a congregation on Sundays. Pastors are not just public speakers, though. They are primarily shepherds. Caring for others is an enormous gift when it comes to serving as a pastor.
If your gifts are:
- Business
- Networking
- Evangelism
You may make a great community minister or missions director. The ability to connect with neighborhood organizations and talk to people is an important skill in taking God’s word to the people around us.
If your gifts are:
- Music
- Technology
- Videography
- Graphic Design
- Dance
- Art
You may make a fantastic worship leader or technical leader. The church service each Sunday and its various components do not come together overnight, and a giftedness in the arts creates an excellent opportunity to reach people in ways that are relevant to them and touch their soul.
I hope that this guide can give you some insight into the types of ministry positions that are often available in churches, and which ones sound like a good gift for you. No matter what, remember, “God does not call the qualified. He qualifies the called.”
