What Qualifies Someone for Ministry? – Live Q&A for January 2, 2025

What qualifies someone for ministry?

It seems in many churches today, anyone, regardless of fruit maturity or knowledge, is invited to participate in ministry. I don’t mean just pastoral, but all kinds of ministry: worship, kids, Bible studies, etc. Rather than pondering what disqualifies someone for ministry, should we not be asking what qualifies someone for ministry?

This is a fantastic question. You’re right, we often talk about things that disqualify a person for ministry. Often, that disqualification is centered on the idea of some moral failure, and usually it’s some kind of sexual immorality, but not necessarily so. These are things commonly viewed by many people as disqualifying a person, either permanently or for a long period of time, from some kind of ministry. But I want to deal with your question in a couple of different ways.

First of all, I can tell by the way that you’re using the term ministry that you have specific examples in mind. You likely have ideas in ministry that have to do in some way with leading or teaching. That’s a completely valid way to use the term ministry, although I’ll talk a little bit more about in the moment. You also give examples such as worship, kids, Bible studies, etc. We can add to that list pastoral ministry, and ministries where there is some kind of real leadership, whether organizational, administrative, or pastoral, and especially where there’s some kind of teaching role.

In teaching and handling the word of God, it’s very important that we understand the Bible gives us qualifications for such ministers. 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1 give us two very similar lists of qualifications, and these are qualifications that we should take very seriously.

1 Timothy 3:1-7 – This is a faithful saying: If a man desires the position of a bishop, he desires a good work. A bishop then must be blameless, the husband of one wife, temperate, sober-minded, of good behavior, hospitable, able to teach; not given to wine, not violent, not greedy for money, but gentle, not quarrelsome, not covetous; one who rules his own house well, having his children in submission with all reverence (for if a man does not know how to rule his own house, how will he take care of the church of God?); not a novice, lest being puffed up with pride he fall into the same condemnation as the devil. Moreover he must have a good testimony among those who are outside, lest he fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.

The term that’s translated bishop here literally means someone who is an overseer. It was a leadership word, an oversight word, mainly from Greek culture, that’s being applied to Christian leadership now. So, we could say that bishop, elder, and pastor are overlapping roles. I think you can make some distinction at times between them. But for the purposes of our discussion, we’re talking about leadership in the body of Christ, especially leadership that would include some aspect of teaching God’s word and at least some sort of pastoral aspect.

This passage and its parallel passage in Titus 1 give the core kind of qualifications we’re looking for in leadership positions in ministry, and especially positions of ministry that handle the Word of God. This is a list that expects certain character qualifications. I think that’s very important to say. God has specific qualifications for ministry leaders in the church. Leaders aren’t to be chosen at random, nor are they to be chosen just because they volunteer, nor because they simply aspire to the position, nor even because they are what we might call “natural” leaders. Instead, such leaders should be recognized and honored primarily on how they match the qualifications that are listed here in 1 Timothy 3 and in Titus 1.

The qualifications for leadership that are listed here have very little to do with what we might call giftedness. No, they address character. It’s almost as if God is saying, “Giftedness is nothing. I can gift any man at any time for any position of leadership that I want.” Wat really matters, and the real measure is that you should look for in a man, is character demonstrated over time.

Going to seminary doesn’t make one qualified for spiritual leadership. Being a good talker doesn’t make someone qualified for spiritual leadership. Natural or even spiritual gifts in themselves do not qualify someone for spiritual leadership. We have probably all seen people who have genuine gifts, whether natural or spiritual, yet they are sorely lacking in character in one way or another. There’s often a temptation among God’s people to look at these people who have such gifts, whether they be natural gifts or spiritual gifts, and say, “Do it! Put them in leadership.” But friends, Paul did not say to Timothy, “Find the most gifted people you can and put them into leadership.” No, the qualifications are all repeatedly centered upon character.

Now, I do believe that the list could be taken in a legalistic or overly strict way. In other words, this is not a rigid list that demands perfection in every one of these areas. Rather, these lists present goals to reach for and general criteria for selecting and recognizing leaders. When looking for church leaders, someone should look at this list and ask, “Does the man (or woman, in an appropriate leadership position) desire all these things with all their heart, and does that desire show itself in that person’s life?” It’s not just talk; it’s real action. And are there other people who better fulfill the requirements of this list?

For example, it says that a leader should not be quarrelsome. Does that mean that if a person argues with someone on one occasion and has a quarrel with them that they’re automatically disqualified for leadership from the rest of their life? No, we would say one act of being quarrelsome doesn’t make that necessarily a person’s character, but it’s something that needs to be looked into. It needs to be considered. I believe it is possible to make this list too strict and too rigid, to where not even the apostles themselves would measure up. But it’s also possible there’s another end of the spectrum who might consider this list irrelevant. I think it must be taken seriously, but not in a legalistic way.

Look for heart, look for desire, look for character qualities that carry themselves out in life. These are true indications of godly character and spiritual maturity, and they should be used as criteria for looking at leaders. Don’t necessarily look for the person who’s the most gifted, the most charismatic, the most electric personality, or things like that. No, look for those people who really match the kind of character that Paul speaks about in these verses.

I don’t have any problem with the way you’re defining ministry. You’re talking about a specific kind of recognized leadership position, whether it’s leading a Sunday school class, a ministry, a Bible study, or leading a congregation in some way. There should also be avenues of service in gatherings, in communities of God’s people, in congregations, whether you want to call it ministry or not – the word ministry just means to serve – that are open to just about anyone. In other words, there should be practical ways to serve, like stacking chairs, sweeping walkways, cleaning up around things. There should be very practical, demonstrable ways for people to serve that don’t necessarily require them to first fulfill the qualifications in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. And use those practical things for discipleship. See the person who is sweeping the walkways or stacking the chairs and tell them you’re so glad they are part of this church. Invite them to sit down and have a Bible study and talk about what the Lord’s doing in your lives. Use these as true opportunities for discipleship.

We can make a clear distinction between ways people serve, which can be fairly broad. Some don’t require much of any character testing, but other positions of visible and known leadership in the body of Christ should be require more of a character qualification.