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“Let every man abide in the calling wherein he is called and his work will be as sacred as the work of the ministry. It is not what a man does that determines whether his work is sacred or secular, it is why he does it.”
― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine

“One of the most amazing and perplexing features of mainstream Christianity is that seminarians who learn the historical-critical method in their Bible classes appear to forget all about it when it comes time for them to be pastors. They are taught critical approaches to Scripture, they learn about the discrepancies and contradictions, they discover all sorts of historical errors and mistakes, they come to realize that it is difficult to know whether Moses existed or what Jesus actually said and did, they find that there are other books that were at one time considered canonical but that ultimately did not become part of Scripture (for example, other Gospels and Apocalypses), they come to recognize that a good number of the books of the Bible are pseudonymous (for example, written in the name of an apostle by someone else), that in fact we don't have the original copies of any of the biblical books but only copies made centuries later, all of which have been altered. They learn all of this, and yet when they enter church ministry they appear to put it back on the shelf. For reasons I will explore in the conclusion, pastors are, as a rule, reluctant to teach what they learned about the Bible in seminary.”
― Bart D. Ehrman, Jesus, Interrupted: Revealing the Hidden Contradictions in the Bible & Why We Don't Know About Them

“What the Church needs to-day is not more machinery or better, not new organizations or more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy Ghost can use -- men of prayer, men mighty in prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through methods, but through men. He does not come on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint plans, but men -- men of prayer.”
― E.M. Bounds, Power Through Prayer

“We forget that God's primary goal ia not changing our situations or relationships so that we can be happy, but changing us through our situations and relationships so that we will be holy.”
― Paul David Tripp, Instruments in the Redeemer's Hands: People in Need of Change Helping People in Need of Change

“I would like to encourage you to stop thinking of what you're doing as ministry. Start realizing that your ministry is how much of a tip you leave when you eat in a restaurant; when you leave a hotel room whether you leave it all messed up or not; whether you flush your own toilet or not. Your ministry is the way that you love people. And you love people when you write something that is encouraging to them, something challenging. You love people when you call your wife and say, 'I'm going to be late for dinner,' instead of letting her burn the meal. You love people when maybe you cook a meal for your wife sometime, because you know she's really tired. Loving people - being respectful toward them - is much more important than writing or doing music.”
― Rich Mullins

“Let us practice the fine art of making every work a priestly ministration. Let us believe that God is in all our simple deeds and learn to find Him there.”
― A.W. Tozer, The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine

“Ah. I smiled. I'm not really here to keep you from freaking out. I'm here to be with you while you freak out, or grieve or laugh or suffer or sing. It is a ministry of presence. It is showing up with a loving heart.”
― Kate Braestrup, Here If You Need Me

“Beware of any work for God that causes or allows you to avoid concentrating on Him. A great number of Christian workers worship their work. The only concern of Christian workers should be their concentration on God. This will mean that all the other boundaries of life, whether they are mental, moral, or spiritual limits, are completely free with the freedom God gives His child; that is, a worshiping child, not a wayward one. A worker who lacks this serious controlling emphasis of concentration on God is apt to become overly burdened by his work. He is a slave to his own limits, having no freedom of his body, mind, or spirit. Consequently, he becomes burned out and defeated. There is no freedom and no delight in life at all. His nerves, mind, and heart are so overwhelmed that God’s blessing cannot rest on him.”
― Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest

“Christian life is not a life divided between times for action and times for contemplation. No. Real social action is a way of contemplation, and real contemplation is the core of social action.”
― Henri J.M. Nouwen

“Personal ministry is not about always knowing what to say. It is not about fixing everything in sight that is broken. Personal ministry is about connecting people with Christ so that they are able to think as he would have them think, desire what he says is best, and do what he calls them to do even if their circumstances never get "fixed." It involves exposing hurt, lost, and confused people to God's glory, so that they give up their pursuit of their own glory and live for his.”
― Paul David Tripp

“I believe that Jesus would have given His life for just one person. Jesus emptied Himself, He humbled Himself and He so yielded Himself to His Father's love that He had no ambition of His own. He was not looking to build an empire, He did not want praise or adulation or to impress people with who or how many followed Him. He stopped over and over again for just one person, for just one life.”
― Heidi Baker, Learning to Love: Passion, Compassion and the Essence of the Gospel

“That's the strangest thing about this life, about being in the ministry. People change the subject when they see you coming. And then sometimes those very same people come into your study and tell you the most remarkable things. There's a lot under the surface of life, everyone knows that. A lot of malice and dread and guilt, and so much loneliness, where you wouldn't really expect to find it, either.”
― Marilynne Robinson, Gilead

“What right have such men to represent Christianity—as if it were an institution for getting up idiots genteelly?”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch

“Harboring bitterness against people is actually confessing their sin to myself, over and over again. Anger is akin to confessing their sin to God, dissatisfied that he hasn't done something and placing myself in his position as judge.”
― Paul David Tripp

“I find that I keep offering God my service when what He wants is my fellowship”
― John Paul Warren

“We see the pain and the misery around the world and what the demonic kingdom and the devil and demons have done to mankind.”
― John Ramirez, Fire Prayers: Building Arsenals That Destroy Satanic Kingdoms

“Fred dislikes the idea going into the ministry partly because he doesn't like "feeling obligated to look serious", and he centers his doubts on "what people expect of a clergyman".”
― George Eliot, Middlemarch

“Luther says that vocations are a “mask from God. That is, God hides Himself in the workplace, the family, the Church, and the seemingly secular society”
― Gene Edward Veith Jr., God at Work: Your Christian Vocation in All of Life

“To fully communicate with people, you need to find tactics that would interest them”
― Sunday Adelaja

“You must be able to communicate properly with the people you want to minister to”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Locate the problems in people’s lives with the intention of finding a solution”
― Sunday Adelaja

“To fully carry out your purpose as believers, you have to discover where the people you want to minister to are”
― Sunday Adelaja

“You have to discover the needs of the people you want to minister to”
― Sunday Adelaja

“You need to use the instrument that the people desire to captivate them back to things that are right”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Our goal in life is to bring the Kingdom of God to people and help change their lives”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Teach the people the Word before converting and baptizing them”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Reveal to the people and make them experience God first before you make them church members”
― Sunday Adelaja

“You have to bring relevance to people before teaching them the ways of Christ”
― Sunday Adelaja

“Find the interest of people and help them achieve their calling”
― Sunday Adelaja

“When you provide things for free to meet their needs and help them discover their skills, they automatically become your family”
― Sunday Adelaja