09 December 2008 | 3 comments

101 gospel jobs Ben Pfahlert

Phil Craig09/12/2008 05:02 PM

This post confused me.

You asked people to think of “someone who is dedicated to prayerfully passing on the message of Christ to people”.

This is what every Christian should be. So I expected a post saying “look, you can do gospel ministry whatever your job and position in society”. The first two options on the list (mother and father) back up that principle.

But then most of the list is about people in salaried ministry/church/mission jobs. Are you trying to encourage everyone into overtly “Christian” work, whatever that is? Or have I misunderstood this post?

Gordon Cheng10/12/2008 05:38 AM

<i>So I expected a post saying “look, you can do gospel ministry whatever your job and position in society”. </i>

I’m not Ben, but the thought occurs that his list involves any job where the speaking of the gospel is the prime responsibility—which helps explain why ‘mother’ and ‘father’, although in my experience unpaid jobs, top the list.

The job of being a neurosurgeon or a street sweeper may well provide opportunities for speaking the gospel, but speaking the gospel is not one of the core responsibilities of such jobs. Indeed, when you sign on for some jobs it is quite possible that doing them diligently will involve not speaking at all.

Imagine what consequences might befall if the street sweeper was distracted by speaking. Her hand might slip just as she was about to remove a particular juicy dog offering, with terrible implications for health and safety.

(I was all set to give a non-sexist illustration involving a female neurosurgeon, but the last time someone operated on me they gabbled away to the nurse the whole time. Not to mention that being a street sweeper is much more important for public health).

Peter Sholl11/12/2008 12:52 AM

Hi Ben,

Thanks for this post - it has prompted me to think again about something thats been wandering around in my mind for a while.

That is, why do we feel we have to ‘footnote’ mission as ‘homeland and overseas’? (#83). Why can’t we just have ‘overseas missionary’ as a distinct category?

I’m thinking on this list the ‘homeland and overseas’ category is a bit redundant - what is the difference between being a homeland pastor (83) and a church pastor (5)? 

But the bigger issue is not one of ‘list consistency’ - I know this list serves as a brainstorm and thats fine. I’m wondering why we feel the need to somehow say that overseas mission can’t be a distinct category?

Is there possibly a sense of ‘everything we do is mission’ creeping in here, which means the distinctive nature of overseas missionary work is being lost?

Commenting rules

If you would like your comment to be considered for publication, please observe the following rules:

  1. Please use your FULL NAME (your real name, not an alias).
  2. Stay on topic.
  3. Be godly.

Failure to adhere to these rules will result in your comment being quietly deleted.

If you want to give us feedback but don't want your comments to appear on the blog, DON'T use the form below. Instead, please send us an email or click on the button below.

Your Comment

Commenting is not available in this weblog entry.
The Man Who Makes a Difference

Sponsors

Placeholder

Recent comments

RSS logo

Stephen Jackson on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!

Sam Freney on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!

Marty Foord on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!

Dianne Howard on The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel!

Mike Bull on Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia

Current discussions

RSS logo

Recent posts

RSS logo RSS logo

The Sola Panel is dead; long live the Sola Panel! by Tony Payne (4 comments). Regular Sola Panel readers will no doubt have detected a little slowness and quietness over the past six weeks or so. … more

Kids’ culture watch spot: Facing fear by Gordon Cheng (3 comments). By popular demand (two people asked), here is my next script for a culture watch spot I did with the kids … more

Daniel 2-7, Harry Potter and Narnia by Gordon Cheng (1 comment). It's a Sunday as I write this, and I'm speaking on Daniel 2 and 7 later this morning at a friend's … more

A constituent on same-sex marriage by Sandy Grant (34 comments). Last year, the Australian Parliament agreed that its Members of Parliament (MPs) should seek the … more

A tribute to John Stott by Sandy Grant (2 comments). Friends, I'm not ashamed to say I shed a tear when I opened up my computer on Thursday morning to read … more

Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 3): On giants’ shoulders by Scott Newling (26 comments). This is the third post in this series; you can read part one, and more

Bible reading with kids by Sandy Grant (0 comments). I was asked for recommendations for resources that would encourage parents to read the Bible with their kids, especially … more

Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 2): Stepping aside (not out) so others can step up (not in) by Scott Newling (3 comments). This is the second post in this series; you can read the first post, Unassuming … more

One more sip of the coffee by Tony Payne (8 comments). Sandy Grant is a man of integrity. Back in the early days of Sola Panel, I wrote a post … more

Talkin’ ’bout my generation (part 1): Unassuming generations by Scott Newling (30 comments). There is a model of ‘intergenerational theological decline’ that has been doing the rounds of late, and perhaps you … more

Tony Payne

Tony Payne

Paul is one of the Staff Editors at Matthias Media. He is married to Cathy and has three fantastic kids. He loves student ministry, reading, writing music and playing the saxophone, and is looking forward to meeting Jesus face to face.

Sola Panellists



Some other sites
we like  (Why these?)

Ministry partners