“Pastor, I’ve been serving under a man of God for some years now, and even though members of the church have advised me to go and start my own church, I don’t feel a release in my spirit. What’s your advice?”

I’m glad that you pay attention to the signals from your spirit, it shows that you’re a matured believer. You’re probably really good at what you do, and that’s why members of the church are pushing you to start your own church. If only they understand that it’s not about running a church, but about fulfilling your ministry.

When God gives us a ministry, it simply means He has called us to minister to Him in a certain way and in a particular area or place. Ministry is not a building, it’s a service to God. It’s serving the purposes of God.

If that’s the case, just because you’re a fine preacher or pastor under another pastor doesn’t mean you have to go and start your own church. God may as well want you to minister to Him under that man of God. That’s right! Your ministry may only be effective when it is administered under that man of God. In God’s eyes, it’s not about who’s leading the church building, it’s about who and who is serving His purposes. Let me show you a scripture:

1 Corinthians 7:
20 Let every man abide in the same calling wherein he was called.
21 Art thou called being a servant? care not for it: but if thou mayest be made free, use it rather.
22 For he that is called in the Lord, being a servant, is the Lord’s freeman: likewise also he that is called, being free, is Christ’s servant.
23 Ye are bought with a price; be not ye the servants of men.
24 Brethren, let every man, wherein he is called, therein abide with God.

Notice from verse 20, everyone is admonished to abide within the confine of his calling. If God calls you to serve under another person, abide there. In as much as you’d like to be free or be called General Overseer, your ministry to God requires that you be a servant to another man. I know that people may mock you for remaining a servant when you have potentials to be a leader, don’t get depressed about it. If it was God who called you, then you can be sure that he who is called to be a servant is the Lord’s free man.

Coincidently, even the one who is free or who is called to be the leader is still a servant of Christ. So both are servants and both are free, both enjoy the same level of opportunies and blessings. If the one that is a leader or free receives the blessing of leadership from those he leads, the one that is a servant will receive the blessings of a free man from the Lord. He can’t lack any good thing.

If you understand this, you won’t be bothered about the counsel and advice that people are giving you. As long as you don’t feel a release in your spirit, then your service under that man of God is still required.

Please note that I’m not saying you can’t leave that man of God; rather, I’m saying that when God wants you to go, you will know, except you’ve been faking your relationship with God. The relationship between Bishop David Oyedepo and Bishop David Abioye will continue to inspire me. Bishop David Abioye would often tell us how God called him into ministry, and asides the many things that God told him, the one that was most paramount was that he should serve Bishop David Oyedepo.

The last I checked, he’s not on salary from the commission, yet he enjoys the same spiritual blessings as Bishop David Oyedepo. Many vibrant pastors cut short their ministry to God by moving out from their place of service. You can be really good yet serving under a man of God. Unfortunately these days, you’d rarely find a pastor who is as good as the sent man in a church. And that’s because the moment the junior pastors see the light, they feel the next thing is to start their own church.

Imagine if every trained soldier leaves the army to start their own force, when will the army become formidable? That’s what’s happening in many churches today, the church is not strong only because the trained ones leave without truly understanding their calling. Let everyone remain in the calling wherein he is called.

I hope this has brought enlightenment to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

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