Brothers, We Are Not Professionals: A Plea to Pastors for Radical Ministry

by John Piper

managerial professionalization

Be as good as the professional media folks, especially the cool anti-heroes and the most subtle comedians.

When I look back, my regret is not that I wasn’t more professional but that I wasn’t more prayerful, more passionate for souls, more consistent in personal witness, more emotionally engaged with my children, more tender with my wife, more spontaneously affirming of the good in others. These are my regrets.

The more professional we long to be, the more spiritual death we will leave in our wake.

The professionalization of the ministry is a constant threat to the offense of the gospel.

The world sets the agenda of the professional man; God sets the agenda of the spiritual man.

Why is it important to be stunned by the God-centeredness of God? Because many people are willing to be God-centered as long as they feel that God is man-centered. It is a subtle danger.

So the goal of spiritual leadership is to muster people to join God in living for God’s glory.