Answering the call: From leading to serving

Kevin Kirkland has served at Rugby Elim for decades, but wonders if God is now calling him from secular management into ministry? In the second of our series on Elim’s Ministers in Training he shares how he is finding out.

I was born into Rugby Elim and served as an elder there for more than 20 years, but about four or five years ago I started feeling a nudge about moving into ministry. The thought stirred repeatedly. Several times over these years I’d stepped up to help lead the church, and I guess my gifting and inclination to lead became more apparent then, not only to me but to others around me too.

It came to the point where it felt like the right time to start exploring a ministry journey to see where it would take me. If I didn’t head down the MiT route, I thought, I’ll never know if this is something God is calling me into.

Regional Leader Paul Hudson and my pastor Jon Skelton encouraged me to begin with the Ministry Foundation Certificate at Regents. Getting back into studying took some adapting to, not least because this time around I also have a very busy full-time job as a managing director. Most people complete their MFC in 12 months, but it took me almost two years. Happily my kids are 18 and 21 or I would have really struggled!

Next, I very much felt I should apply to become an MiT, and I was accepted as one of the pastors at Rugby Elim. There must be many MiTs who would say this, but with 20 years of experience preaching and leading life groups, Alpha, church management teams etc, the MiT process in some ways feels like formalising what I’ve already been doing.

I’m enjoying the way MiT is very much like the professional development route other careers take. I like the structure and the way it helps you focus on areas you need to develop to show a wider competency. That said, it’s a massive challenge remembering to keep my diaries up to date and write reflections on each quarter!

My biggest joy is helping people make faith decisions and then grow in their faith. We spend a lot of time at Rugby nurturing and supporting people who are seeking, and I really love that.

More challenging are the time commitments on Sundays, especially when you consider I work full-time as well. We used to have just a morning service, but now we have a church plant in another town where we run an afternoon service too. Bearing that in mind, I suppose what’s surprised me is actually being able to manage all this – I just need to be organised.

The way MiT is structured, you do a minimum 15 hours a week. Really, that’s like two evening meetings and a Sunday, so it’s not so daunting. There are times when balancing my MiT and my job has been difficult, but the support I’ve received and the willingness to accept that some MiTs also have full-time vocational jobs has been really helpful.

When we’ve finished navigating the MiT process, my wife and I believe the trajectory God is taking us on is that I’ll leave secular employment and move into full-time ministry. I don’t know that for sure yet, but I do know that without having started this journey I would never be in a position to find out.

This article first appeared in Direction Magazine. For further details, please click here.