We are not professionals.

We’re not.

At least I’m not.

You see, I was reminded this past weekend — at an Ordination Service of all things — that those of us that hold full-time ministry positions are NOT professionals. We can’t be.

To be a “professional” is to imply a level of expertise — which is attainable in a number of fields — but not in ministry.

Sure, we can hold the title of pastor, priest, minister, leader, etc.

And yes, we can amass a lot of experience and educational credentials, while honing and refining different skills and methods that help to “set the stage” for God to work, or “till the soil” of our students’ hearts so that they might be more receptive to the work of God in their lives.

But we cannot, ultimately, manufacture growth or manipulate formation. We just can’t.

We cannot make any guarantees on what will result from those who engage with us or our ministries — we just can’t.

Sure, the longer we work with college students, and serve in certain environments, the better we can recognize what students might need next. But just because we offer it, or put something right in front of a student, doesn’t mean it will have the same effect that it had on the countless students that have come before them.

Just as we are different — by God’s grand design — so, our students are different.

This means that there’s no one-size-fits all approach that can be taken.

There’s no magical formula that can guarantee results — 100% of the time.

Or even 50% of the time.

Or even 1% of the time for that matter.

The “guarantees” are not ours to make — their God’s. Which places us — as ministry leaders, “professionals” — in a place of dependence, a position of uncertainty, an openness to an alternate result.

Yes, there’s no way for us become “professionals” at something only God has control over.

At best, I believe, we are willing and yielded servants — who work with God — in ways that help to better connect others with God, and bring about God’s desires here on earth. And that doesn’t sound like a “professional” — at least not in the ways that our culture talks about being a professional.

No — I am NOT professionals.

And when I begin to think that I am — I hope someone will remind me of this post.