Should Your Personality Change in Ministry?

As a young girl, I wanted to be many things and being a pastor was definitely not on my list. It never crossed my mind.

Infact, I believed that pastors and “all those church people” were boring. Who says, “When I grow up I want to be a pastor?”

When asked [especially in a Nigerian household], it is either doctor, lawyer, engineer, pharmacist. You don’t even bother to mention anything else because you are expected to be one of those professions. Obviously everyone isn’t a doctor or lawyer.

However, from experience I have seen that God has a way of preparing you in other areas professionally for the work He created you to do. He does not change your personality in ministry but your heart.

When your heart is changed and your mind renewed, you begin to see things differently.

• If you love makeup, love to dress to the nines and it is part of who you are, it will show.
• If you are the outspoken one, “no nonsense..no time for rubbish” type, it will show in ministry.
• If you are the activist [firebrand et al] and you enter ministry, it doesn’t stop.
• If you are a lawyer and you enter ministry, it shows in your teaching and behavior.

You are who God created you to be in ministry. The difference is YOUR HEART.

“Rend your heart and not your garments” (Joel 2:13). The heart shows compassion and operates with grace. Once upon a time, Simon Peter was seen as a “hothead.” When the soldiers came for Jesus after Judas betrayed him,

Simon Peter, who had a sword, pulled it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. (The servant’s name was Malchus.) – John 18:10

In all things, operate with compassion, love, dignity, respect and grace but be thyself. Your authenticity in ministry has a purpose.

Besides, have you ever wondered why a certain type of people are consistently drawn to you and eager to hear whatever you have to say? It’s your personality.

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Belinda Enoma, LLM

Belinda Enoma is an international speaker, Cyber Privacy and Security Consultant focusing on US-EU laws including the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR). She is a renowned digital influencer, author, host of iEmancipateMe global conferences, ordained pastor and mentor to women who are life changers.