What Ministry Is and How it is Spiritual
On The Impossibility of Doing Ministry in Your Own Power
In the fifth lecture of his Spirituality and Ministry course, Dallas Willard confronts us with a reality that most pastors know deep down but are afraid to admit: true ministry is impossible.
At least, it is impossible for us to do in our own power.
Drawing from the Apostle Paul’s testimony in 1 Corinthians 2 and 2 Corinthians 3, Willard argues that effective ministry is not the result of intelligence, skill, or rhetorical ability. It is not about being clever or relevant.
Instead, ministry is the concrete manifestation of the presence of God.
You can watch the full lecture and read the transcript here: What Ministry Is and How It Is Spiritual.
The Trap of Performance
Willard contrasts Spirit-empowered ministry with what he calls “preaching in words only.”
We all know what this looks like. It is a performance-based approach to ministry. It focuses on the visible outcomes: increased attendance, better giving metrics, and emotional responses.
If we are talented enough, we can produce these outcomes without God. We can use guilt, pressure, or charisma to get people to do things.
But as Willard warns, if we try to convert people through human effort, we are left with a heavy burden: “You will get some of them converted and then you will have to spend the rest of your time trying to get them to do things that they don’t want to do.”
Witness as Knowledge
True ministry in the power of the Spirit is different. It is not about coercion; it is about reality.
Willard defines our role as a witness simply: “Witness is the bringing of knowledge.”
The pastor’s job is not to be a performer but an authoritative teacher of spiritual knowledge that is learned through the Word of God. We are there to communicate genuine knowledge of God and to invite hearers into transformation by His presence.
This reflects Willard’s commitment to epistemological realism. We are not peddling sentiments. We are dealing with the most real things in the universe, and making those things available to our hearers in a way they are able to understand.
Spirit is Power
One of the most striking moments in this lecture is when Willard defines what “Spirit” actually is.
In our modern context, we tend to think of “spirit” as something wispy or ghostly. Willard corrects this immediately.
“Spirit is not a little steam out of the kettle,” he insists. “It’s the root of everything that exists in the physical world.”
Spirit is, as Dallas often said, unbodily personal power. It is the power that created the universe. And according to Willard, “That’s what you have to work with when you speak the gospel.”
When we preach the gospel, we are not just sharing ideas. We are “unleashing upon people the power of God that produced everything visible and invisible.”
The Spiritual Person
This leads us to a definition of what it means to be a spiritual person. It is not about being mystical or detached from the world.
Willard defines it this way: “A person is a spiritual person to the degree that his or her life is correctly integrated into and dominated by God’s spiritual Kingdom or rule.”
The pastoral task is to live and speak from that kingdom. It is to trust that the Spirit will accomplish what our rhetoric never could.
This brings us back to the central paradigm of the lecture: “Ministry is a function of the Spirit of God with us. It really does depend upon our coming to grips with the fact that we can’t do it.”
This is not a statement of defeat. It is the doorway to power.
For Reflection
In your weekly preparation, how much do you rely on your own “words only” versus the expectation of the Spirit’s power?
Do you view your preaching as “unleashing the power of God” or merely explaining religious ideas?
What would it look like to stop trying to “get people to do things” and instead focus on bringing them knowledge of the reality of God?
Next week, we will look at The Gospel of Nearness and how Jesus preached a gospel that is available here and now.