Rescued for a Purpose: How God Uses Ordinary People for Extraordinary Ministry
Often, discovering your calling starts with a simple question. Maybe a corps officer asked you after a Sunday service, or a leader at a youth event who had been paying closer attention than you thought. They ask if you have ever considered officership or full-time ministry.
Your reaction is laughter and immediate dismissal. You tell them, and more importantly, you tell yourself, that you are not that kind of person. But as you drive home, the question refuses to settle. It lingers in the rearview mirror and follows you into your quietest moments.
To quiet the question, you turn to your inner critic, who quickly lists every reason to say no: your past failures, the years you think you wasted, the degree you never finished, and the plainness of your everyday life. Deep down, you believe God only calls extraordinary people.
But here is the truth few state plainly. Your inner critic might be right this time. You are ordinary, and in the economy of grace, that is not the barrier to your calling. It is the starting point.
The Design of the Clay Jar
We often try to hide our weaknesses, thinking God can only use us once we have covered up our flaws. But Paul offers a different perspective, describing people as jars of clay.
A jar of clay was not fine porcelain to be admired, but a cheap, breakable, replaceable container used for the most mundane household tasks. Paul is not insulting our nature. He is describing our material, and he explains that the fragility is a design feature rather than a defect, because we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us (2 Corinthians 4:7). If the container were magnificent, the world would admire the jar.
The principle also extends to what we bring. When Jesus fed the five thousand, he started with five barley loaves (John 6:9), and barley was the grain of the poor. So disqualification arrives through one of two doors, either the container, where it sounds like I am not worth much, or what sits in our hands, where it sounds like what I have is not worth much. Either way, God’s specialty is working through the unimpressive to reveal the infinite.
Trust God to Set Your Worth
If we accept our weakness, we also have to face the way we measure our worth. We often judge ourselves, letting success make us proud and failure weigh us down. These seem like opposites, but both stem from the belief that we decide our own worth.
The truth is, your worth was never yours to decide. You are not the one who sets your value, nor did you pay the price for your rescue. When you stop trying to prove you are extraordinary, you are free to stop judging yourself and start following. The next step is to look at the example we have.
The Model of Holy Dependence
Our misunderstanding of extraordinary is corrected by looking at Jesus. In Philippians, Paul describes the mind of Christ, noting that Jesus, being God by nature, did not cling to his divine privileges but emptied himself and took on the nature of a servant.
This is a deep mystery. Jesus did not stop being God, but he chose not to use his own power. He was fully God both in the manger and on the cross. Choosing to lay down his power means more than simply losing it, because giving something up is different from having it taken away.
Jesus lived with human limits and relied completely on the Holy Spirit. He said in Nazareth that the Spirit of the Lord was on him because God had anointed him (Luke 4:18). Peter also described Jesus’ ministry this way: God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power (Acts 10:38).
This creates a new definition of greatness that fits into two lines. Ordinary by choice. Extraordinary by dependence.
If Jesus relied on dependence rather than qualifications, then asking whether you are enough is the wrong question. Not having your own power is what makes you ready for the same Spirit that worked through him.
The First Hands He Filled
If the Holy Spirit is our example, it is worth asking who God chooses to fill. We might picture prophets or kings, but the Bible starts with someone much more ordinary.
The first person in the Bible described as filled with the Spirit of God is a craftsman. God tells Moses that he has filled Bezalel with the Spirit, giving him wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill, not to preach, but to build the tabernacle (Exodus 31:1-5). Earlier, God mentions people filled with wisdom to make priestly garments (Exodus 28:3). Before the Spirit filled a preacher, he filled someone who worked with their hands. God looks for people who are available, not just those with credentials.
The Poetry of the Rescue
Many people believe, often to their own exhaustion, that God saved us just to put us to work, as if we are only here to pay off a debt. But Scripture shows us something very different.
Peter is the first to challenge this idea. He writes that you were redeemed not with things like silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ (1 Peter 1:18-19). The verse tells us our worth is not something we earn. It is set by what was paid, and we did not pay it.
Paul continues this idea. We are saved by grace through faith, not by our own works, so that no one can boast. Right after saying this, he calls us God’s handiwork (Ephesians 2:8-10). The Greek word is poiema, which is where we get the word "poem." It means something made, a work of art.
This changes everything. God did not rescue you because he needed your help. You are the work itself; you are Christ's extraordinary ministry, the one being rescued, not just someone hired to work.
When you see your calling as a gift, not a bill to pay, or the obligation to serve, the pressure to prove yourself disappears. Your purpose is the result of being rescued, not the payment for it.
Spiritual Maturity Is the Strength of Leaning
This means we need to rethink what spiritual maturity is. We often think maturity means becoming self-sufficient and not needing help. But the Bible teaches the opposite. Spiritual maturity is not about having more ability, but about depending more deeply on God.
If you ask Salvation Army officers who are serving today, many will say they still feel unworthy or not fully prepared. Reaching this point does not end those feelings. If it did, they would have stopped worrying about it a long time ago.
This is why feeling ordinary is actually a qualification for ministry. It keeps you relying on the right source. Even the Sanhedrin noticed this. They saw that Peter and John were unschooled, ordinary men, and were amazed because they had been with Jesus (Acts 4:13). People were not impressed by their education but by their connection to Christ. Their ordinary lives made that relationship stand out.
So, seeking God in times like this is less about waiting to feel ready and more about noticing when you rely on your own abilities. Trusting God means letting go of constant self-evaluation.
The Freedom to Move Toward Full-Time Ministry
If God uses ordinary people, then being ordinary is not a judgment on your potential. You are free to move toward full-time ministry now. You do not have to resolve every doubt first, and you do not need to see the whole path to trust God with the next step.
If you have ever wondered what a minister in The Salvation Army does each day, or if someone with your background could do this work, you will not find the answer by thinking about it alone.
This is the purpose of the 730 Weekend at Evangeline Booth College this September. It is not for people who have everything figured out, but for those still seeking God’s direction. It is for anyone who wants to learn what it means to rely on God rather than on their own abilities.
Cadets do not come to Evangeline Booth College already qualified for full-time ministry. They come to depend on God, and as officers, they will remain ordinary people too. Because here, together, we will learn what and who to rely on.
So stop constantly evaluating yourself. Instead of asking if you are enough, ask what you are truly depending on.
Please keep all those gathered for the 730 Weekend in your prayers.