M. J. Denning

“..the description of the ministry as a ministry of the word refers to the content of the message rather than the manner of its presentation. That is to say, the Christian minister is called to minister Christ Himself as the eternal Word incarnate for us men and for our salvation. The focus of attention is not preaching or teaching as such; otherwise a false importance is give to the spoken word of Man. It is the theme and content of preaching and teaching. By means of the ministry Christ Himself is handed over to others to be received and then passed on by them as God's own Word of revelation and redemption. Secondarily, the ministry of the word refers to the ministry of the prophetic and apostolic testimony to Jesus Christ, the true and incarnate Word. That is to say, the Christian minister is called to pass on to others that which is attested concerning Jesus Christ by the forward-looking witness of the Old Testament and the backward-looking witness of the New.”
― G. W. Bromiley, Christian Ministry

“The city of man requires idolatry. All must bow before the symbol of its total claim. Religion is tolerated when it supports the claims of the state, party, the institutional hierarchy. But those who say, "We must obey God rather than men" are always condemned as traitors or exiled as aliens. Yet the calling of Christ's kingdom no only separates a man from the world, it also sends him to the world. In this time of the kingdom we are pilgrims, for the mountain of Christ's rule is the heavenly Zion; but in the task of the kingdom we are ambassadors, for we have been sent by the King to proclaim his terms of peace to his rebellious realm.”
― Edmund P. Clowney, Called to the Ministry

“On the other hand, a desire to serve Christ in the ministry may become intense before there is evidence of the necessary gifts...If you yearn to serve Christ in the gospel ministry, that desire is surely a calling to prayer for the Spirit; likely it is also a foretaste and earnest of greater gifts in store.”
― Edmund P. Clowney, Called to the Ministry

“Christ's suffering was redemptive not because suffering itself is redemptive, but because Christ himself is the Redeemer”
― Edmund P. Clowney, Called to the Ministry