Ministry Opportunity:
Our Ministry Vision

We at Abiding Vine Ministries believe that the Holy Spirit has gifted each member of the body of Christ with at least one spiritual gift for the work of the ministry. We believe that the ministry of the Church, moreover, the local church, should be formed around the gift availability of its members. For example, if a believer is gifted by the Holy Spirit to teach, he shouldn't be waiting on tables (Acts 6:1-6)!

Our ministry is grounded in the Biblical mandate to equip the Church in the manner for which the Holy Spirit has purposed Her. As the Holy Spirit has gifted each believer according to His purpose, Abiding Vine Ministries has been raised-up to help the body of believers rediscover this Biblical imperative. Everything we do is designed to equip believers and local churches so that they can fulfill their ministerial calling.

• All positions are bi-vocational – We believe that a Minister should minister, a preacher should preach, etc. God has not gifted every man who is called to be a pastor, nor has He gifted every pastor to preach. If you are called to preach, we let you focus on preaching. We also believe ‘tent making’ is a part of ministry and that there must be a balance between one’s call and secular employment. Doing more than one is called to do upsets that balance.
• Relocation is required – We realize this alone will be a great divider of those who might consider ministry with Abiding Vine Ministries. One might ask what right a fledging ministry has, to ask someone to pull up roots and relocate to Lodi, California? We don’t; but God does! We believe the ministry God has entrusted us with is so unique that such a requirement will provide us with the people God can use to help His Church.
• Gift recognition is necessary – People desiring to join us in ministry must know their spiritual gifting. A word of caution. Your career or professional experience is not a spiritual gift.

Who are we looking for?

• Those who currently have ministry experience and are looking for a challenge in their ministry.
• Those who have previous ministry experience but are currently not involved in the form of ministry for which they have been called for whatever reason.
• Those who have no ministry experience (student, recent college graduate, person’s looking for God’s leading in their life) but are willing to accept a challenge.

As stated before, all ministry opportunities at AVM have certain gift requirements. With such a variety of ideas on what spiritual gifts are in the Christian world, we realize that by the mere mention of the words, ‘spiritual gifts’, our understanding of the term may be worlds apart. For definition sake, we adhere strictly to the Biblical explanations as given in Romans 12, 1 Corinthians 12, and Ephesians 4. If greater clarification is necessary, ask us for our resources on Spiritual Gifts.