From the outside it may seem pretty awesome to loathe in all the attention that one gets in being a pastor’s/ preachers kid. Well it sure is an interesting thought to ponder on. Some may be comfortable with the fact that their life has become a plastic smile and a perpetual sacrifice to be living for everyone else except for themselves- and some may think otherwise.

There are pros and cons to being a PK protege, which may be considered in the following lines that I would like to pen down. These are the experiences I have had in my life and through which would try to shed some light on this topic given my limited experience.

First, it is a decision that one takes to embrace the idea of being a PK -from the fake smiles, self righteous head nods and to hands reaching heaven like that’s our perpetual state of being- in heavenly places. I would say that as kids we love the attention in the midst of trying to figure out who we really are. The undeserving royalty status we get without doing jack does kind of feed our fleshly ego. I did enjoy people taking me to special seats, giving me special attention like I know or think better than everyone else in the room even though I was only 12 years old.

But after enjoying all the awesomeness of being held at a higher standard than everyone else there comes a time we start crying foul. You can tell, when we find these same folks spewing absurd statements like  ”I’m just a kid”  or  “we are like everyone else” or ” I’m human too” . It’s funny to see that we embrace all the benefits of being a PK but sometimes feel the weight of accountability and responsibility it entails.

Now let’s move one step further, it’s time to fit into daddy’s shoes who is a leader of a church/ ministry/ humanitarian org or something in that vicinity. Let me tell you this first off – you don’t want to be in those shoes!! Your life starts from the point where you are strongly compared with your predecessor. You constantly feel like you are not enough or not as awesome as your former and seems like an endless loop of trying to prove to yourself and to the whole world that “how you are” different from your predecessor. Here “Different” implies how much better you are than your dad but you don’t want to blatantly say that you’re better than him which may suggest that you are disrespectful and conceited. This makes you resign to accept that you are not as great (which is the truth to begin with) than your predecessor. What’s better than just exist living in mediocracy and enjoying all the benefits that you get being a son/daughter.

From another perspective people may say (in other words they say this to me under their breathe) ” what’s wrong with the protege’s life? He gets everything on a platter- the house, the car and “the position” (the most important thing). People somehow consider ministry to be a business or corporation.  What the father earns – the son gets it and he needs to take it further and must prove that he is better .But if that’s how you want to look at ministry then you can only imagine the pressure that the PK in under from the very start . He gets compared to the predecessor based on non quantifiable things like anointing, signs and wonders, miracles which we have to do with the spirit of God. Don’t you think that’s a bit too much for a guy/ girl who is just in their mid twenties to be compared with a seasoned minister of God? They are expected to pick up from the place their predecessor left at when they retire at 65. It’s like expecting Shahrukh khans son to act in a movie at 15 yrs and expect it the gross the largest amount of money in the history of cinema just cause Shakrukh did it at 52. Well, that’s the life of a protege in ministry.

Now the boiling question is do you want to be this protege? In my opinion many join the ministry because they are either pushed into it or see it better than their struggling vocational career. But, I joined the ministry because I was called personally by God. Never wanted to be a part of it, dint and don’t want to inherit it – just want to continue to do what I can do with the limited resources and experience i have. If my dad’s church splits, we lose all that we have; I’ll still not go back to being an engineer. I’ll still start from the streets or wherever I would be at that time propagating  this gospel. I’ll fulfill the promise I made to myself when I chose my call over the job opportunity in the final year of engineering.

Dear friends, “the call” determine who you are, not your dad. From David to Gideon, it was their call that was the defining moment in their lives. The call had changed course of their lives forever. Nothing could deter them from what they were called to be. If God has called you, He will lead you. When you are truly called by God, you will not visualize ministry as a job but you’ll see church, ministry and people as an opportunity to bring the love of God to the world. It won’t be just an obligation to fulfill. If you are a youngster who feels that all your work pertaining to church, your role in leadership seems a bit too much, and u feel it’s a bit unfair? I think you’re not in the right place. I think your either not called to minister full time or you are not ready yet. I love what I do, every part of it from the backbiting, politics played, rumors created and so on. It’s all worth it when I see people’s life getting transformed by the power of God. One life transformed is worth a life time of all the other stuff.

So PK protege, to be or not to be? Answer it and live your life as you wish in the fullness of God. God does not need second generation masters, but second generation servants. So if you want to be first, start last.