free to minister

"No secret of Christian ministry is more important than its fundamental God-centredness. The stewards of the gospel are primarily neither responsible to the church, nor to its synods or leaders, but to God himself. On the one hand, this is a disconcerting fact, because God scrutinizes our hearts and their secrets, and his standards are very high. On the other hand, it is marvellously liberating, since God is a more knowledgable, impartial and merciful judge than any human being or ecclesiastical court or committee. To be accountable to him is to be delivered from the tyranny of human criticism."

John Stott, The Message of Thessalonians, p. 51f.