Dear Pastor,
Do you ever find yourself wondering if you are doing everything wrong? You know, do you take a step back and look at all of your activity for the Lord and His church and ponder if you are doing the right things or if what you are doing is actually working?
I know I do.
Sometimes I think that traditions, routines, and various other stumbling blocks keep me from seeing and pursuing what would be the best practices for truly leading people to faith in Jesus and helping people to become like Jesus.
At times it seems far too easy for me to do ministry in the ways I have seen or read about with little consideration (or prayer?!) about whether or not I should be doing ministry that way.
- Have I waited on the Lord for His instruction?
- Have I sought the Lord for His wisdom?
- Am I learning from other people?
- Am I seeking God and His kingdom first or something else?
- Do I keep the main thing, the main thing?
- Or do I get distracted by urgent and yet finally unimportant things?
Maybe we have been somehow conditioned to do ministry a certain way and we need some fresh perspective to realize that we are missing the point of all we are doing.
So what is the point of all we are doing?
Simply this:
- Honor God
- Help people accept Jesus as Savior
- Help people become/live like Jesus
So let’s ask a few questions:
- Is your preaching ministry honoring and glorifying God?
- Is your preaching ministry helping people to accept Jesus as Savior?
- Is your Sunday school ministry helping people to accept Jesus as Savior?
- Is your teen ministry helping teens to become/live like Jesus?
You may be saying to yourself: “but not all ministries need to accomplish all three of those things”.
I hear you, but disagree. Whether it is playing basketball with teenagers or leading a ladies Bible study or preaching on Sunday mornings, we need to be actively working at all three things of bringing glory to God, helping people to know Jesus and helping people to become like Jesus. If we aren’t attempting this we have missed the point, and if we aren’t accomplishing this we need to find out why not.
So let’s dig a little into your and my ministry practices and routine behaviors to discover what we are doing wrong:
- Do I care more about how many people are present at an activity than I do that the specific people present hear the voice of God and are changed?
- Do I care more about how people perceive me and think of me than what they think about God?
- Have I cut to the quick and engaged people in conversation about spiritual matters or have I beat around the bush hoping to make a connection or slowly build a bridge to bring up Jesus later?
- Do we spend more time with a computer than with people? (Or more time in the office than in the community?)
- Do I neglect prayer and the Word in my own life, assuming that I can “figure it out” along the way?
- Do I actually know because I have point blank asked people if they are born-again Christians?
- Am I actually exhorting, rebuking and confronting people so that they become more like Jesus because they have been asked the tough questions and have been boldly taught the Word of God?
Don’t be afraid to ask the deep questions of yourself and the ministries you are part of.
Don’t be afraid to ask the deep and important questions of the people you are trying to lead.
How will you ever know if you don’t ask? How will you ever grow if you don’t ask?
How will our ministry ever succeed at bringing God glory and making Christlike disciples if you and I don’t make sure we are doing the right and necessary things instead of just doing the same things we have always done?
It is far too easy to let ourselves off the hook because we look around and realize we are doing the same things that churches and pastors around the world are doing.
It is far too easy to let ourselves off the hook because we know our motive is good.
And yet if we look carefully at those who have led revivals, awakenings and other tremendously impactful ministries they weren’t content to only do what had always been done. They dug deeper, they creatively tried new things, they boldly and un-apologetically said what no one was saying. Furthermore people who helped bring about major change in the church were misunderstood, maligned and persecuted. But above all they knew they had to be faithful to the One who called them and simply could not stop until they succeeded in helping lost people find Jesus, and helping saved people live like Jesus.
Let’s keep working, but let’s make sure we are working in ways that cut to the quick and make sure to diligently pursue honoring God and making disciples instead of merely maintaining the status quo. Jesus is coming back and we don’t want to miss our chance. Let’s rediscover urgency even as we also seek a fresh perspective on ministry.
Keep praying, God is surely able to provide for you and lead you in all the ways He wants you to go!
Christ is with us and Christ is in us
Mike J
Pastor Michael Johnson 