“…stand firm, Let nothing move you.
Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know
that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58)
Fifteen hundred ministers leave
the ministry each month in the USA! This
is a startling statistic and reminds us that sustaining effective ministry is a
challenge. There are some who discover
that God is directing them into another profession and their departure from the
ranks of vocational ministers is understandable and appropriate. Indeed all believers are ministers, but those
who serve as pastors, evangelists, and missionaries are unique in their
influence over the church and their visibility as leaders in the Kingdom of
God. This reality is accompanied with
its own complexity and makes the occupational minister a target for Satan. I would like to suggest some ideas that are
critical to sustaining effective ministry.
WORK IN THE RIGHT WAY: This entails WORKING IN THE RIGHT PLACE. You can only do God’s work by God’s
empowering grace and if you are out of His will that empowerment will be missing. An honest look at what the Spirit is saying, your
strengths and weaknesses (natural and spiritual), the input of others in the
body of Christ, and the evidence of God’s blessing or lack thereof on what you
do helps you determine your sweet spot in ministry.
Also, WORKING WITH THE RIGHT
MOTIVES is essential to sustainability.
Righteous motivation starts with your love for God; serving Him and not yourself. Jesus challenged Peter (John 21:15-23) with the question “do you truly love me?” When
Peter responded, “Yes, Lord, you know
that I love you” then Jesus said “Feed
My lambs”. His love for the Lord was
the foundational motivation for Peter’s ministry. Righteous motivation then moves to your love
for people; a quality gained by the love of God being poured into your heart by
the Holy Spirit. It plays out in a
self-sacrificing effort to see the purposes of God achieved in this world.
In a game against the Boston
Celtics, Michael Jordan (the great Chicago Bulls basketball player) scored 63
points. Jordan’s team mate Will Perdue
scored two. After the game Perdue was
asked what it is like to play with Michael Jordan. He replied, “I will never forget this night
because Michael and I joined to make 65 points to win the game.” Perdue exemplified a selfless attitude that
made him a valuable contributor to the success of the Chicago Bulls.
Also, in Jesus’ conversation with
Peter in John 21 He reveals that
Peter will experience a violent death and concludes with the words, “Follow Me.” Peter saw John nearby and asked “Lord, what about him?” Jesus answered “If I want him to remain alive until I return, what is that to
you? You must follow me.” Jesus was honing Peter’s perspective to a
singular focus of obeying Jesus because he loved Him above all else. Keeping your relationship with God paramount
and comparisons with others under control is essential to sustained ministry.
A.W. Tozer said “A true and safe
leader has no desire to lead, but is forced into a position by the inward
pressure of the Holy Spirit and the press of circumstances. The man who is ambitious to lead is
disqualified as a leader. The true
leader will have no desire to lord it over God’s heritage, but will be humble,
gentle, self-sacrificing.”
WORK SMART: Once you are in God’s will working with
righteous motivation then you need to work smart to be effective and sustained. To work smart you must first of all TAKE CARE
OF YOURSELF AND YOUR FAMILY. Your first
responsibility in ministry is your family.
Second, DON’T WORK ALONE. You need friends in similar ministry to
provide encouragement, counsel, and accountability. In my first few years pastoring Radiant
Church I would drive to Pueblo, CO and meet with Pastor Bobby Wilson to glean
from his experience as a pastor and to receive encouragement from one who
understood the unique challenges of a Lead Pastor. His friendship was a sustaining factor in my
22 years of ministry at Radiant Church.
Partnership in ministry also
includes delegating work to the body of Christ.
The more you try to do by yourself the less you will get done and the
wearier you become. Equip and release
the body of Christ to do the work of the ministry.
Third, DEAL WITH CHANGE
EFFECTIVELY. Jesus established the
mission and it does not change, “…go and
make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of
the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have
commanded you…” (Matthew 28:19-20).
However, the vision – the way you achieve the mission – must change over
time and from one place to another for you to be effective. Factors that produced success 20 years ago
may produce failure today.
A friend who is a venture capitalist
shared with me that very few CEOs succeed at more than one company. After experiencing success in one company
they move on to another and try to duplicate what they did before without
taking into account the uniqueness of their new assignment. This lack of flexibility and wisdom leads to
failure as they discover a new approach is needed in the new company. Working smart means prayerfully and
studiously shaping the vision to achieve the established mission.
WORK HARD: The text makes that clear when it says “Always give yourselves fully to the work of
the Lord”. I am not suggesting you
become a workaholic. That is
counterproductive. But, after
establishing the right place of service, the right motives, and a smart
approach then you must work hard if you hope to accomplish what Jesus called
you to do. A wise balance in a
minister’s life will include hard work in the ministry. This informed hard work produces results and
that also becomes a sustaining factor.
WORK IN FAITH: The results of ministry are sometimes easily measured
and sometimes not. Whether God has
called you to a place where the results are immediate or delayed, there is an
eternal reward awaiting you for your work in God’s Kingdom. It is always complicated to talk about success
in the ministry because there are seasons of sowing and of reaping. Jeremiah’s ministry resulted in rejection and
hardship, and yet he was obedient to God.
The Apostle Paul’s ministry, though marked by suffering, brought
extraordinary results in souls saved and churches established.
You are responsible for the work
you do for the Lord; He controls the outcome in time and eternity. Willing obedience and the quality of your
work (“gold, silver, costly stones” 1
Corinthians 3:12) is the measure of success and Jesus will reward His children
for their work at the judgment seat of Christ.
A golf commercial says, “Bobby
Jones worked on his swing, not his score.
That is how he became the best golfer of his generation.” Work on your swing and let God take care of
the score.
“God is not unjust; he will not forget your work and the love you have
shown him as you have helped his people and continue to help them. We want each of you to show this same
diligence to the very end, in order to make your hope sure. We do not want you to become lazy, but
imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.”
(Hebrews 6:10-12)
