How many ministry conferences have you been to? You know, the kind where the "successful" pastors come out and tell you about their success stories, talk leadership style, even let you walk through their state of the art facilities. Where there is often a church bookstore filled with "how to succeed" in the Christian life. You know the kind, right?
What was your "take away" from that (or those) experiences? Mine usually tends to be a new level of frustration. Frustrated that I had not come up with some of those ideas on my own, frustrated that I cannot seem to get the church I work in to just "fall in line" like the churches we hear and read about in these sessions.
You see, if we are honest with ourselves, we pastors are guilty of trying to feed our own ego by looking at numbers. We count heads, we count money, and we count our followers and influence on social media and blog sites. We watch these things like a hawk, and if any of those things decline, or are small in numbers, we feel frustrated and long for something "better."
Don't believe me? Think about the pastoral staff you know. Think about yourself. When things are challenging for us, or our friends in ministry, why do we immediately begin to talk about moving to a new place of service, or about quitting altogether?
I firmly believe that this constant turmoil is caused by one main thing... Our own "VISION FOR MINISTRY." Yup, the thing that guys like Andy Stanley and Ed Young Jr. tout as the thing we are all missing is the very thing that is often what is hampering our ministry. How so? Let's take a look at a guy in the Bible named Saul (later known as Paul). We know that the writer of a good portion of the New Testament started out as religious Pharisee that was so convinced that he knew what was right, that he took it upon himself to hunt down and arrest Christ-followers. His mind did not change until he met the Lord on that road to Damascus, which altered the course of his life... and his ministry forever.
You see, like the rest of us, Paul was basing his vision for ministry on what man had told him about God, aka religious tradition. Need more proof, just take a look at his writing in Philippians 3:4-6:
"If someone else thinks they have reasons to put confidence in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day, of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; in regard to the law, a Pharisee; as for zeal, persecuting the church; as for righteousness based on the law, faultless."
Paul tells us that he has every reason to be proud of his own talents and vision. From a human standpoint, he is right. But the thing that he finally realized was that the only thing that changes the human heart is a change made by God, Himself. Paul goes on in that passage to tell us that
"Whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things." (Philippians 3:7-8)
In my ministry, when I try to run things in all the "right ways" that I read in books, see on the internet, or hear from other pastors, I am leaving out the main thing... God. In his book, Spiritual Leadership, Henry Blackaby writes,
"If Christians around the world were to suddenly renounce their personal agendas, their life goals and their aspirations, and begin responding in radical obedience to everything God showed them, the world would be turned upside down. How do we know? Because that's what the first century Christians did, and the world is still thinking about it."
If you are like me, when I read something like this blog, I try to explain it away... to rationalize my own actions. But then Blackaby hits hard with this one...
"God doesn't want people to do what they think is best: he wants them to do what he knows is best, and no amount of reasoning and intellectualizing will discover that."
So what does that mean for us? Are we supposed to have no vision? Do we just operate as spiritual zombie leaders in churches? Absolutely not! The difference is that instead of operating from our OWN vision, we begin to seek GOD's vision for our ministry. Those things are often very different from what our modern... American... church culture teaches us. Sounds simple, but is very profound. Blackaby isn't the authority on all things... but his advice here will change your ministry, if you let it:
"Watch to see where God is working and join Him." -- Henry Blackaby
It may seem that you do not live in the most interesting city, or work in the most exciting ministry, but God has you there for a reason. Why not take a look at things from His perspective... and then follow His vision. Stop stifling your ministry with your own ideas, and let God move you. You might just find yourself in the greatest moment of ministry in your life!
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