Friday, June 26, 2009

Strategic and focused ministry

After almost 10 years of volunteer work in the church I have observed two things that are unhealthy habits and hinder growth. The two things that keep us from being successful in ministry are lack of focus and strategy. If we are not focused on what we are doing we become distracted and fail. If we are not strategic there is no plan and we just “wing it” hoping that everything works itself out. This may sound simplistic but these two things are very things that can hinder church growth. Distractions come in many forms. It can be ridicule, a physical attack, slander, someone purposely pulling you away so you fail, or lack of strategy… Fill in the blank. It can be anything.

Too often we also approach things without fully understanding/researching all that will be needed to accomplish something. We know what we want to happen but never put the full effort into understanding the best and most successful way to accomplish the goal. Without strategy and detailed plans our efforts will always come up short and we will create even more distractions than we had when we started.

I would like to say that after observing these things that I have never fallen victim to either of these bad habits but what I do know is a man who has provided many ways to overcome these bad habits. His name is Nehemiah. His story is a model of how to be focused and strategic in serving God. Nehemiah faced many distractions from verbal abuse to physical threats. He was so focused on serving God that nothing could distract him from the work he was doing, not even threats on his life. So the question is how do you respond to the people and things that try to pull you away from serving God and accomplishing what He has called you to do with your life? Check out Nehemiah if you need any help.

Nehemiah was also very strategic in the work he was trying to accomplish for God. The city walls had been broke down and instead of just making bricks and stacking them together; Nehemiah went and surveyed the land to see what he was dealing with. We naturally think that building a city wall is as easy as stacking bricks but there is more to it than that. Nehemiah put the extra work in researching his project before beginning it. He knew the importance of successfully building the city walls. So how do you approach what God is calling you to do? Do you put the time into researching your work and making sure you know everything about it? Check out Nehemiah if you need some pointers on how to be strategic. So two very basic things you need to be aware of to be successful in ministry and service to God is focus and strategy. These two things can make or break you.

Tuesday, June 23, 2009

taking it easy for round 1

I am starting this blog to motivate others to pursue discipleship and the ministry to others. This is just a test so stay tuned for a more in-depth post. We as leaders have become lazy and are no longer teaching people how to grow closer in their relationship with God. We keep things simple so people can understand or so they can comprehend them. But is that what Jesus did? Were not his parables beyond comprehension for the normal person? Are we short-changing our churches?