A Key to Ministry
1. If you’re not consistently with the people you are leading, then ministry becomes all about strategy. The life and ministry God has called you to can quickly turn into a game of chess, with the people used to test your strategic insight. Much can be gained from simply pouring into people the vision God has given us, such as:
Passion, love for people that leads to perseverance, a constant shaping and refining of the vision, and wisdom about people that instructs your strategy.
You simply can’t lead a ministry from a desk or a computer.
2. Greg Ogden states, “[Leadership] demands grace in the presence of ungrateful people and unearthly wisdom to navigate the complexities of varying opinions and degrees of maturity.” My chief goal is to cast a vision that motivates and disciplines people to give a good portion of their lives and resources to it. I do this mainly through personal interaction with individuals or groups. Programs, strategy, content, events, etc…all reflect, foster, and reinforce this personal vision casting. Thus it is imperative that I meet with people. But because no two people are alike, I can’t simply explain God’s vision the same way every time. Plus, if you haven’t noticed, people are messy and carry baggage. So, when I meet with people, I have to do some prep work:
- What is their personal history with God, the Church, and the ministry in view?
- Are they basically positive or negative (i.e. how do they respond to being led by another person)?
- How can I win their respect and trust? Do I have it automatically because of my position? Do they need to see authenticity; do they need to be made aware that my life matches my vision? Do they need to know that I care for them and love them and that the vision is as much for them as it is for the church?
- Will this person become a key player? If they’re on board from the start, you don’t need to spend much time with them. Just give them some things to do and set them free. If they’re on the fence and have potential, spend more time with them. If there is no buy in at all, don’t waste your time with them. “Spend time on the fence sitters and ignore the atheists.”
- Taking all of that into account, you can tailor the vision to them. You can cast your vision in such a way that it captures them where they are…here and now.
- KEY: If your vision only captures a certain type of person (intellectual, doer, heart person, relational) then either: 1- You haven’t thought hard enough about the vision, or 2- It’s not God’s vision, its yours.
As much as introverted strategic me hates to admit it, ministry is all about casting vision, and you do this in the context of meeting and living with people. We all have our strengths and weaknesses but we all have to be strong in this area: personally casting vision with individuals. A successful ministry flows from this.
