It’s easy in ministry to get caught up in how many roles that we actually have in our churches. Many ministers hold several different responsibilities in their churches. I wrote about holding different roles, particularly as it relates to student ministry here. In our church I am responsible for a number of things outside of student ministry. I work with the missions team, oversee the new member experience, and preach several times of year. I love having the variety that my job allows me to experience.
I am inspired and energized by the things that I get to do. However, there is one things that steals my joy and my inspiration very quickly. Discouragement creeps in when I start to think that it is my job to make our church a great church. You see, when I get frustrated by difficulties we are experiencing or with processes that I disagree with, my countenance towards my roles drops. I become frustrated because I can’t change things that I want to change. Every time I start to get close to the edge of discouragement, I have to remind myself that it is not my job to make the church work. In fact, it’s not really anyone’s job in my opinion.
Understand, I want to be a part of a great church. I want to do my part in making sure that our church functions well, but my job is not to make an organziation, it is to make disciples of Christ. My job is to introduce people to Jesus and help them live lives worthy of the gospel that they confess. When helping people grow in their faith is my goal, it is much easier to hear complaints about the music or hear that someone has left the church for some reason. One of the reasons that so many people become frustrated with working in a church is that they think that their job is to create a great church, but unless your number one goal is to make disciples, you will not have a great church. We could create what is perceived to be a great student ministry here at BBC if we wanted to by focusing on what people think they want, complete with video games or guilt driven re-salvation messages. We would have attendance numbers, and we would have decision cards, but all of that would mean nothing if we did not have disciples.
I hear from a lot of fellow ministers that they feel discouraged in their churches because things are too backward or too traditional. They don’t like the music or they think that they would be better at preaching. They may or may not be right, but I’m not sure that it matters. I encourage them to be professional and speak their minds as long as their observations are focused on helping the church reach and grow more disciples. But, if things stay the same, it is no problem because it was not their job to fix everything. Once all of their students are doing all things to the glory of God, they can start to worry about what’s next, but until then, they still have a job to do.
Journey of Faith 