The holiday season is here and 2019 is coming to an end. That means a lot of different things depending on who’s doing the talking (or in this case the writing). Here at the Sanchez Ranch South (what we affectionately call our South Georgia home), it means my son is home from college, my daughter is out of school until the New Year begins, and we have a lot of time to spend together. It is really good to have everyone home this time of year, but especially in this new season of life for our family.
I am also about to complete my fourth year of vocational ministry and begin my fifth year here serving an amazing church. That means a lot of things for us here too. One of those things is how blessed, incredibly blessed we have been our first four years here. South Georgia is a wonderful place to raise a family and serve our Lord. I like to tell folks we got here as quickly as we could!
There is so much I have learned these last four years that I could write pages and pages about. I could share about all of the training I received in seminary and how I have been able to apply it over that time. I could also write about the things I wished I had learned in seminary that I have had to learn along the way. With that in mind, here are four things I have learned these last four years.
Ministry is Hard Work
I entered vocational ministry in my mid-40’s coming from the secular business world. I got my first job as a kid in Colorado delivering doorhangers in 1982, I have worked in a drug store, fast food restaurant, pizza delivery and later management, casual dining, commercial & residential flooring installation, project management, call center management, and operations management for a rapidly growing commercial printing company. I entered ministry thinking I knew all about hard work.
As it turns out, I do know a lot about hard work and constantly leverage what I’ve learned over those many years in my current role in vocational ministry. Ministry is every bit as challenging and requires just as much (often more) effort as any job I’ve ever had over the years. Don’t believe me? Spend a day with someone on the staff of a local church and just shadow them…you’ll see!
Ministry is About People
I remember answering a question from a committee member when being interviewed before being called to my current place of service. She asked what I thought the greatest blessing of serving our church would be. Without hesitation, I said the greatest blessing would be the people. Celebrating the joyful occasions like new births, weddings, salvations. Mourning the losses and helping to shoulder the burdens of life as we live in community together.
My friend and mentor Allan Taylor says ministry is about, “reaching people, teaching people, and ministering to people.” I couldn’t agree more! Ministry is about people all right. It seems to me that churches and pastors get off track when they forget that fact. When someone comes by my office during the week and apologizes for “interrupting my day,” I tell them that the most important thing I’ll do all day is spend time with people.
Ministry is About Change
Today there are very few churches in my tradition that can accurately claim they do everything just as they did 100 years ago, 50 years ago, 20 years ago, and for many even 5 years ago. Our Lord is the same yesterday, today, and forever…His word doesn’t change! However, they ways the people of God communicate His word changes. The ways we serve our communities changes. Mercy, the way we give tithes and offerings to our churches has changed!
Ministry needs change so being flexible and having a teachable spirit is not just important, it is critical. While keeping in mind that ministry is about people, I also have to remember that if I am doing what God has called me to do (reach people, teach people, and minister to people), then the people I serve will change over time as they are conformed to the image of Christ. Ministry is about change!
Ministry is About Growth
The hard work of ministry is about people and about change. As efforts to evangelize the lost are successful and believers are discipled, there is, or at least should be, an expectation of spiritual growth. I hadn’t thought deeply about the importance of aligning the ministries of the church for this purpose but it really is important. I don’t personally know anyone called to ministry that does not desire to see the people of God grow in Christlikeness and to see their church reach the lost in their communities and among the nations.
Numbers certainly are not everything when one speaks about the growth of a local church or its members but numbers do matter. Attendance on Sunday morning, Sunday night, and Wednesday, active service in the ministries of the church, financial support of the kingdom work the church is doing, all of those (and more) have all significance. If a church is effective in reaching the lost and discipling them, it will eventually be reflected by the spiritual growth of the members of the body and increase in the body itself. Ministry is about growth.
There is more…much, much more I have learned over these last four years. I am grateful to serve a church that has allowed me to grow into the role God has called me to among them. It is humbling to serve God in the local church. It is also humbling to serve alongside such amazing people who love the Lord, love each other, and love the people we get to serve.
Leave a comment and share some of the things you’ve learned along the way in service to King Jesus. I’d love to hear what others have learned during their ministries.
Blessings,
Chris
Excellent Article!
Thanks so much for your encouragement Dale!