Silver Bullet Ministry Kills
Posting on a Friday has never been a good idea for me. No one reads blogs on Fridays or Saturdays or Sundays. So, I may re-post this on Tuesday, but just felt like I needed to put this out there.
In ministry I always tried to look for the Silver Bullet. Made famous by the tales of werewolves I wanted to hunt down and kill ministry for the sake of fame, fortune, and self. I wanted to find THE Way to do the ministry and then settle into a routine. What I have discovered is that there are no silver bullets.
A Way may exist, but it will likely change for the next person to whom you need to minister, or it will change in a year or at the most two. In essence, my passionate search for Silver Bullets killed my ability to do ministry. Now that I am beginning to accept that a couple of things become absolutely clear about ministry.
1. There is a whole lot of freaking work to do! I mean if how you do ministry changes with every person, or every year, then the necessity to be a lifelong learner becomes a must.
2. There is a whole lot of freaking work to do! I mean if how you do ministry changes with every person, or every year, then you need to get some help. The older you get the more you already know how things work in the world. It’s called cynicism. The younger you are the less you care about how, and the more passionate you are about what needs to happen. My job becomes guiding passion, and in the mean time I might even regain some passion. I’ve quoted Seth Godin’s views bellow on this subject.
3. There is a whole lot of freaking work to do! I mean if how you do ministry changes with every person, or every year, then you need to pray. Pray for yourself, pray for your help, pray for those you help and who help you.
This is the hardest discipline for me to take time to do because I am a do guy. I mean I pray during my commute so I can get two things done at once. Sad, isn’t it. I’m in the process of letting Jesus change that in me.
4. There is a whole lot of freaking work to do…in me! Do not lose sight of the fact that while in the process of serving others you neglect what the Spirit is saying to you about what needs to change in you.
5. Don’t let the amount of work trump the individual. In ministry we cannot be led to do something in order to get the most bang for our buck. We must be able to be present with people, and more specifically with one person. It’s the spiritual discipline of fellowship, and if we choose to give our affection to the event over the person, then we have made the wrong choice. I need to read what I just wrote every day.
A newly-retired executive takes a job as an adjunct professor and really shakes things up. Both the school and the students are blown away by her fresh thinking and new approaches.
A forty-year old internet executive who has been running his company for decades misses one new trend after another, because he’s still living in 1998.
One thing that happens to management when they get senior is that they get stuck. (As we saw with the new professor, senior isn’t about old, it’s about how long you’ve been there).
If you’ve been doing it forever, you discover (but may not realize) that the things that got you this power are no longer dependable.
Reliance on the tried and true can backfire (Rupert keeps missing one opportunity after another, and keeps misunderstanding the medium he works in) or it can (rarely) pay off (Steve Jobs keeps repeating the same business model again and again–it’s not an accident that Apple has no real online or social media footprint. Steve believes in beautifully designed objects, closed systems and evangelizing to developers and creatives).
Worth quoting–one of Arthur C. Clarke’s lesser known three laws: “When a distinguished but elderly scientist states that something is possible, he is almost certainly right. When he states that something is impossible, he is probably wrong.”
The paradox is that by the time you get to be senior, the decisions that matter the most are the ones that would be best made made by people who are junior…
Selfish vs. Godly Ambition
When we find ourselves in a place where we know that we can do more, better, bigger, than we currently are doing it might be good to remind ourselves that we’re fallen and imperfect people who rely on a perfect and Holy God.
Everything I’ve ever done is laced with selfish ambition. Why? Because I’m not completely sanctified. If you want to go to the next level of leadership you need to allow God to crucify your selfish ambitions, but that is only half the equation. You also need God to intensify your godly ambitions. There is a fine line between those two motivations, but they will determine what gets rewarded and what gets disregarded. I think there are lots of leaders who are accomplishing great things for the kingdom, but it will go totally unrewarded because they are doing it for the wrong reasons. And it is our motivations that will one day be revealed and judged by God.
The difference between selfish ambition and godly ambition is sort of like the difference between self confidence and holy confidence. The source of the motivations are polar opposites while the actions on the surface seem to be the same. It’s so easy to do the right things for the wrong reasons and appear to be godly. May God sanctify our motives. May God crucify our selfish ambitions and intensity our godly ambitions. May the glory of God be the only motivation driving us!
Humility
David Timms shares some thoughts on becoming a disciple and the lack of focus on humility.
“Should you ask me: What is the first thing in religion? I should reply: the first, second, and third thing therein is humility.” – Augustine, 4th-5th century
Humility
“I am amazed at how little humility is seen as the distinguishing feature of discipleship.” (Andrew Murray: 12)
Most of us think of humility as just another virtue — much like patience, goodness, or kindness. It’s nice and we appreciate it when we see it, but we rarely discuss it and almost never pursue it. Yet, the Bible seems to indicate that humility may be the bedrock of discipleship.
Jesus humbled himself by becoming a man and submitting even to death. (Phil 2:5-8) He called His disciples to “deny yourself … take up your cross … be last of all … be slave of all.” (Mk 8-10)
James reminds us that “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” (Js 4:6)
It’s an old biblical theme that generates little attention, especially in a culture devoted to achievement, recognition, status, and significance. But if pride is the root of our fallenness (1 Jn 2:16) then humility paves the way to our restoration.
Andrew Murray goes so far as to say: “Humility is the only soil in which virtue takes root; a lack of humility is the explanation of every defect and failure. Humility is not so much a virtue along with the others, but is the root of all.” (Murray: 17)
Marriages fail not when love grows cold but when pride trumps humility. Churches experience conflict not when unity is forgotten but when humility is lost. We grow least content not when circumstances are tough but when entitlement buries humility.
Of course, our definition of humility makes all the difference. It’s not about self-loathing or dejected defeat. Rather, “true humility comes when before God we see ourselves as nothing, have put aside self, and let God be all.” (Murray: 55)
Let God be all. Sounds simple enough, but the striving and fruitlessness of our lives suggests that we find it easier to let God be some.
The challenge of our day, as followers of Jesus, is not to rise to the top but to live faithfully among the least, because of who He is. It’ll change everything; our homes, our families, our churches, and our workplaces.
In HOPE –
David
