Boundary 1: Listen to the Father, not the crowd. When I feel out of breath from doing too much, I ask myself, How did I get into doing all this? How did it all end up on me?
At first, I list the immediate reasons: The project took longer than I thought it would. I wasn't planning on two people quitting the committee.
But when I dig deeper, I usually find buried in ...
Sticking with the Call Resist the urge to seek a different leadership role when the going gets tough. Ed Bratcher
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During my ministry leadership, I found that when my church was experiencing troubles, I was tempted to seek a new place to lead. But I decided never to leave a situation simply because I was facing difficulties. Consequently, I tried to remember the following guidelines to stay faithful to God's calling.
Don't leave in the midst of major conflicts. Naturally, there are always conflicts in a church. Leaders can't please everybody. But I felt any major conflicts should be worked through before a move is considered. Don't leave just because you are being criticized.
Context defines success. In Western culture, success means a fulfilling, well-paying job, loving relationships, and some kind of influence or impact on other people. It can be narrowed beyond that, however. Consider others who are in a similar life situation as you. What would your demographic consider "success"? Write a few characteristics in the space below.
When I took over as pastor of a church in the Chicago suburbs, I was on the heels of learning several lessons about ministry—and success—in the context of a small church. But then, in my new church, which numbered about 30, we turned a corner. One Sunday in January our attendance nearly doubled—and most of those newcomers came back. As the spring progressed, we added ...
I was mad. And the more I thought about it, the madder I got. I had attended a seminar entitled "Ministry in the Small Church." I had pastored small churches, but this was my first study of the concept. Now, heading home from the conference, I was mad—at the denomination, at the seminary, at my superintendent, even at myself.
The world judges a person from two perspectives: private enterprise and public impact. A person may be enviously successful in her private life. Yet, since she makes no public impact, she could be called a failure. Consider the reverse. A person may be famous but a failure. Fame has little to do with a person's qualities as a human being.
Judging your success against another person's can be the first step in a destructive descent. Here are four reasons why, and a strategy for a healthy view of ministry:
1. Dissatisfaction
Comparisons lead to dissatisfaction because they are relative; no matter how well off we are, someone else always has more. Just as a greedy person can never have enough money, a leader who compares ...
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