Do Work Son

Do is a verb that calls us to action. This may seem counter-intuitive for most people who have been taught that, “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” And while there is truth in that statement, the church seems to fail in their co-mingling with the pastoral staff to the point that they haven’t noticed that WE PLAN CONSTANTLY. With this in mind, when a pastor is lost from a church, some staff members, and department chairs will attempt to put programs and ideas aside, “until we find a pastor.”

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!

This is the opposite of what we must do, we must DO our jobs well. Not just think our jobs well, or plan our jobs well, or meditate our jobs well, or even pray our jobs well.

The Lord has called us to be workers in his fields, and that cannot happen if we are constantly shut up in our offices. If we know what the Lord has called us to the church to be a part of, we must DO that job!

Even if what you do fails to accomplish what you had hoped, it has accomplished the most important thing. If we make sure that our plans include, and focus on, the people we serve, then our doing will always be fruitful. It may not be harvest season for your group yet, but the preparation that takes place when the pastor is gone, will pay dividends later in the church’s life.

But be ye DOERS of the word, and not hearers only… (James 1:22 KJV)

Do Your Job Well

23His master said to him, 'Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.'
Matthew 25:23

Over the next four weeks we will be discussing the next major focus for individuals attempting to lead their church during the interim time between pastors. The title “Do Your Job Well” is intended to be a declaration as well as provide reigns for the minister to remain controlled during the church’s pursuit of identity, family, and resolution. The statement seems to be both understated and lacking in enough complexity to be valuable, but it is the simplicity of this phrase that grants us the most valuable information.

For me, the trembling supports of the church called for action on my part to help steady the church during the struggles of losing a pastor. Help with choirs, programs, children, departments, building and maintenance, etc. But the problems continued and the duties to which I was assigned seemed to wane in the oppressive nature to each extra item on my plate. The problem is that when we decide to make an aspect of the church our business, our busyness never ends. We become inundated with items, and things to do, and we lose our ability to Minister like we should. Keeping ourselves to our job seems a bit harsh but, in large part, we must stay confined to our job in order that we are able to accomplish whatever is charged to us.

Doing our jobs well extends to each individual, not just staff members. Each of us have work that needs to be done in order that the church is able to move and advance the cause of Christ. From time to time, the job and ministry seem separate things altogether, but we must remember that the gospel of Jesus Christ is what provokes us to be a part of the job, as well as the people we hope to serve.

I pray that we will be able to discover exactly what our job is and how to do whatever it is to the glory of our creator, and for the advancement of the kingdom He has created; then may we enter into the joy of our master.

Ministry

Ministry is a word that is overused. It means nothing when we don’t want it to, and it means everything when we are trying to impress someone. Ministry must be more than simply a flippant word that we toss around to excuse ourselves from the office to attend a football game out of town. Ministry must be our heart. It must be the very thing that keeps us up at night in prayer for our people. It must be the thing that helps us stay awake when we drive across country to pick up a student who has lost their way, and what helps us sleep at night when the world, or even our own church members, hates us for the way we care for the lost and broken. Ministry must be our fruit.

When I say that ministry must never suffer in the absence of a pastor it is to say that our hearts must be aligned with the Father to the degree that our faith be not dismantled simply because our office system is a bit quieter. We must brazenly run to the hurting and give to those in need. Without regard to the faltering fiscal revenue, and with no thought to how we might pay the light bill at the church next month.

Ministry is the element of the church that will make it relevant, in spite of trends or cultural shifts. Ministry is the element of Jesus that made people flock to him. Ministry is why we have deacons, elders, bishops, and pastors. Ministry is why we have jobs and why the hurting have hope. Ministry is the overwhelming drive of the spirit in each of our hearts to make a difference in the world.

May the spirit empower you, may He make His light shine upon you, and may you make famous His name in all the earth!

Honesty in our Relationships

People don’t want pity, and they don’t want you to tolerate them. People are living and breathing creatures. Ministry involves every part of the people we minister to; it also requires all of us as well. Good, Bad, and Ugly, we must realize that the totality of ourselves is what will make an impact on our people. When we have no pastor, there will be pain and there will be discord. No improvement will be seen by disguising your emotions from the people for which you labor.

I have heard of pastors who fail miserably at this very task. To be real, open, and honest is one of the most endearing qualities that a minister can possess. Some pastors and staff members who insist that everything is good when it is not fail to understand that their dishonesty will breed dishonesty in their congregation. When no pastor is to be found, our honesty with people can begin to direct our congregation to be honest to each other, and to themselves. It is only through honesty that they will grow in this time of unrest; honesty for what they want, and honesty for what the LORD wants of them.

Acting as though things are good when they are not, isn’t better or worse than over playing the circumstances to make them worse than they really are. Understand your condition, and understand the condition that you would have things to be. Be precise and honest with your own emotions and allow your people to see them. Be ready at all times to express how things in your church are getting better as an encouragement for your people. When your church becomes honest in their expressions of emotions they will be ready to express to Him their emotions and lay them down at His feet.

Honesty bears understanding, but dishonesty from the staff in the office will breed dishonesty from the pulpit.

Ministry Involves Relationships.

Just to reiterate, Ministry is about People…not just the people but also the relationships they have. The only relationship that you can do something about is the one that each of your people has with you. Part of our job as a minister is to be in relationship with our people. Our people need to be more than just a group; they must be a gathering of individuals, each of whom has a personal relationship with us.

We must begin to be aware of the relationships that we have with the individuals in whatever ministry we work. These relationships are the only thing that separates us from a simple gathering. The Word says that we are the body of believers and that we are a family. Brothers and sisters in Christ must rely on each other in times of sorrow and rejoice with each other in times of great triumph. These types of relationships will get dangerous (and I mean that) because of the close proximity to each other’s personal lives and emotions. But I feel like this close-knit community is what is foreshadowed when the scriptures say:

10 Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor. 11Do not be slothful in zeal, be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord. 12 Rejoice in hope, be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer. 13 Contribute to the needs of the saints and seek to show hospitality.
14 Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them. 15 Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with one another. Do not be haughty, but associate with the lowly. Never be wise in your own sight. 17 Repay no one evil for evil, but give thought to do what is honorable in the sight of all. 18If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all. 19Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." 20To the contrary, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head." 21Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

The depiction of such a relationship driven society is staggering considering how little emphasis we place on relationships today. Ministry is the service of each individual at whatever moment, and in whatever situation you happen to find them. There must be an intentional nature to our connection with other people. Whether our gathering be made up of believers or not, we must conduct ourselves in this way. We must live in harmony with others; sharing in everything…This also means that we must be willing to share ourselves with them.

This is ministry…to approach our neighbor with compassion and share with them ourselves.

The In-Between Times

A threat to the cohesion of the programs of a church during the absence of a pastor is the refocusing on Sundays and Wednesdays (or whatever days are your primary days of meeting). Though this is not a big deal for your congregation in the short run, it can create some negative habits in the long run. Members relegate their membership, participation, and personal ministry to the confines of those two days when they have done so for so long. We on the other hand, must use this shift in participation to shed some light on the ministries that can go on without a pastor.

When there is no noise, the smallest of sounds is clear to hear. When light doesn’t exist in a place, the smallest match can illuminate a room. The same is true about the absence of ministry. When a church remains idle for a period of time, any ministry that is visible in that dark place will shine bright and can help to reinvigorate your people for ministry on their own.

Keep in mind that this is not a ploy to get attention to refocus itself on you, nor is it a way to edge yourself closer to the pastor’s chair (each will be discussed later in this blog). This is a way to show the power of ministry. If we as leaders in the church shed light on ministry in the dark times, our church will become better able to see ministry in its true form. When we take youth to clean an elderly persons yard in the fall, or take our church choir to the nursing home, or we take our children’s ministry to the local children’s hospital for visitation, or we set up a car winterization program with our deacons, and we do these projects NOT ON SUNDAY, we illuminate their value to our group.

Not only are the events themselves more apparent by not being shoved into the Sunday Mix, but our people, being that they have to adjust their lives to participate, will better understand what an impact ministry can have on the people they serve as well as the people serving.

One event, done on a Tuesday evening…give it a shot and see how your group changes. See how their hearts become open, simply by opening their schedule.

Our Churh Must Have Time to Feel

If ministry is about people, then we must be about people. When a church looses a pastor there is a great deal of pain involved. Each member of that church had some opinion about the loss of the pastor. Whether the departure of the pastor was amicable, beneficial, or catastrophic, the people of the church no longer have their pastor.

In much the same way that you as a leader in your church needed time to rest in Him, your people will also need that time. They, on the other hand, will be less likely to see this for themselves. One of our jobs as we attempt to minister to our congregation in the absence of a pastor is to help them identify and address their own spiritual unrest.

Our ability to create opportunities that help the church address their issues with the former pastor and create a new, scriptural desire for their next pastor are critical. Additionally, if an Interim Pastor is appointed and helps to create these opportunities, one of our jobs when helping to minister to our people is to be an active participant in the process while maintaining the openness of the group to speak their mind on all issues.

Let’s face it, most people are not ready to bear their hearts in a group, even their church family, but our active participation may help to coax their involvement. We will hear a lot of anger and disappointment during these discussions, some resentment is clouded in a façade of laughter and joking, but we must begin to see our congregation as people and not positions. Each member, from the least to the most well respected, will be affected by this loss, and each must be given the time to heal. That time will begin by you seeing them as a person, and giving them a chance to be honest with you as well as themselves.

Workers Need Love Too

Not only should we be observant of each person in our ministry, but we must also be aware of each person that helps us create these ministries, as well as maintain them year to year. We as ministers must be willing to be ministers to each person on each committee that is associated with our goals. Deacons, teachers, workers, and other staff members are all integral parts of whatever ministry we serve. Also, each of these individuals are in relationships with family and friends just like our ministry groups are. Therefore, we must be aware of each of their family maps as well.

This seems to be a mathematical and cold way to introduce yourself to the people to whom you intend to minister, and at first it may be. But when you lay each of these family maps on the floor in your office and they begin to crowd your space, you will begin to see just how big your job is. Each family on your list will be a part of ministry for you over the next few years, and you will need to know them if you want to help them.

When you step back and see just how big and broad your goals of ministry are, now that you have seen all these people you intend to serve, you will begin to see that expanding past ministry and into the realm of program. Ministry will be the only thing that propels the church during a time without a pastor.

People Mapping

Ministry is about people. I’ll say it again, MINISTRY IS ABOUT PEOPLE!!!

Programs cannot be the focus of a pastorless church. Programs are ways to grow already growing people. Programs will do nothing for people who either don’t care or don’t know about your church and where it is going. We must refocus ourselves on the people we serve and NOT the job we do.

I hear some of you saying to your computer, “But how do I know what people to focus on?” And the answer to that question is simple. You need to be ready to affect every person that is in your group as well as anyone who is within one or two degrees of separation from your group.

For instance, I am a youth minister. Therefore, I am responsible for every youth aged individual in our church, as well as each immediate family member and every second degree family member.

Let’s break this down. Cole is one of my youth. Cole has a sister, a mother, and a father. He also has two sets of grandparents, three sets of aunts and uncles, and five cousins that live in the area. For me to minister to Cole, I must minister to each individual that makes up his family. To properly minister to the one, I mister to all nineteen.

This seems like a big job, but frankly it is the only job that must be done. We must begin to develop a map of every individual and family in our ministry, including those individuals within our ministry whose family does not yet attend our church.

Sit down and make the map…now take a look at how many people are in your ministry. For a youth group of 10, you could have a map of over 200 people; if it’s a group of 50 your map could include well over 1000 people.

Now that you are properly frazzled, I want you to understand that there is no way for you to get deep into the lives of every person on that map, but it is impossible for you to impact your student without knowing about the relationships that affect him or her most greatly. These people on the map are the ones that will be with your student for the greatest portion of their lives. Help your students make sense of these relationships, and give them the ability to make sense of each one that comes after.

The same model is true if you are a part of Deacon Family Ministries, Church Choir Director, Sunday School Teachers, or the Janitorial Staff. Every person who works with the church is a minister, and in ministry, we must begin to understand the people to whom we serve.