Course Corrections for Life and Ministry

3. Experience the fruit of being still.

Please understand. I’m not saying that it’s better to forsake the work of the ministry to pursue the “deeper life” of just drawing close to God in solitude. I realize some people place great emphasis on this “deeper life,” yet so much of the actual work that God has for them goes neglected in the name of “waiting” upon him.

If we look at Jesus’ life in the Gospels, we see that he was extremely busy—traveling here, walking there, healing, speaking from a boat, teaching on a hill. He used his time and opportunities to the maximum. Yet we also read multiple examples of how he would break away from the crowd and all the activity to be with the Father. His entire ministry, all of the seeming “busyness,” flowed out of his intimate relationship with the Father.

It all comes back to this one priority:

Our love for Jesus.

No matter how hard we try, no matter what methods we use, the service that pleases him most—and will sustain us in the end—is the service done out of love. This is how his burden for his people becomes light.

I know firsthand how easy it is to run about with our own ideas and our own agendas. Everything can look so good; we can seem to be running on the right track. But if our understanding toward ministry has moved from being ministry unto him to now getting results (building a name for ourselves and/or our church and serving the people), we are dangerously off course.

This article is based on K.P. Yohannan’s eBook, His Burden Is Light: Experiencing Multiplication Through Letting Go. The eBook is free to download at Exponential.org.

Doing Unto Others

Davis maintains that ministry shouldn’t be about serving at church on a Sunday morning, because those people are already saved. Instead, it should be about doing ministry on the mission field and talking to people who are unchurched.

One Church’s Story of Transformation

We waited as each church went through the 30-day jumpstart. Then we heard the stories.

What Type of Leader Are You?

Spend some time reflecting on your current leadership model by writing down the pluses and minuses of where your leadership stands and see if tweaks could be made to make you a more effective leader.