A fresh look at ministry

I love this article!  (The article is after the study.)

I love that it reminds us that we are in over our heads in trusting God to build spiritual movements through us.  We are all incapable of building anything lasting for God apart from His power and wisdom.  We must be sure that we are reminding ourselves and others to cling to the Holy Spirit with every ounce of our strength and never even entertain the thought that we can do anything to please Him in our own (puny) efforts.

I hope you are challenged to examine your life and apply these truths in your life and in your ministry!  Please pray for me to do this as well.

Leading from grace

What kind of leader are you?  Do you try to maintain control over everything and everyone in the ministry?  Are you able to give the people involved with you freedom to make mistakes and learn from those mistakes?  Are you able to forgive those who haven’t done things quite the way you wanted them to?  Are you able to allow them to take on other responsibilities?  

I think these words from the study best describe this week’s resource:  “In the Scriptures, we find a kind of leadership that is rooted in the clear understanding of who we are in Christ. As we know and experience God’s unconditional love, grace, and forgiveness in our own lives, it affects how we can lead others. It’s the supernatural power of God working through us that carries with it a distinguishing mark…the mark of grace! How we work and how we lead conveys our values and our message as much or more than the words we say.

“Jesus, at every moment, modeled an utter dependence upon the Father. He also modeled truth and grace. He showed us how grace can lead, how grace treats others and how grace confronts. Jesus was ushering in a new way to live and lead others… (taken from the Bible study)

I hope your understanding of the character of a leader is deepened!

Faith and holy optimism

Life is full of disappointments and ‘unanswered’ prayer (or, prayers that are not answered as we would like them to be answered or as quickly as we think they should be answered).  So how do you maintain an attitude of hope and expectancy as you allow God to lead through you? 

I think you will be challenged by this week’s Bible study (it was written for our full-time staff) as you are encouraged to develop a heart that is full of faith in the Lord who created all things with just a word!

A Leader Instills Hope

Leaders must hold onto the trustworthiness of God and His promises.  A leader must also point those he leads toward the same hope in God and His promises.  God is able to fulfill His promises and will bring those things about in His perfect time.

This week’s study is about how to helping others to hold onto hope in God in the midst of disappointment, in the midst of seeming fruitlessness, seeming incongruities in life and ministry.  We also must hold onto hope in the midst of our personal failures which God allows to move us toward growth in trusting in Him for everything.  Whether we see it or not, God is committed to fulfilling the Great Commission on your campus and in your city.  He is also committed to developing your character as He works through you.

May we be as Caleb and Joshua in Numbers 13-14 when they returned to Moses to give a report about the Promised Land (in response to the doubt and pessimism of the rest of the scouting party): 

Joshua the son of Nun and Caleb the son of Jephunneh, of those who had spied out the land…and they spoke to all the congregation of the sons of Israel, saying, “The land which we passed through to spy out is an exceedingly good land.  If the Lord is pleased with us, then He will bring us into this land and give it to us—a land which flows with milk and honey. Only do not rebel against the Lord; and do not fear the people of the land, for they will be our prey. Their protection has been removed from them, and the Lord is with us; do not fear them.”