Many years ago…maybe 20??…I read a book titled Liberating Your Ministry from the Success Syndrome by Kent and Barbara Hughes. At the risk of sounding overly dramatic, it kept me in the ministry. In fact, it may have saved more than my ministry. Let me explain:
Many times in the ministry, we get caught in the trap of comparing our ministry and the results with others’ ministries and their results. As human beings, we naturally want to see and count results. When we mow the grass, we like to look behind us and see what we’ve accomplished. When we are working on a stack of paperwork, we like to to see after a period of time that the “to do” pile has shrunk and the “done” pile has grown. But ministry results aren’t always apparent. We can easily say, “we’ll see the results in eternity”, but that is a statement easier to say than to believe. Many of us have nightmares because Noah preached for 120 years while building the ark and the only people saved were his own family. Having a saved family and building the ark is great, but come on…120 years??
The premise of the book is basically this: it is more important who you are, than what you do. Don’t get me wrong, the authors are not advocating that we all just coast along and forget about witnessing and discipling, but they are reminding us that all the results are of the Lord.
Some of us on our staff have been asked to read this book and I am glad that I have been given a reason to pull it off the shelf and re-read it. May I ask you to find it and read it? I know you could probably get it on Amazon very cheaply but I believe it would be money well spent no mater how much you had to pay. And whether or not you are in “vocational” minsitry, it could be an encouragement to you, too.
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This book sounds like a good one so I think I’m gonna go on over to amazon and order me a copy! Thanks for posting some info about, can’t wait to read it!