A Common Identity, Our Unique Calling

When we speak of Spiritual Gifts, we are talking about those unique gifts and talents that the Lord gives to us to use for His purpose and glory.  For some it is teaching, shepherding, and leading.  Others may be gifted in prayer, hospitality, and service.  There are many gifts, just as there are many parts of the body.  While together we represent the body, our individual gifts are like the body parts working in accordance to their gifts.  The eye doesn’t do the work of the heart, each must do it’s part:

1 Corinthians 12:12-27 (NIRV)

One Body but Many Parts

¹² There is one body, but it has many parts. But all its many parts make up one body. It is the same with Christ. ¹³ We were all baptized by one Holy Spirit. And so we are formed into one body. It didn’t matter whether we were Jews or Gentiles, slaves or free people. We were all given the same Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ So the body is not made up of just one part. It has many parts.

¹⁵ Suppose the foot says, “I am not a hand. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And suppose the ear says, “I am not an eye. So I don’t belong to the body.” By saying this, it cannot stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, how could it hear? If the whole body were an ear, how could it smell? ¹⁸ God has placed each part in the body just as he wanted it to be. ¹⁹ If all the parts were the same, how could there be a body? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts. But there is only one body.

²¹ The eye can’t say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” The head can’t say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² In fact, it is just the opposite. The parts of the body that seem to be weaker are the ones we can’t do without. ²³ The parts that we think are less important we treat with special honor. The private parts aren’t shown. But they are treated with special care. ²⁴ The parts that can be shown don’t need special care. But God has put together all the parts of the body. And he has given more honor to the parts that didn’t have any. ²⁵ In that way, the parts of the body will not take sides. All of them will take care of one another. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it. If one part is honored, every part shares in its joy.

²⁷ You are the body of Christ. Each one of you is a part of it.

What does this mean for our ministries?

Imagine what would happen in your city, if every Women’s Ministry (or Church) decided it would focus on helping the homeless.  That is a noble cause!  But, what about the orphans?  The widows?  The disabled?  What about the kids who need to hear those VBS lessons?  What about the unexpected pregnancies?  Or, the women who are in recovery?

If we all focused on just one particular group, the results for that group would be amazing.  However, the impact on the other groups would be devastating.

As ministries, when we embrace our unique calling as a collective group, we divide the load.  Many hands do make light work, but many hands also reach more people… different people… in different ways.

How do we know our calling and live it out as a ministry?

Seek the Lord – begin your search for understanding by coming to the Lord in prayer.  Ask Him to reveal to you the needs in your community, your place in the church and community, and how he would have you serve.

Speak to Your Pastor –  it is important to understand that if your ministry is underneath the authority of the church that you should be supporting the vision/calling of your church.  If your church is called to reaching the community for Christ, then your mission as a ministry is to reach women for Christ.  If your church has a heart for those who are orphaned, in foster care, etc. then so should your ministry.  If your ministry is not under the authority of the church, seek God for further clarity.

Test the Women – if you have not done it yet, have your women take a spiritual gifts test.  By identifying their individual gifting you can see how they can fit within the existing ministry or expand the reach of your ministry.

Connect with Other Leaders –  make it a point to get to know other ministry leaders in your area.  If you see that multiple ministries are already serving one group of people well, you can look at other groups that need service.  If a need presents itself in the community that is too big for one group to handle alone, partner up.

There are some churches and organizations that have the means (resources and people) to have a vision/mission/calling that has a broader casting.  That is ok!  Perhaps it is time for a NEW ministry to be apart of your church, or a new group to be served.  The point is that we are intentional about how we serve in our community by seeking the Lord and through communication between our Pastors and community leaders.

 

Ministry Volunteers

Imagine, if you will, what it would be like to not have to hunt down volunteers.

To announce a need, and immediately hands raise… sign up sheets fill up… you have more volunteers than you can even use.

What if I told you that I truly believe this can happen?  And, what if I told you that the reason it doesn’t happen is probably our own fault as leaders?

It is so easy to create a ministry that survives on the backs of those who eagerly seek us out.  The ones who come to us before we even ask, because they just know in their hearts where God has called their gifting.  It is also easy to build a ministry full of people who we know really well.  We know who has certain talents, who is dependable, and who is available.  We also know who is most likely to say yes when we ask for help.   Truth be told, those women probably make up about 10% – 20% of the women in the church.

What about the other women?  The ones who walk through the doors each Sunday, attend Bible Studies, register for women’s events… why are they not engaged?

Spiritual Gifting

The first thing we need to understand is that most likely very few of the women in the church know what their spiritual gifts are.  They may have acquired skills and talents from on the job training, education, etc.   However, those skills may not be their spiritual gifts.  These women not only don’t know what their spiritual gifts are, but they may not even understand what spiritual gifts are, how they get them, or why they get them.

As leaders of women in the church we should be encouraging all of the women in our care to explore their spiritual gifts.  There are online tests, books, and studies on this subject.  Encourage the women to identify their spiritual gifts, help them through the process if needed.

Serving The Gift

Once we have helped the women identify what their spiritual gifts are, then we need to help them find a place to engage their gift in the ministry, church, or community.  The Church Office, Ministries, Committees, and organizations are in need of people who have the gifts of Leadership, Administration.    Our Small Group, Bible Study, Sunday School, Children’s Church, and events are in need of people who have the spiritual gifts of Teaching, Shepherding.  As we plan events we need women who have the gift of Hospitality, Serving, Prayer.

These gifts may intersect with acquired skills, and some people have more than one dominant gift.   As we help the women identify their gifts, we then can find a place where that gift be used.

Train the Gift

We can not assume that just because a person’s gift has been identified that we can just send the woman off to serve without guidance.  She may feel insecure, and need support.  There may be technical training needed.  A woman may have a gift for teaching, but yet lack maturity in faith to send her off to teach a 20 week study on Revelation all on her own.  It is our job as leaders to not only identify the gift and where that gift can be used, but to also mentor and foster the development of that gift.  We must be careful not to exploit the gifts of others, we are to be encouragers.

The Women Are Many

Statistically we know that the average church has a membership that is comprised of 60-75% women.  That is a large number of women to walk through this process.  The good news is that we are not alone.

1.  Start with a single group of women at a time.  There is no need to boil the ocean all at one time.   If you are a ministry team of one, start with 4 or 5 women.  You may begin to identify other leaders who could help you as move forward.
2. Divide the load.  If you have a team of several women, start by Spiritual Gifts testing the team.  Once you have their gifts clearly identified, you can pair them up with women from the church that share a similar gifting.  Let the team member who is gifted in Hospitality mentor the women who had test results that indicated Hospitality.
3. There is no need to rush.  Identifying the gift using a Spiritual Gifts Test doesn’t take much time at all.  Coming up with a list of places in the church or community that could benefit from the list might be easy too.  However the process of fostering and developing that gift will vary from woman to woman.

If we set a goal to include Spiritual Gifts testing, engagement, and equipping as part of our ministry discipleship plan… we should never be at a need for volunteers.  We shouldn’t have to chase people down, clipboards in hand, in the church lobby.  Nor will we need to call in favors or put the already taxed few on the spot.  We will be creating an environment within the church that recognizes that every member has a role in the body.

1 Corinthians 12:12-27

Unity and Diversity in the Body

¹² Just as a body, though one, has many parts, but all its many parts form one body, so it is with Christ. ¹³ For we were all baptized by^[a] one Spirit so as to form one body—whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free—and we were all given the one Spirit to drink. ¹⁴ Even so the body is not made up of one part but of many.

¹⁵ Now if the foot should say, “Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁶ And if the ear should say, “Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,” it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. ¹⁷ If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? ¹⁸ But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be. ¹⁹ If they were all one part, where would the body be? ²⁰ As it is, there are many parts, but one body.

²¹ The eye cannot say to the hand, “I don’t need you!” And the head cannot say to the feet, “I don’t need you!” ²² On the contrary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, ²³ and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honor. And the parts that are unpresentable are treated with special modesty, ²⁴ while our presentable parts need no special treatment. But God has put the body together, giving greater honor to the parts that lacked it, ²⁵ so that there should be no division in the body, but that its parts should have equal concern for each other. ²⁶ If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.

²⁷ Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it.

I love verse 18:

 ^“But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”

If God places people in the church body, every one of them, is just as God wanted them to be.  An active part of the body, fulfilling it’s purpose.

When a body part goes unused it atrophies, which means it withers, shrinks, wastes away… it is no longer effective.

What happens to the parts of our church bodies that go unused?

Perhaps if we engaged those parts, strengthened them… the whole body would grow stronger.

Ministry Spotlight: MOPS International

 

This month, across the country and in many parts of the word, mothers of presechoolers are gathering at local churches for fellowship, support, encouragement, resources, and relationships.  An exciting facet is that Jesus is always invited too.

When my husband and I relocated to a new city, over an hour away, we didn’t know a single person here.  At that time we had an 8 year old and a 4 year old… however within just a few months I found out our third was on the way.  We were still trying to find a church home, our neighborhood didn’t have any other families with young children, and I was so very alone.   My first thoughts were:  “I need to find a MOPS group”.

I was already familiar with MOPS from my previous city and I knew that finding a local group would be a great way for me to meet people in my community that were in the same stage of life.  I also knew that MOPS groups were made up of women from various churches, which gave me an opportunity to be a part of a group while we were still searching for our home church.  For me, MOPS was a way to plug into community.

Over the last 17 years, I have watched women come to MOPS for many reasons.  What I also saw was how much MOPS became an avenue that led women and their families into the church.  MOPS Moms would sign their kids up for VBS.  The next year they were signing up as VBS volunteers.  They would trickle into family or kids events at the church, and then you would begin to see them at church on Sunday mornings.

There were some moms who ended up staying in our MOPS group, but their families would attend a church closer to their home.  Some would even start MOPS groups in their new church home.  MOPS is a blessing to both the mothers who are served and the churches in which they become part of the community.

Many communities, like our own, have MOPS groups with waiting lists because they’ve reached maximum capacity.  MOPS is one of those ministries, that in my opinion, you simply can’t have enough of.  Staring a MOPS group is an easy process that begins with the desire to serve our mothers with preschool aged children.

If you are interested in starting up a MOPS group in your church and community, visit their website or speak with another local MOPS leader.

 

 

Prayer & Worship, Training Event Recap

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The Women’s Ministry Council had another great training event on the value and importance of integrating Prayer and Worship into your Women’s Ministry Programs.

We would like to thank P&R Publishing for their donation of Susan Hunt’s Prayers of the Bible Study and Leader Guide, for each woman in attendance.  Additional thanks to The Good Book Company, who donated copies of 5 Things to Pray for Your Church.  Table Talk Magazine (from Lingonier Ministries) also donated copies of their back issue on Worship Matters.  Moody Publishing provided our women with sample chapters from two newly released studies I am Found and An Unexplainable Life.  Crossway sent our women sample chapters from their book Praying Together .   Talk about a great group of resources for our leaders and their teams!

If your Women’s Ministry is looking to partner up with some ministries, for the first time at a council meeting we highlighted two ministries that are doing great things in the world!  The first is The Freedom Challenge, which works to free women and children from sex trafficking, sex slave industry.  If you have women in your ministry who love physical challenges and have a heart for these women, be sure to look into this great ministry.    However, if your women have a heart for children in impoverished nations… One Child Matters is a ministry  that opens up the doors to sponsor children, have missions trips to their development centers, and impacts the communities abroad as well as in our church.    Both of these ministries were featured in our July and August Ministry Spotlight articles.

Now for the meeting recap, in case you missed it….

Worship Matters

Our first speaker, Sheila Thompson, addressed the importance of including Worship as an intentional part of our Women’s Ministry events.  While worship can be defined in various ways, Sheila (who has a music background and credentials) talked specifically about the musical forms of worship.  Highlighting scriptures that reference of song and musical instruments as worship, Sheila was able to provide us with the biblical foundations of this style of worship.  However, Sheila dug deeper and covered the physical, mental, and health benefits of singing.  The Lord is so good to give us an act of worship that helps us in not only spiritual ways… but our bodies and minds.

Sheila shared how in the scriptures (and it is referenced over 63 times) that music is a posture of worship to the Lord, a weapon in battle, invites the power of the Lord into our lives as we praise, and that the Lord even sings over us (Zephaniah 3:17).  We discovered how many of our worship songs are rooted and sometimes directly quoted from the scriptures to provide us strength, encouragement, hope, and trust in the Lord … as well as, songs of praise and thanksgiving.

In our Women’s Ministry events, Sheila pointed out that by starting out our events with a few praise songs… we are setting the tone for the event.  Women are able to surrender and let go of all the junk they came in with.  They are preparing their hearts and minds to receive the word the Lord has for them.  They are in a better mood going out than they were coming in.  These songs stick with us as we move through the day, and we find ourselves returning to them.  Additionally, there are times where despite the troubles and the trials we are going through, we can choose to sing in victory!

Integrating worship into your Women’s Ministry program can start with simple steps… such as including Worship songs as part of your Women’s Brunch or even at the beginning of your small group sessions with a song or two.  One of our council women spoke up and shared how they conclude their meetings with a song, so the women leave on a note of praise & hope.  As a Women’s Ministry Leader, you can take this even a step further by planning Christian Concerts into your calendar by either attending local concert events OR by hosting a night of Worship at your own church.

Praying Matters

Our second speaker, Gena McCown, addressed the importance of having a posture of prayer and fostering a solid prayer life among the women in our churches.  Gena began by pointing out the relationship between singing and praying.  As we look to the Psalms and other areas of scriptures we see many prayers were lifted up by the body in the form of song.  There are numerous references in the scriptures about our call to prayer, why we pray, what we pray for, and how we are to pray. 

The call to pray is marked as something we are to do continuously, without ceasing.  Prayer is not an occasional thing we do when we need something from God, but a regular habit.  As ministry leaders we model this posture of prayer for the women in our churches, but we are also put into a position to teach people how to pray.  Some are gifted by the Holy Spirit with the gift of prayer, others need to be helped along the way.  Even the disciples asked Jesus, “How do we pray?”.

The scriptures tell us that men ought always to pray (Luke 18:1) with thanksgiving (Colossians 4:2), without fear or doubting (1 Timothy 2:8) and calling on Him in truth (Psalm 145:18).    We pray to seek Him, in our distress, to seek provision, for healing, in confession, seeking forgiveness, and in thanksgiving and praise.  It is part of our daily habit, without ceasing (Luke 6:12, Colossians 4:2, 1 Thessalonians 5:17).

How do we pray?  We can use the scriptures, such as The Lord’s Prayer or the Psalms.  We can allow the scriptures to inspire our personal prayers, use our own words voiced outloud or written down, and we pray even when we can’t find the words.  Romans 8:26 reminds us that through the Holy Spirit the Lord hears our groaning.  We are praying in our lengthy conversation with the Lord, or when we simply cry out “Oh, God!”.

As leaders we model prayer when we use it at the start, ending, or even in the midst of our events and small group studies.  We model it when we stop what we are doing to pray for someone on the spot vs. telling them we will pray for them later and adding it to our list.  We pray and share those prayers within notes of encouragements, a quick text that says the Lord put you on my heart today and I wanted you to know I was praying for you, and when we specifically ask people how we can pray for them. 

We foster prayer life among our women, when they hear our prayers.  When we start off our leadership meetings praying for the church leaders and our communities.  We set the example, but we also teach.  Include a small group on how to pray, or invite one of your prayer warrior women to lead a prayer ministry in your church.  Have a workshop series on different prayer methods and habits, invite a speaker for your next brunch that will guide your women to a posture of prayer.    As it becomes a more common practice in your Women’s Ministry leadership team, it will spread to the women in the church, and into our communities.

We must also be willing to share our testimony on prayers, so that women not only understand how we pray… but how the Lord responds to those prayers.  We share our answered prayers, praising God.  We share our unanswered prayers, trusting God.  We share the prayers that were not answered how we expected or hoped, acknowledging His ways being better than our own. 

Finally, it is important to create an environment of trust and authenticity among the women.  As we share our prayer requests, they begin to see that we as leaders have struggles to.  We have unanswered prayers, we seek His will and favor, we pray without ceasing for our prodigals to return… our husbands to find Jesus… our addictions to be healed… and our good news too!  In our vulnerability, they will find authenticity… and then our anonymous prayer requests will begin to disappear and a community of sisters walking in faith, praying for one another will begin to form.

A Heart of Worship

We are excited this weekend to have a new speaker at one of events.  Sheila Thomas is going to be sharing with our local leaders about the importance of having worship as part of our Women’s Ministry events.

Do you put much thought, as a Women’s Ministry Leader about incorporating worship into your events?  Whether you are choosing a formal worship event, that is all about singing songs of praise and thanksgiving, or having a few minutes dedicated to opening an event in worship… here are a few quick thoughts to consider.

Events tend to be a place where we feel very comfortable inviting guests.  These guests may not be familiar with old hymnals, your church’s go-to song list, or even what is being played on local Christian stations.  Therefore:

• Look for songs that are easy and do not have complex melodies that are hard to follow.
• Select songs that use more common vocab words vs. “Christianese”, so that our guests understand what it is they are singing.
• Print out the lyrics or have the lyrics displayed on a projection screen for those who are unfamiliar, never assume people have memorized the lyrics to a common song or can follow along.
• Even though women do tend to naturally sing at a higher octave than men, consider the untrained voice may have difficulty with high notes and use them sparingly.
• Consider the theme of your event, the emotion you want to evoke from the women, and select songs that fit the theme or desired response well.
• Don’t be afraid to bring in a male worship leader for a women’s event.
• If your church worship team is taxed for time already, consider using someone from the body who has this gift but can’t commit to the regular schedule of the worship team.  There may also be someone from your youth group that could lead worship.
• Contact local Christian Colleges with music programs for potential worship leaders.   Many of these colleges require volunteer hours of their students, and leading worship may count.  This is a win for the student, to gain more hours.  It’s a win for the ministry too, as it helps offset budget concerns.  Make sure to ask the college if you are allowed to compensate the student for travel time/expenses or give a monetary thank you gift even though they are volunteering.
• Consider balance in the planning stages regarding how much time you want to allot for worship songs, where in the course of the program do you want to utilize them (beginning, throughout, ending).

Many thanks to Ligonier Ministries and their magazine “Table Talk“, for gifting the women in attendance this weekend a copy of their back issue “Worship Matters“.  It is a great addition to our speakers thoughts on why we need to incorporate worship in to our programs.  It’s a valuable resource on a beautiful topic.

Small Group Series #4- When We Meet

By Gena McCown. Co-Founder Women’s Ministry Council

We have plowed through some length portions for this series, and now that we have taken care of the behind the scenes topics… let’s move to the front side of things.  We can have all of the prep work in check and still fail at small groups because we can’t control the meeting itself.  Now, I am going to admit that no matter how much you try a meeting can get away from you.  None of us are perfect, but the point I am going to focus on is what you need to happen MOST of the time.  Then when there is an occasional slip up, you will be forgiven.

Let’s cover some basic points that we should ALL be doing, then we’ll move on to the things where we have some options.

• Preview the Material – do not going into each meeting blind.  Either watch the video and go through the workbook earlier in the day (or week), or even consider going through the whole thing before the study begins.  You will have a clearer idea of how long the material is going to take to cover, if you think you are going to need more time for discussion.
• If you are teaching expository studies yourself, you should be preparing throughout the week, not a last minute hurrah before study starts.
• Your group should be bathed in prayer, as anything we do that draws people closer to God the enemy is going to work to stop.  I always pray for obstacles to be removed from the path of the women to the study each week.
• Set a realistic expectation on how long the study should last, and stick to that timeframe.  Occasionally conversation may take you over that timeframe, but make that the exception not the rule.
• If a study is 8 weeks long, I always recommend telling people to plan for 9-10 weeks.  Inevitably something will happen that will disrupt the schedule. If everything goes according to plan use that last meeting as a conversation night to recap the study, make up date for anyone who missed a segment from the video, service project night, or even a fellowship night out on the town.
• If you are meeting at a local coffee shop either schedule extra time into your meeting for ordering food/coffee…. or remind your attendees to arrive early to place their orders.
• If you are meeting at the church or host home, make arrangements for any snacks/refreshments for the evening.  You do not always need to provide refreshments, but if you do put together a volunteer sign up sheet for the first meeting.

RUNNING THE MEETING:

• Start on Time – be sure to show up a few minutes early to set up your videos or other things needed for that nights study.  You should be ready to go on time, and arriving early gives you time to deal with any technical issues.
• Open in Prayer – you can choose to do a general opening prayer, allow people to make prayer requests, or take turns praying.  It is not uncommon for prayer time in small groups to take a long time if we are not careful.  I have tried a few methods each working effectively for different groups.  1) Ask the women to think of their prayer requests while praying a general prayer, asking God to listen to the prayers on their hearts.  2) Ask the women to submit their prayer requests to you via email/text prior to the meeting, then you can not only list them in brevity as you pray but also provide a printed list for the members to take home & pray over during the week.  3) Allow each woman to verbally make her prayer request before or during the prayer, but set a limit for 1 min. per person.  Establish this at the start of the 1st meeting, and remind the women they are free to ask questions or give additional prayers and support when the meeting is over.
• Establish the “House Rules” at the first meeting, which will include start and finish times, how prayer requests are being handled, reminding the women that what is said in small group stays in small group, etc.  Then in the 2nd meeting give a quick recap.  No need to repeat at every study night.  Revisit if new members join the group.
• Watch the Video/Teach the Lesson – if you are watching a video, you know exactly how much time it will take (it is usually printed in the jacket sleeve of the DVD).  If you are teaching the materials, watch the clock to ensure you leave time for discussion.
• Prompt the discussions, being mindful to not take over the time talking yourself (which can happen with teachers, ha!) or that others in the group do not monopolize the discussion time.  Ask specific people questions, make eye contact to feel out if someone has something to offer, and help guide the conversation along.
• Close in Prayer – In the closing prayer I like to include asking for protection over our church, the women in attendance, and those who didn’t make it for that evening.

In between study group meetings, I like to send email reminders if there is something the women need to do before we meet up again.  You can also use this email to remind the snack volunteers, do the assigned “homework”, any immediate prayer requests that can’t wait until the next group meeting, church announcements that might be important, etc.

So what makes the small group “effective”, since that sounds like any old meeting?  Being intentional.  I’ve been to many a meeting in the corporate world, spending 30+ minutes discussing something that could have been said in an email.  I’ve sat in small groups where so much time was spent talk about our prayers, that by the time we got to actually say them… we used up half of our meeting time.  I’ve led meetings where technical delays caused us to run behind, and I learned the hard way that I needed to arrive extra early.

What makes them effective is that everything goes so smoothly there is nothing to complain about, nothing to improve, and our goals are met.  It’s effective because it wasn’t defective.

When your small group meetings go awry, and are not effective it will be quite evident.  Word will get back to you that group thinks you are disorganized or always behind.  You will see your number of attendees drops, your regulars stop coming, or that you no longer get anyone signing up for your group.  You will see that more time is spent praying and talking than studying and you can’t finish in your allotted number of weeks.  You will run out of time, members, interest, and find yourself questioning “why do I even bother”.

If you are meeting your goals, if your group members stay put, if your group is growing in number, if your group is growing in their walk…. then you are running an effective meeting.

The final installment in this series will address some great questions that were emailed in about this topic, and will be posted on July 5th.  If you have a question and did not submit it yet, pop over to our series intro and submit your question now!

Wednesday Devotion: Serving with Knowledge

Serving with Knowledge, Gena McCown

Proverbs 1:1-7

The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:
² For learning what wisdom and discipline are;
for understanding insightful sayings;
³ for receiving wise instruction
in righteousness, justice, and integrity;
⁴ for teaching shrewdness to the inexperienced,^[a]
knowledge and discretion to a young man—
⁵ a wise man will listen and increase his learning,
and a discerning man will obtain guidance—
⁶ for understanding a proverb or a parable,^[b]
the words of the wise, and their riddles.

⁷ The fear of the Lord
is the beginning of knowledge;
fools despise wisdom and discipline.

“For Christian leaders, this truth goes much deeper: to be effective in your actions of leadership, you must first and foremost have a personal and in-depth knowledge of God and His Word.  Your knowledge of His truth is more important than anything else in your preparation.”  ~ Jeff McMaster

When we step up into leadership, we are taking on an awesome responsibility.  People are going to look to us for answers, but we are also going to be watched by our critics.  It is important for Christian Leaders to have knowledge about a few key elements.  Christian leaders need to have knowledge about communication with people, knowledge of requirements of their position, and most importantly the knowledge of the Lord.

To know God’s will for the ministry you serve on, or for your role as leader, we must begin first in His Word.  We meditate on the scriptures so that we know more of God, we also look at how those scriptures address the calling God put on our life.  Learning from the scriptures is not a one time event, but a life long pursuit of studying to gain further knowledge.

As we come to a deeper knowledge of His Word, we will begin to see how the great leaders of Bible history are described.  We can learn from their successes and mistakes to shape the leader we are going to become.  By continually learning, we are continually being refined in our role as leader.  As the love of the Lord is revealed in the scriptures we learn more about how we should treat our brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as those who are our enemies.

Additionally, the more we know about the scriptures will shape our integrity as a leader.  We learn that we do not need to have all the answers, or be perfect.  Knowledge is freedom, because it reminds us that we are still a work in progress that is being perfected over time.  Our knowledge will help others trust us.  We are also put into a position to witness to people just through the way we live our day to day lives.

There are many great books out there on leadership skills and qualities.  There are books on how to run an effective ministry, plan a retreat, and fundraise.  We have been gifted resources all over the internet to help us learn more about the on the job skills required of being a ministry leader.

The best book to start in is, The Bible.    Be a student of The Word.  This doesn’t mean that you have to memorize every scripture in the Old and New Testament, but rather you have a familiarity with the scriptures.  This familiarity is what will help you when someone comes to you for advice or information, because even if you don’t know the appropriate scriptures off the top of your head… you know where to begin your search.  Knowing the scriptures will also help you identify sin in your life, or errors you may be making as leader.

There was a short time in my leadership history that wasn’t so pretty.  I had allowed myself to get caught up in gossip, but I was unable to recognize it as such.  The context of the conversations didn’t seem like gossip, nothing being said was untrue, and we were all serving together.  I was reading the scriptures one night, and there it was in flashing neon lights.  My sin was revealed in His Word.  Once I was able to see it, I was able to address it.   The scriptures not only showed my sin, but I was also directed on how to address it.

I would encourage you add to your knowledge bank by beginning to look through the scriptures for leadership qualities, and weigh yourself against them.  Where can you improve, pray for discernment, and pray that the Holy Spirit will guide you.  Pray also that the Lord would keep this knowledge rooted in a spirit to serve others.  Otherwise we risk falling into pride, or becoming academic and sacrificing relationship for more knowledge.

Pray for God to reveal mentors or accountability partners that can help you walk through your journey as a leader.

Wednesday Devotion: Serving With Passion

Serving with Passion, Laura Masoner

I grew up hearing that God is love, but I never heard the word “passion” when describing God or His character.  The description of God’s passion toward us is found all over scripture, a prime example being the Song of Solomon. If you’ve spent any time in Psalms, you can’t miss David’s passion for God.  I love where Psalm 42:1 says: “As the deer pants for the water brook so my soul longs after thee”.  I can sense the love, passion, and longing that David feels toward God.  Through trials and triumph, David loves and longs for the abiding presence of our creator, and it pours out of him like a bride gushing over her groom.  The bible itself is the greatest love story in existence, no one can deny the unconditional love and the lengths to which He goes to draw us near and lavish us with His love.  But the bible is more than a mere love story, is pure passion from cover to cover.

 

We are only able to love because He first loved us.  Not only does he love us, He is passionate about us.  As a jealous God, His godly jealousy is also a display of His passion for us.  He is passionate that we remove idols from our lives that keep us in bondage to sin and rob us of the freedom He has for us.  It is not self-seeking, God knows the pain and loss we will suffer if we choose sin over Him.  God has a passion for intimacy with His children, and true intimacy between God and his children occurs when we pursue Him with an undivided heart.

 

When I decided to fully devote myself to Christ and die to self, the Holy Spirit ignited my passion toward Him.  Not only am I passionate about Him, I am passionate about my calling and purpose.  He wants us to serve Him out of our passion for Him, not out of a feeling of obligation.  We are to have an eternal perspective that helps to develop the drive to exchange the things of this life for the things God calls us to endure.  The apostle Paul knew this all too well.

 

Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.

2 Corinthians 4:16-18

 

As leaders we must have an eternal perspective from which we view the world.  We also need passion and purpose, although it is essential that we are passionate about the right things.  We need to place a high value in people rather than possessions or positions because we serve a God who is all about relationship.  As leaders we must be invested in people, not in numbers, fancy websites, or lavish brunches which are mere tools.  That is not to say that events and websites have little value because they are great tools to disseminate information and draw women together.  The point is that relationships are the point, and we must be careful not to turn ourselves into little “Martha’s” and begin to extend our focus in the wrong direction.

 

An effective leader should have passion about their ministry.  That’s not to say that 100% of the time we are positively effusive about leading women’s ministry, but if we ever find ourselves in a place where we’ve lost passion for the ministry, we need to inquire about it at the throne.  We could be taking the ministry in a wrong direction, or God may be calling us to step out of leadership so He can raise up a new leader.  It can be evident to the team you are leading if you lack passion for the position to which you are assigned, and you will notice the enthusiasm of the team begin to wane. 

 

 Paul was passionate about Christ, his ministry, and people.  Paul was actively and heavily invested in the people he served and his fellow servants in the ministry. This is evident all over scripture, it is seen in his greetings at the beginning of each of his letters.  He models a sacrificial leadership fueled by passion and bound by love.  He gives thanks, encourages, and prays for those to whom God has entrusted to him.  Read over the first few verses of a couple of Paul’s letters, such as Romans and Ephesians, and as you pour over the beginnings of his letters, prayerfully consider what made him a passionate leader.  This week, let us pray over our ministries and our leadership, that we will honor Christ courageously and passionately in the path He has set before us.