{"id":22844,"date":"2024-06-04T05:00:33","date_gmt":"2024-06-04T09:00:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/?post_type=resource&#038;p=22844"},"modified":"2024-06-03T15:34:15","modified_gmt":"2024-06-03T19:34:15","slug":"one-of-the-toughest-ministry-lessons-ive-had-to-learn-and-why-i-love-having-learned-it-today","status":"publish","type":"resource","link":"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/one-of-the-toughest-ministry-lessons-ive-had-to-learn-and-why-i-love-having-learned-it-today\/","title":{"rendered":"One of the Toughest Ministry Lessons I\u2019ve Had to Learn &#8230; and Why I Love Having Learned It Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>First, a caveat: I realize this post may reveal how much I\u2019ve struggled at times with arrogance. Nevertheless, I hope it ultimately shows growth in my heart and challenges you at the same time.<\/p>\n<p>I wonder what most pastors would answer if you asked them this question: \u201cWhat\u2019s the toughest ministry lesson you\u2019ve had to learn?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Think with me about some possibilities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none\">\n<ul>\n<li>Not everyone who is a church member is a believer.<\/li>\n<li>Even Christians can be mean.<\/li>\n<li>Preparing and preaching a sermon every week is hard.<\/li>\n<li>Ministry is sometimes filled with the grief of walking through tragedies with people.<\/li>\n<li>People you love will sometimes leave the church.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s tough officiating the funerals of people who apparently were not Christians.<\/li>\n<li>Some churches have a track record of hurting pastors.<\/li>\n<li>Some pastors earn barely enough money to pay their bills (if that much).<\/li>\n<li>Sin destroys even church families.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>I could keep listing hard lessons ministry leaders learn, but the one that comes to mind for me today might surprise you:\u00a0<em>Churches and ministries go on fine without us after we\u2019re gone.\u00a0<\/em>No ministry I have left has missed a beat upon my departure.<\/p>\n<p>I wish I could say that\u2019s because I did such a good job in my various roles that I set everything up for success\u2014which ought to be the goal of good leadership\u2014but that\u2019s simply not the case. I too seldom thought beyond the next responsibility, the next event, the next semester. In fact, my\u00a0<em>failure\u00a0<\/em>in this regard in at least one ministry setting is one of my biggest ministry regrets.<\/p>\n<p>It was not that I had led well into the future; it was that God\u2019s plan was bigger than me.<\/p>\n<p>God\u2019s people stepped up to the plate when needed, and they were often more forward-thinking than I was.<\/p>\n<p>It was that God was reminding me that ministry is a gift to me\u2014and not the other way around. The work went on not <em>because<\/em> of me, but perhaps\u00a0<em>in spite of<\/em>\u00a0me at times.<\/p>\n<p>Why is that lesson so important to me at this point in my ministry?<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>I realize more and more just how dependent we are on the grace of God to do anything we do for Him.\u00a0None of us is as strong a leader as we think, and not one of us is effective in ministry apart from His power. The work goes on beyond us because the work was never about us in the first place.<\/li>\n<li>It\u2019s more obvious than ever before that earthly recognitions are temporal.\u00a0Even if believers around the world recognized our name, we would still be replaceable. Quickly, even, in many cases.<\/li>\n<li>I live in the tension of wanting to give my best for God\u2019s work while not worrying about whether others recognize my best.\u00a0My goal ought to be that only the name of Jesus gets glory before, during and after I\u2019m in my current seat of ministry.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>So, the work goes on, even beyond us, because it\u2019s God\u2019s work. That\u2019s a good lesson to learn.<\/p>\n<p><em>This post originally appeared at <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/one-of-the-toughest-ministry-lessons-ive-had-to-learn-and-why-i-love-having-learned-it-today\/\"><em>Church Answers.<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>First, a caveat: I realize this post may reveal how much I\u2019ve struggled at times with &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/one-of-the-toughest-ministry-lessons-ive-had-to-learn-and-why-i-love-having-learned-it-today\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">One of the Toughest Ministry Lessons I\u2019ve Had to Learn &#8230; and Why I Love Having Learned It Today<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":22845,"template":"","meta":{"_oasis_is_in_workflow":0,"_oasis_original":0,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"tags":[],"channels":[],"topics":[53],"languages":[],"class_list":["post-22844","resource","type-resource","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","resource_type-article","topics-replanting"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v24.0 (Yoast SEO v24.0) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>One of the Toughest Ministry Lessons I\u2019ve Had to Learn ... and Why I Love Having Learned It Today - Church Replanting<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.namb.net\/church-replanting\/resource\/one-of-the-toughest-ministry-lessons-ive-had-to-learn-and-why-i-love-having-learned-it-today\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"One of the Toughest Ministry Lessons I\u2019ve Had to Learn ... and Why I Love Having Learned It Today\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"First, a caveat: I realize this post may reveal how much I\u2019ve struggled at times with &hellip; 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