{"id":828053,"date":"2024-05-15T05:00:41","date_gmt":"2024-05-15T10:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/?p=828053"},"modified":"2024-05-13T18:30:58","modified_gmt":"2024-05-13T23:30:58","slug":"one-of-the-toughest-ministry-lessons-ive-had-to-learn-and-why-i-love-having-learned-it-today","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/churchanswers.com\/blog\/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 . . . and Why I Love Having Learned It Today"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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 Think with me about some possibilities:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Not everyone who is a church member is a believer.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even Christians can be mean.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Preparing and preaching a sermon every week is hard.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ministry is sometimes filled with the grief of walking through tragedies with people.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">People you love will sometimes leave the church.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It\u2019s tough to officiate the funeral of people who apparently were not Christians.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some churches have a track record of hurting pastors.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Some pastors earn barely enough money to pay their bills (if that much).<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Sin destroys even church families. <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">I could keep listing hard lessons ministry leaders learn, but the one that comes to mind for me today might surprise you: <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">churches and ministries go on fine without us after we\u2019re gone. <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">No ministry I have left has missed a beat upon my departure.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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 <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">failure <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in this regard in at least one ministry setting is one of my biggest ministry regrets.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was not that I had led well into the future; it was that God\u2019s plan was bigger than I.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">It was that His people stepped up to the plate when needed, and they were often more forward-thinking than I was.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">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 because of me, but perhaps <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">in spite of<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> me at times.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Why is that lesson so important to me at this point in my ministry?<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"list-style-type: none;\">\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>I realize more and more just how dependent we are on the grace of God to do anything we do for Him.<\/b> None 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.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>It\u2019s more obvious than ever before that earthly recognitions are temporal.<\/b> Even if believers around the world recognized our name, we would still be replaceable. Quickly, even, in many cases.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\" aria-level=\"1\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><b>I live in the tension of wanting to give my best for God\u2019s work while not worrying about whether others recognize my best.<\/b> My goal ought to be that only the name of Jesus gets glory before, during, and after I\u2019m in my current seat of ministry.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">So, the work goes on, even beyond us, because it\u2019s God\u2019s work. That\u2019s a good lesson to learn.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"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. I wonder what most pastors would answer if you asked them this question: \u201cWhat\u2019s the toughest ministry lesson you\u2019ve had to&#8230;","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":828055,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"publish_to_discourse":"0","publish_post_category":"1","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1,183,184,175,192,177,191,14796,180,18470,194],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-828053","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-church-answers","category-communications","category-discipleship","category-grow","category-how-to","category-lead","category-mind-body-and-spirit","category-monday-wednesday-featured","category-outreach-and-evangelism","category-prayer-grow","category-preaching"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.7 - 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 Answers<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"First, a caveat: I realize this post may reveal how much I\u2019ve struggled at times with arrogance. 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