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Devotional Thoughts for Leaders: How to Multiply Your Ministry

Ministry can be tiring, especially when you feel like you have to do everything yourself. Kingdom work never stops. There are always more people to care for and more opportunities to explore. Wouldn’t it be great if you could multiply your ministry without having to do something extra? It’s possible if you make up you mind to never minister alone.

Moses learned the hard way that it is “not good” to lead alone (Exodus 18:13-26). Elijah shared his ministry with Elisha (1 Kings 19:19-21, 2 Kings 2). Jesus choose twelve disciples, walked through life with them, trained them, sent them out, and held them accountable (Mark 6:7-21, 30). Paul continued this practice and always surrounded himself with a long list of assistants and associates, Timothy being the most notable (Colossians 1:1, 4:7-17).

Christian leaders who want to make a big impact on the world need to make one small decision: to never minister alone. Do as much ministry as you possible can with other people who are willing to learn. Not just for the sake of accountability, but for the sake of mentoring. The church is in desperate need of more leaders, so don’t waste your leadership experiences on yourself; share them with someone. This isn’t just for pastor and church staff. This is for anyone who is working to make a difference in the world for the sake of Jesus Christ and the Gospel. In the short term, the people that you bring along with you will encourage and challenge you. In the long term, they will multiply your efforts and continue making an impact when you are gone.

Here are 3 question to help you multiply your ministry:

1. Who can I invite to join me in ministry?
2. What do I do that I can share with someone else?
3. How can I help other people catch a vision for ministry mentoring?

Five Reasons Churches Struggle with Conflict

It is sad to say, but church and conflict seem to go together like peanut butter and jelly. The long running joke is that churches split over anything and everything, including something as insignificant to God’s kingdom as the color of the carpet. But have you ever stopped to wonder why? Here are five reasons why churches struggle with conflict:

1. Church members and leaders aren’t equipped to resolve conflict in a healthy way.

Disagreements are inevitable in ministry, but seminaries provide little training on conflict resolution. Since church leaders are not equipped to handle conflict effectively they don’t teach church members those skills. The conflict resolution skills that do exist in the church are either unintentionally brought in from some outside experience or sought out after failed attempts at handling conflict successfully.

2. Church members and leaders would rather ignore conflict than acknowledge it.

Everyone has their own personality. When it comes to conflict, many people would rather pretend that conflict doesn’t exist rather than do something about it. This approach might seem easy at first, but it always seems to make things more difficult and destructive in the end.

3. Church members and leaders bring years of unresolved conflict along with them.

The two previous reasons are compounded by the way church members and leaders move from church to church. When a new pastor or a new church member joins a church, they can bring their unresolved struggles. When these old struggles are layered over and combined with new conflicts it can be difficult to find solid emotional ground.

4. Poor leadership development and placement systems allow immature people positions of power.

Churches that have lost people through poorly managed conflict can be eager for “new recruits.” If these new members are talented or charming they can be thrust into positions of authority or influence without the proper preparation. The same can be true for members who have been around for a long time. These “veterans” can be given similar positions in the church with little thought to their spiritual maturity, giftedness, or character. Both scenarios perpetuate conflict by placing people who are unable to handle conflict in a situation where they are sure to encounter it.

5. Satan is the father of deception and he works to sow conflict in the church.

From the very beginning, Satan has been working to divide and conquer. The half-truths that he told in the Garden of Eden left Adam and Eve in conflict with God and with each other. Satan is still alive and well, sowing dissension and division among God’s people. If you look carefully, you can find dishonesty, distrust, and pride at the root of most church conflicts today.

The Gospel is a message of reconciliation. It tells us how sinful humans can be reconciled to a holy God and through that restored relationship, reconciled to each other. As we train new leaders and equip more people to follow Jesus Christ, we need to help them acknowledge conflict in the church and resolve it effectively. We also need to be aware of Satan’s corrupting influence.

What about you? Have you noticed any others reasons why churches struggle with conflict?

Do We Really Need Mediation?

In a chapter calling pastors to the ministry of mediation, Alfred Poirier ties the ministry of mediation to Jesus Christ and the Gospel like this:

“From Genesis 3 to Revelation 21, the Bible is a book abounding with conflict – man against God, God against man, man against man. But the Bible is more. The Bible is God’s special revelation of his Reconciler. It is the good news of God’s promise of a Mediator – the coming Prince of Peace. The story of redemption is a story of reconciliation, and that reconciliation is all about assisted peacemaking. Redemption calls for divine action; we cannot save or reconcile ourselves. Reconciliation demands another. Reconciliation requires the Messiah as Mediator.

-Alfred Poirier, The Peace Making Pastor: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Church Conflict (Grand Rapids: Baker Book, 2006), 185.

Devotional Thoughts for Leaders: There’s Hope for a Withering Ministry

Ministry is similar to gardening in that both activities require a lot of time and energy before anything develops. It takes patience and dedication to prepare the soil, sow the seed, and water and fertilize the seed so it has a chance to grow. The Apostle Paul made this comparison while warning the Corinthian believers against jealousy and strife. As “fellow workers” in God’s field, we are responsible to plant and water as we have opportunity, even if we aren’t the ones who ultimately produce the harvest (1 Corinthians 3:5-9).

Summer can be a tough for churches, like it is in the garden. Most churches experience a dip in attendance, participation, and even giving as members celebrate holidays and travel with their families over the summer break. Numbers of guests may dry up as they try to make the most of summer’s long days and warm weather. In ministry, like gardening, water is especially important during the hot, dry summer months. In ministry, watering could mean investing in a budding ministry relationship or it could involve some extra planning and preparation for the upcoming fall. In addition, watering should include prayer remember that it is God, Himself, who brings the harvest.

What will you do this week to “water” your ministry?

What will you do this week to invite God’s provision and blessing?

Why We Need a Fresh Encounter with God

“The problem today is that churches are striving to win their world to Christ without having first been revived themselves. The result is spiritually comatose church members going door-to-door asking unbelievers if they would like to have what they have – spiritual anemia! Such an invitation is patently unappealing. It explains the high dropout rate in churches today. Newborn spiritual babes are being placed into churches filled with spiritually lethargic people. It is a recipe for disillusionment.”

–Henry and Richard Blackaby, with Claude King, Fresh Encounter: God’s Pattern for Spiritual Awakening (Nashville: B & H Publishing Group, 2009), 18

Devotional Thoughts for Leaders: The Danger of Success

Success can be gratifying, but it can also be dangerous. When things come together in life or in ministry, it makes you want to surge ahead and tackle the next challenge. Momentum is an important part of success, but it can give you a false sense of independence from God and push you beyond His guidance and direction.

Take the Israelites for example in Joshua chapter 9. Their victories over Jericho and Ai had “the kings beyond the Jordan” on the defensive. The Gibeonites, however, went on the offensive by pretending to be people from a far away country. They gathered worn out supplies, put on worn out clothes, and came to Joshua and the men of Israel asking for peace. The Israelites asked the right questions, but they didn’t ask the right people. They were so flattered by the Gibeonite’s ruse they made covenant with them without even asking God for his advice (9:14). In other words, Joshua and the Israelite leaders rushed ahead of God and made a major decision without consulting God and it cost them. When the truth came out, the people of Israel grumbled against their leaders (9:18). When the Gibeonites were attacked, the Israelites were forced to defend a people they had been commanded to destroy.

How have you seen this situation play out in your life or ministry?

What decisions are you, your church, or organization facing in the next week, month, or year?

Have you taken time to seek the Lord’s counsel on these issues?

Introducing a New Series: Devotional Thoughts for Leaders

How do you define leadership?

Oswald Sanders may have been the first Christian writer to define leadership as influence. In his classic book first published in 1967, Sanders writes, “Leadership is influence, the ability of one person to influence others to follow his or her lead” (Spiritual Leadership, 27). Decades latter, internationally recognized leadership guru, John Maxwell, continues to define leadership as “one life influencing another.”

According to this definition, we all have some capacity and responsibility as leaders. So what kind of influence do you have on those around you? Are you using your influence to lead others to follow Jesus Christ more closely?

That is what this website is about and that is why I’m introducing a new Monday blog series on leadership called Devotional Thoughts for Leaders. This series will offer short (250 words or less), bible-based devotional thoughts to empower and encourage Christian leaders and leadership teams. Each installment can be used by individual leaders for their own personal development or shared with others in a mentoring relationship, staff meeting, or leadership retreat. Please feel free to adapt them, expand them, and share them with others in your circle of influence.

If you find any these posts particularly helpful, I’d love to hear about! You can use the comment box at the end of each post share your feedback. You can also contact me at jdcouture76@gmail.com or @jeremydcouture.

Hope in the Face of Death

Recently, I walked into a dimly lit nursing home room to say goodbye to an elderly friend for the last time. He wasn’t able to vocalize any words with his lips, but his eyes spoke volumes. As we sat together in the faint glow of the television, I held his hand and noticed the fragile rhythm of the pulse in his wrist.

Before I left I prayed with him and realized that things were not as dark as they might have been. A few years earlier, he had opened up to me about one of his greatest fears: he was afraid to die. He had been in church and around church for a long time. He had made a profession of faith and was baptized years earlier, but he still wondered if he was really saved. This lack of assurance haunted him as he thought about the end of his life.

As we talked, I shared what I hoped would be helpful words from 1 John 5:1-4. One of the reasons The Apostle John wrote this letter was to encourage believers who were tentative and insecure about where they stood with God. In order to find assurance, John asked them look at the effects of their faith. According to these verses, saving faith produces three loves: a love for God and His Son, Jesus Christ, a love for others, and a love for keeping God’s commandments. Love is one of those things you can’t fake. Sooner or later, your true feelings will surface. One of the ways God’s children can be identified is by the way they love.

As my friend looked at this life from this perspective he gained a newfound confidence in his relationship with God and changed his perspective on death. Not just because he had rediscovered his feelings, but because he was able to see God’s transforming work in his life, in spite of his sin. His faith had produced love.

Maybe you or someone you know is struggling with your salvation. You’ve come to the end of yourself and ask God to forgive you based on Jesus Christ and His death on the cross. You’ve made a declaration of faith and maybe even shared it your family, friends, or church. But somehow, you just don’t feel confident in your decision, especially when you think about death. If that is you, or someone you know ask yourself the following questions: what is your faith producing? Are you growing in your love for Jesus? Do you treat other people with love? Do you love God’s Word? These are just three indications that you have been adopted into God’s family and sealed your fate for eternity.

Why Does the Church Exist?

“Why did God create and choose this institution called ‘church’? What is this gift that God has given us, and how does it impact our lives? The church is one of the few organizations in the world that does not exist for the benefit of its members. The church exists because God in his infinite wisdom and infinite mercy, chose the church as his instrument to make known his manifold wisdom in the world.”

Ed Stetzer and David Putman, Breaking the Missional Code: Your Chuch Can Become a Missionary in Your Community (Nashville: Broadman and Holman Publishers, 2006), 200.

Why Do I Have to Wait?

Waiting seems like a waste of time. It makes us feel unproductive, ineffective, and sometimes worthless. It wears us down. Like treading water, waiting dulls our senses and saps our strength.

No one looks forward to waiting. We pay large amounts of money and go to great lengths to avoid it. We judge our satisfaction of products, places, and even people by how long they make us wait. Patience may be virtue, but only in a bygone era.

Recently, I realized that waiting is a major theme in the Bible. Many of the major characters in the Bible had to wait for days years, and even decades for their situations to be resolved and God’s promises to be fulfilled.

Noah waited for over a year on a boat filled with wild animals for the flood waters to recede (Genesis 7:6, 8:13-14).

Abraham and Sarah waited for 25 years for the birth of their special son, Isaac (Genesis 12:4, 21:5).

Joseph waited for two full years for the chief cupbearer to remember him and get him out of jail (Genesis 41:1).

Moses watched his father-in-law’s sheep on the back side of the desert for 40 years waiting for God’s plan to unfold (Exodus 2:23, Acts 7:30).

Job waited for seven days and seven nights for a comforting word from his so called “friends” and even longer for a comforting word from God (Job 2:12, 38:1).

David waited about 15 years to ascend to the throne of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13; 2 Samuel 5:1-5). Mary and Martha watched their brother, Lazarus, die and then waited four agonizing days for Jesus to come to them (John 11:1-46).

The Apostles waited for three dark days before Jesus appeared to the them and commissioned them as witnesses (John 20:19-23).

The Apostle Paul waited for three years in the desert before starting his ministry to the Gentiles (Galatians 1:17-18).

In addition, the Prophets waited for God’s judgment to fall (Jonah 4:5). The Wisdom literature contains repeated references to patience and waiting (Psalms 27:14, Proverbs 15: 18, Ecclesiastics 7:8). Patience is even listed as one of the nine fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22).

So what lessons can we learn from this survey of waiting in the Bible?

1. Waiting is normal.

Following God does not mean you will have a wait-free life. In fact, it guarantees that you will have to wait as He works out His perfect plan for you.

2. Waiting is beneficial.

Waiting builds character as you learn to depend on God and His promises. Waiting brings perspective to your life as you view things from the lens of eternity.

3. Waiting is difficult

There are no short-cuts to patience. Waiting is hard work, even if it feels like no work is getting done.

Can you name another lesson we can learn from tracing the theme of waiting through the Bible?