Are You Falling for These 3 Big Lies Regarding Your Purpose and Ministry?
God loves using “ordinary” people
In over 40 years of vocational ministry one of my biggest areas of focus has been empowering regular people to do significant, meaningful, impactful ministry. In church plants and in working with a couple of mega-churches, helping people step into various roles of ministry and leadership has been wonderful to see.
Most Christians rightly believe that God has a specific calling on their life. He has purposes and plans. That is clearly what 2 Timothy 1:9, Ephesians 2:10, and Psalm 139 teach. God Almighty, in His love and wisdom, has purposes, good works, plans already prepared for us to live out.
What I’ve discovered is that there are 3 big lies many, maybe most, sincere believers battle with stepping into those purposes.
1. I’m Not Ready Yet
It breaks my heart when sincere, faithful, gifted people have faithfully read the Bible and attended church services for 5, 10, or 20 years and still don’t think they know enough to lead or help lead a small group or ministry.
It’s so easy to look at ourselves and see all that we do not know or all the flaws we still have and keep putting off what God has called us to do.
I experienced this as a young missionary pastor in my early twenties. I knew the Bible said to equip people and to invest in people. But I was hesitant to do one-on-one mentoring because I realized there was still so much I didn’t know and there were so many areas of my life that were not very “Jesus like” yet.
Who was I to mentor or train someone when I still knew so little?
God was using me to plant and build a growing church in another country, yet I still had these inner battles of “I don’t know enough, I’m not good enough “YET.
In a few years, I thought I would be. But you know how it is. That day never comes because whoever knows enough or is good enough?
The Day It Changed for Me
One day, as I was thinking about how I could better help people grow and do God’s plans, the thought came to me, “No one knows everything. You just share what you DO KNOW right now. That’s what you’re responsible for. You are not the full answer to anyone’s growth, you are part. Do your part as best you can.”
I believe those were Holy Spirit-inspired thoughts. God was not limited to using just me to help people grow. I was part of God’s team, not the entire team.
That liberated me so much. I don’t have to be perfect. I don’t have to know everything. There is only ONE who is those things. I’m part of Christ’s body; even as the main leader of that specific church.
With new freedom, I began doing more one-on-one meetings with people. I was only responsible for sharing what I knew and give what God had given me so far. If someone asked a question, I didn’t have an answer to, I could just say, “I don’t know, but I’ll try to find out.”
I would search to find the answer and I kept growing as a result.
Share what you do know. Pass on what God has done in your life so far. You don’t have to know everything or be perfect.
2. I’m Not a Leader
Please hear this from someone who is a middle-of-the-road introvert. (I’m not the type who hides in the corner, but I always have to work at interacting in larger group settings).
99.9% of the church is called to some form of leadership. You are called to be a leader.
How can I say that?
Hebrews 5:11–12 “About this we have much to say and it is hard to explain since you have become dull of hearing. For THOUGH BY THIS TIME YOU OUGHT TO BE TEACHERS, you need someone to teach you again the basic principles of the oracles of God. You need milk, not solid food…”
The Book of Hebrews was not written to the leaders of a church; it was written for all to hear and respond to.
At some point, it is natural,it is God’s norm that we all lead. We’re not all called to be in the role of “teacher” in the church, but we are called to teach others at least the basics. (2 Timothy 2:2, ESV).
Notice what happens when people don’t start “teaching” others; we get spiritually “dull of hearing.” One of the biggest reasons people have trouble getting direction from God is they are not passing on to others what they have learned so far.
The Normal Life-Flow of God’s Kingdom
This is the life-flow of God’s kingdom. We receive, we give, then we get more. If we stop receiving from God or then sharing what we’ve received, the flow slows down or stops. (Luke 6:38, ESV).
For our own good, as well as for those we serve, sharing, “teaching” others is essential for ongoing growth.
Leadership is normal for a Christian. It is normal for adults to have children. Not everyone can have children, but it is certainly not an exception.
To have a family means learning leadership. Leading a family is much harder than leading a small group or a small team.
I’ve now seen extreme introverts, extraverts, disorganized, organized, well-educated, barely literate, young old, male, female, factory workers or high-level executives become outstanding spiritual leaders.
It just takes a willingness to love people, find something you like doing, and keep learning.
The biggest need in any church is people who will step up and help lead others.
In the on-line world, it’s often said, “You just need to be one step ahead of the people you’re serving.” That’s true in most ministries as well.
One of my favorite sayings I heard from a pastor at the Church of the Highlands. He said, “People grow more by leading than by listening.”
That is so true. Helping others grow is one of the best ways to grow yourself.
3. Underestimating the Power of Small
Some of the most life-changing ministries I’ve ever been a part of have been groups of 5 or less.
Occasionally a sermon has powerfully affected me, but most of the time sermons point me in the right direction. They don’t change me.
What still helps me grow more than anything (outside of my private times with God) is meeting with a small group of men. I’ve been doing something like this for decades and plan to keep doing it as long as I live.
Jesus said, “For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I among them.” Matthews 18:20, ESV
Jesus is always with us, but when just 2 or 3 people gather in His name, He is there differently. With a small group like this, everyone can share, encourage, open up, and practice their gifts in a safe place.
Every believer has a measure of the gifts and life of Christ in them. When we gather in His name in small groups like this; more people are likely to share their gifts than in a large group.
In this type of setting, in my experience, is when the most powerful changes and growth most consistently takes place in our lives.
We Can ALL Do This.
Anyone can learn to lead a group of 2–5 people. When people think of leadership, they so often think of someone who stands in front of large groups communicating powerfully, has great charisma,or someone who has all the answers.
But throughout history, especially in our time, small groups, led by “normal” people, are changing the world.
There are SO many stories of churches in both free and persecuted countries that have seen powerful and spiritual and numerical growth meeting in very small groups.
One of my favorites is from a church in Ethiopia in the 70’s. They forced this church to give up public services for a ten-year span when communists took over.
They could only meet in groups of 3–5 so the authorities would not find them and throw them in jail. For 10 years, when a group grew to 6 members, it would multiply and make two groups of three.
When the communist government fell, they were excited about coming together again at their previous church building, but no one knew for sure how many would come.
The church had around 5,000 members before the communists took over. How many would come now?
When they came for their celebratory service, 5,000 didn’t show up. No, not 5,000. Multiply that by 10.
50,000 people showed up.
In ten years, meeting only in very small groups, the church had grown to ten times as many disciples as before the communist shut down!
This Is So Doable
This type of thing is continuing today in every conceivable setting. Small groups of believers, led by “ordinary” people, are changing lives and changing the world.
Famous anthropologist Margaret Mead said, “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed, organized citizens can change the world; indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.
There are so many examples of this type of thing going on in our world right now. Dear friend, if you will shake off these three lies and step into even small leadership roles, you really can change lives and change the world.
If you want help doing this, I would be glad to point you towards resources or work with you personally for a while. Head over to www.truvinemission.com/coaching and set up a time to talk.
I’ve also written a book on how to take what you love to do and change the world through it. https://www.amazon.com/99-Really-Change-World-Doing-ebook/dp/B01GSLU5HM
