The longer I’m involved in vocational ministry, the more I’m convinced that ministry is should never be done from a Bible college or seminary education. This kind of ministry tends to focus on what you do, a task oriented to-do list of pulling off events, Bible studies and meetings. Instead, ministry should always be done out of a passion for God, a desire to know Him more intimately every day. Not just as desire to know more about God, but a deep craving to spend unrestricted time with Him. This kind of ministry focuses on who you are, a yearning for God that is extremely contagious and caught by those around you, not taught from a text book you read once.

I know this is about a week old, but I just now went through my RSS reader and caught up with this post by Perry Noble. He did an excellent job of summarizing some great tips for how to handle criticism in ministry by asking three questions. Here’s my summary:

#1 - How Well Does This Person Know Me?

Pastors, you’ve got to understand WHO is doing the criticizing. People will often act before they think (I do) and make snap judgments on your character based on one line you wrote on your blog or something you said in a sermon in which they did not listen to the entire context.

BUT…I do listen to those closest to me. I have created an open atmosphere among the leaders here at NewSpring…and behind closed doors I have been both encouraged and rebuked. You’ve got to have people around you who are willing to tell you the truth or this does not work. AND…I listen to the people in our church, who are neck deep in ministry with us…their opinion matters!

#2 - What Attitude Does The Person Criticizing Have?

Bottom line, if someone comes at me with a negative, condemning attitude…I write it off. The Bible says that we are called to speak the truth…but we are called to do so in love.

#3 - Does What The Person Is Saying Pass Through The Filter Of Scripture?

Let me say this–Scripture IN CONTEXT, I have discovered that there are some people out there who can make the Bible say anything they want it to say by misquoting God’s Word. But Scripture in context…I will listen to that.

#4 - Is This Criticism Personal Or Shared By Others?

…we will fall for the line, “I’ve been talking to a lot of people…and everyone is saying…” And then they will unload their personal agenda on us and say that everyone is saying the exact same thing. Which in most cases is not true.

#5 - Is This Worth My Time?

…what I have discovered is that the majority of the criticism I get simply isn’t worth my time. I am NOT going to change the person’s mind…and “friendly debate” is out of the question…so I just move on.

Thanks for your insights, Perry! This helps a lot.

[tags]Perry Noble[/tags]

I’m going to be honest: every item I list here is based on tendencies I’ve noticed in myself over the past several months. If you’re a regular reader of my blog, maybe you’ve even noticed some of them pop up in my previous writings. When I take a step back and write about it, it’s so easy to see how foolish I am. Burning out in ministry is not a sudden event in time that will take me by surprise, like a bursting firecracker on the 4th of July. Instead, it’s a slow process over time, like holding a burning match. If I’m not careful these things will eventually creep up on me, burn me, and render my leadership useless.

I doubt I’m alone in this. Here’s how you and I will crash and burn-out in ministry:

1. Ignore spending time in the Word and in prayer. Ministry is easy — you can do it all in your own strength. It shouldn’t be based on God anyway. Spend all your time teaching others how to develop their relationship with God instead.

2. Accept responsibility for everything. Say “yes” to whatever is asked of you and your time. It doesn’t matter if it could easily be handled by a volunteer, take it on anyway because you’re the guy they pay to do it. Besides, there may be no one else willing or available to do it besides you, which obviously indicates how important it is to everyone else.

3. Become emotionally attached to every situation. Whenever someone has a need, be the first to jump in, provide all the emotional support they need and rescue them from the problem. After all, everyone needs a savior.

4. Always serve God in ministry. This is so important that you must sacrifice all personal down-time and fill it with good things like meetings, events, Bible studies, evangelism, mission trips, prayer groups, small groups, and knitting groups.

5. Attempt to control everything. Control all the planning, the results, the future, the people, the workplace, the weather and God. You are the sustainer of the ministry on whom it is all built. If you take your eyes off of any of anything it will collapse and fail miserably.

6. Base your self-worth on the “success” of your ministry. You’re investing your life into this ministry thing! How it grows and flourishes indicates how important you are and how pleased God is with your labor. If your ministry is struggling, there must be something wrong with you.

7. Feed spiritual consumerism. So-and-so left the church and is attending the “mega-church” down the street because they have a better youth ministry. Now you need to quickly compete by offering the same programs but better. Otherwise, the entire congregation will migrate and leave you out of a job.

8. Focus your ministry on programs. This may come as a result of #7. Remember that vision and relationships are secondary to programming. Look at Jesus for example: His ministry was all about getting things done, not about growing disciples through relationships or communicating His vision for the world.

9. Dwell on all the problems. So it turns out that your ministry is the only one in the world that isn’t perfect. Let it consume your thoughts, your heart and your emotions. It’s important to focus on internal problems so there’s no time left to reach the lost souls that are dying all around.

10. Avoid transparency at all costs. Vulnerability brings the potential for rejection, criticism, and people losing respect for you. As a church leader, everyone must think you’re perfect, strong and invincible. Otherwise, the perfect people in your church will have no reason to follow you.

11. Focus only on what’s in front of you. Dreaming a huge vision for the future only makes people feel uncomfortable, probably because of item #5. Passion can become contagious and take the ministry in scary and risky directions, so it’s best to avoid these dreams altogether. It’s always safer to wander aimlessly by staring at your feet than it is to walk toward God’s beautiful horizon and risk tripping.

I’m a guy who enjoys electronics, gizmos and gadgets. I even supported part of my seminary education by doing part-time I.T. administration for a company here in Dallas. So when I came across Shane Hipp’s book, The Hidden Power of Electronic Culture: How Media Shapes Faith, the Gospel, and Church, I was immediately intrigued and picked it up.

Shane Hipps spent many years as one of the top experts on culture. His job was to constantly study media and culture and teach others how to effectively use it to market their products and services. As he grew in his walk with the Lord, he realized that his job was to convince people that they were missing something in their life and that a certain product would provide fulfillment. So, he resigned and attended seminary to learn to do the same with the Word of God. His writing therefore comes from many years of experience and knowledge of this topic of technology and culture, and it shows!

I used to just take technology for granted and explored any new way of using it in ministry. However, [tag]Shane Hipps[/tag] makes many good points why the statement, “The message stays the same but the methods change” really isn’t true. His argument is, “No, the method changes the message.” At first I couldn’t see how that could be based on anything but personal opinion, but his insights from behind the scenes of media and marketing really indicate a lot that the general public hasn’t realized about the affect media has on what’s being communicated. He starts with scriptural examples, moves on to explain the affect of the printing press and other past “phenomenons” that were considered technology, and then discusses current examples of media in church.

In no way does Shane Hipps doesn’t attack the use of media in ministry. Rather, he helps us think through different aspects of what it communicates and teaches us how to use it wisely and appropriately. It’s very helpful material.

I graduated from PBU with a degree in youth ministry and filled up all my electives with counseling classes, but I think if I had to do it over again I’d reverse that and focus on counseling instead. Even though it was only four years ago, a lot of what I learned about youth ministry is out of date. Youth culture and thus youth ministry are constantly changing. I mean, there was no [tag]MySpace[/tag] generation even four years ago. But the counseling part of ministry I use over and over again almost every day. Even this morning I spent some time talking with a girl fresh out of high school who has a history of abuse and struggles with cutting and suicidal thoughts.

No matter what position someone holds in ministry — whether it be in music, youth, children, adults, administrative, whatever — as long as you’re working with real people, counseling is a very necessary skill. I’m not even a counselor but I talk with parents and students all the time and, after earning a little bit of trust, issues always come up.

I’m looking forward to [tag]Youth Specialties[/tag]’ theCORE this year because apparently it’s supposed to deal with part of this issue by training youth leaders to work with hurting kids. Even though I was the administrative director for Teenhopeline.com and may have more experience than some, I still wish I had a lot more training than I currently do. We all need it. And the people we talk to probably appreciate it when we have it, too.

I went through an old box the other day and came across a wrinkled sheet of paper with some notes scribbled on it. I don’t remember when I wrote these notes or what the situation was surrounding their context, but reading through them was pretty thought provoking for evaluating my call to vocational youth ministry.

PASSION

• What excites you? What do you get excited about?
• What drives you?

PERSONALITY

• What are you good at? What are your strengths?
• What are you bad at? What are your weaknesses?
• What ticks you off? What are your pet peeves?
• Who in the ministry do you look up to and respect?
• What kind of ministry are you attracted to?
• How has the way God wired you prepared you for ministry?

SPIRITUALLY

• What is God doing in your life spiritually?
• What are your spiritual gifts?

VISION

• Where is God leading you spiritually?
• What do you foresee in future ministry?

EXPERIENCES

• Are you plugged into ministry right now?
• What past experiences do you have in ministry?
• What do others say that have seen you work in ministry?

PHILOSOPHY

• What do you see ministry as?
• Define ministry.
• Describe ministry.
• Do you see ministry as a lifestyle or a job? Why?
• All believers are called to ministry, but few are called to full-time ministry. Why you?

CALLING TO MINISTRY BASED ON THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS

• Faithful — Can you do it every day with passion?
• Fruitful — Are there positive outcomes? (Is God blessing it?)
• Fulfilled — Do you enjoy it?
• If one of these are not present, then you’re in the wrong ministry. Two of the servants were FFF, but one wasn’t and buried his treasure.

Mark Batterson has a great post addressing creativity in ministry leadership and “keeping what is sacred from becomming routine.” Please read and apply.

A couple weeks ago I was asked about my personal relationship with Christ and what I did to maintain it. I guess most people except an answer like, “I read my Bible, pray, and have personal worship time and 6:00AM every morning.” Although I participate in these things (rarely at 6:00AM, though!), it’s not a forced disciplined routine for me. My time with God is different all the time. I find new and creative things to do with Him. Otherwise my spiritual walk begins to feel like a rut, not an active and vital relationship.

Although Mark Batterson’s post relates more to ministry philosophy than to personal spiritual growth, I think his concept can be applied both ways.

Back in Bible College I had a professor whom I greatly admired and respected for his knowledge of scripture and its implementation in real life ministry. What I respected most was his openness and honesty about his life, both the successes and all the failures. Throughout my four years in college, his constant advice was clear, “Set your boundaries and place your family first. There will always be more to do.” This advice comes from a man who started strong in pastoral ministry but eventually burned out hard due to overworking and neglecting his family’s needs.

Through hearing his stories in college and then hearing the same advice frequently repeated in seminary, setting ministry boundaries is something that’s now ingrained in me. I give the time to God that belongs to Him without feeling guilty about allowing time for me and, after July 22nd, my wife.

In order to survive any king of longevity in ministry, time restrictions must be established and kept. There will always be more work to do, meetings to attend, demands to be met, people to reach, and planning to complete, but there will also always be tomorrow to work on those things. And, if tomorrow never comes, then apparently God didn’t think those things important enough for me to complete anyway.

It’s interesting that those in the secular marketplace have made this same discovery and are putting it into practice by switching to four-day work weeks. The author has some excellent input on this matter that is easily applicable to vocational ministry.

(ht to Paul)

Once again, Perry Noble nails the subject of my day on the head:

Whether your pastor will tell you this or not–criticism comes with the territory.

Being a pastor is stressful–period. I would say if it does not keep you awake at night then you might not be doing something right.

Amen.

Without a clear calling to vocational ministry, survival in it would be impossible.

Sometimes I think Christians try way too hard to argue or convince unbelievers that God is real. Although I try to avoid judging people’s hearts, it seems that most believers are not so much concerned about the spiritual wellbeing of the individual they’re talking to as much as they are about convincing themselves that their faith is valid. Almost every question about God we’ve heard from unbelievers is a good question, one that, if we’re honest, we’ve all asked ourselves sometime. So why do we feel that we need to avoid these critical questions or be content with pat little Christian answers that really do nothing to solve the issue? It would be far wiser to just say, “I don’t know,” and admit that we don’t have all the answers. That doesn’t necessarily invalidate our faith — it just means that God knows infinitely more than our 3.5 pounds of brain matter can figure out.

If this happens no where else, I at least what my youth group to be a place where students feel free to ask the tough questions without feeling judged, pressured, or frowned upon. These critical evaluations of Christianity are positive! We all ask them, we all want answers, and it doesn’t make us less of a Christian. It’s the perfect opportunity to learn, grow, and take ownership of our faith.

(This is a great blog post by an atheist researching the misconceptions Christians have about them. I find it interesting that he seems to infer as much about the mistreatment or disrespect he feels from believers as he does about scientific evidence. When will Christians ever learn to love unconditionally?)