More Than Caring

More Than Caring“Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, ‘Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed,’ but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it?”

James 2:15-16

 

It is so easy to get wrapped up in our own life that we forget about those all around us who are in need. We can’t save the whole world, so we don’t try to save just one. “Someone else will help”, we think as we walk away. But James says that we have to do more than just “care” about the poor, we need to help. In his book, “Irresistible Revolution”, Shane Claiborne shares about a survey he took of American Christians. He found that 80% believed that Jesus spent time with the poor. When asked if they spent any time with the poor, only 20% of the same group said, “yes.” Shane concluded, “We can admire and worship Jesus without doing what He did. We can applaud what he preached and stood for without caring about the same things. We can adore his cross without taking up ours.” James talks about our apathy toward the poor in this way, “But someone will say, ‘You have faith; I have deeds.’ Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by what I do.”  It is not good enough to care about the poor. If we follow Christ we need to do something.

 

 We have to ask ourselves, “Where are we making a difference?” Is it in the entertainment industry? Is it in business ethics? Is it in the societies’ views on sex and marriage? Is it in the justice system? But, you say, “That is the world’s system.” That’s my point! When did we abdicate the decisions on morality, love and justice to the world? When did we leave the room? Why isn’t our corporate witness making a difference? Why isn’t the love of  God in His people making a bigger difference in the world? It can, if we choose to live according to His word.

Over and over again in the Old Testament we read about God’s judgment on His people for turning their back on poverty and injustice. God was appalled at the fact that the poor were ignored. In his classic book, “Visioneering”, Andy Stanley shares what he felt was Nehemiah’s compelling reason for casting his vision of rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Andy points out that Nehemiah told the people, “Come let us rebuild the walls of Jerusalem, and we will no longer be in disgrace.” Why rebuild the walls? Because the torn down walls were a disgrace to God and His people. One translation uses the word “reproach”. The torn down walls, the disgraced city was a disgrace to anyone who called themselves a Jew and brought reproach to God in front of all the nations. We need to see that the American Suburban Church sitting with all its wealth and resources, with neighbors all around in utter poverty is the same reproach to God. Why? Because it is a gross misrepresentation of the love of God. As a result, the world does not see God or His church as a significant influence or reason for hope. Instead, our Government and corporations are seen as the savior of the solution to blighted communities. We need to glorify God by showing what His power through His people, people of all races working together, can do. Then maybe the world will join in on the song, “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

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Do you want to know more about your Spiritual Gifts? CLICK HERE to download your free Spiritual Gifts Test and Workbook. 

To learn more how you can get started in ministry, CLICK HERE to download your free copy of How Am I Wired For Ministry?

Want to know how to use your business skills for ministry download a free copy of Compassionate Capitalist

 

Businesses Can Do Missions Too!

I have been an advocate for Christian Businesses getting involved in ministry for a long time. If you want to know what I think you can download Compassionate Capitalist and learn many different ways your business could get involved in doing good. If that is not enough then I invite you to look over this list of books that feature Businesses that are involved in Missions and doing good. Here is the list:

1. God is at Work: Ken Eldred
2. Business as Mission: Michael Baer
3. The Missional Entrepreneur
4. Great Commission Companies
5. Kingdom Catalyst: Johnny Combs
6. Business for the Glory of God: Wayne Grudem
7. God at Work: Gene Veith
8. Business as a Calling: Michael Novak
9. God is my CEO: Larry Julian

Want to know how to use your business skills for ministry download a free copy of Compassionate Capitalist by Ron Ovitt

 

 

Your Church Can Do Good Using Secular Money

The Scriptures are uncompromising. We ARE to help the poor and needy. But what do you do when the need is greater than your church has resources for? The obvious answer is to get money from other resources. However it is not that easy. There has long been a suspion that to recieve dollars from other sources, we have to give up our religious freedom. That does not have to be so.

Now there may be times when the government may put stipulations on donations but usually these do not stop the Church from being the church.

For example, some missions will not give out food unless the patrons listen to a sermon first. Personally, I do not like that approach. I would rather them get the food and if my love speaks loud enough they will listen to what I have to say about our Savior.

The government feels an obligation to supply food and shelter and would love to have churches donate space and labor. We can win the friendship of those we minister to and invite them to other church functions, Bible studies or mentoring. If we offer a job skills class and the government is not paying for it, they cannot stop us from teaching what the Bible teaches on life skills and the importance of the knowing Christ and the hope He gives. Giving food does not give them the right to intervere with other parts of our ministry.

Using Secular Resources
In our society there is much talk about the separation of church and state. With the rise of “faith-based initiatives” we see doors of cooperation beginning to open. There are many good secular resources that the church can access to restore a community. Everyone wins when a city is reborn so a municipal government has a lot to gain if synergy between state and church can produce results. What concerns many Christians, however, is having strings attached to any secular grants or cooperation. For example, the government may have serious reservations about giving a grant to run an evangelistic campaign. However, they may jump at the opportunity to underwrite shelter for homeless men, provided that it is offered to anyone who is in need without discrimination to religious preference. Many Christian organizations use the government to help pay for some of the utilitarian needs of their clients and use private donations to pay for the spiritual. You cannot use government funds and force people to participate in religious programs but this does not mean that you cannot offer Bible study lessons or Christian counseling  for those that choose to participate.
I am sure that Nehemiah would have had serious reservations if the King said, “Sure you can have the wood but do not turn Jerusalem into a Holy City for your God, do not worship within the gates made with state supplied wood.” I am sure that Nehemiah would have turned down that offer. But that didn’t happened. The King knew that in the end the greater Jerusalem area would become a separate providence, separating it from the Samaritan overlords, and that he would appoint Nehemiah Governor of this new Jewish province.
Today there is a great opportunity to use government and private dollars to fund social projects. There seems to be a renewed interest in funding programs that work, regardless of whether they are faith-based or not. This could mean government funds for some of the non-evangelistic work that so many Christian ministries do. English as a second language, transitional housing, transportation and job training are just a few of the tasks that Christian organizations do to meet many physical and emotional needs of their constituents. These deeds are done because of the love of Christ. For many organizations it gives them the ability to introduce their clients to Christianity.

Government and Churches Working Together
On Monday, August 20, 2001 The USA Today printed an article called, This Partnership Of Government And Faith Succeeds. The article talks about a Haitian couple and their four children who have been living in an apartment in Roslindale, a neighborhood in the city of Boston. They have been in Roslindale for 15 years, where the father is a high school teacher and the mother is a case manager for a Head Start program. They wanted to buy a house and stay in the neighborhood where they had been living. The problem was the cost of a modest single family home was $250,000! The mortgage payment would be $2,000 a month, which they could not afford on their $60,000 a year joint income. Now here is a couple that anyone should be proud to have as neighbors; but even on $60,000 a year they cannot afford to buy a market-value home.
The solution to this couple came when the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization decided to build homes in the area that would be within the reach of working-class residents. The home would require $700 a month. These would be two-family homes selling for less than $200,000 allowing the new owner to rent one-half for $700 and leaving them to pay the balance of $700. Because of lower interest rates, even a couple making $30,000 could afford one of these homes.
The homes were ironically called Nehemiah Homes. Nehemiah out of Brooklyn, New York began nearly twenty years ago and has built over 4,430 homes in some of the most deplorable areas. Their success rate of turning around distraught neighborhoods is phenomenal.
Nehemiah Homes started when it protested against New York City’s “planned shrinkage”. This was a plan to deliberately let its poorest neighborhoods deteriorate, assuming that it wasn’t worth the investment to keep the community intact. Nehemiah proved them wrong. Where there were once junkies and muggers, now there are homes owned by nurses’ aides, probation officers and other people from a mixed-ethnic working class. Crime has plummeted and a recent study done by Fannie Mae Foundation has shown that the Nehemiah homes raised property values of the entire area.
The USA Today wrote about the Nehemiah Homes program:

From its genesis in Brooklyn to its new frontier in Boston, the Nehemiah program has relied on collaboration between public and religious bodies. Local or state governments donate and clear large blocks of land, permitting economical construction, and provide one-time subsidies of about $15,000 and often tax abatements. Private banks, eager to provide service to inner cities as required by federal law, compete in offering mortgages below market rate. Congregations and denominations raise the money themselves to pay for construction, their capital going into a trust fund that is replenished as homes are bought and paid for.
In the South Bronx, for instance, a $3.2 million trust fund will have paid for $84 million in total construction by early 2002. Banks will have written $66 million in mortgages, while New York City will have invested $14 million in recoverable subsidies, cheap land and tax abatements. And 860 multifamily homes will have risen in what was the very definition of urban disaster.
As Evangelicals, we can go into a community and through the church do the same things as the people in the article did. If we did, what a testimony the church would have. What an outreach! This model would be more than church planting, it would be church and community planting. The two would grow together. This is a powerful New Testament model of community.
Christian organizations need to depend upon God to be the resource of their ministry, especially as it relates to evangelism, Bible teaching and discipleship. However, if it were possible to receive financial help for some of the brick and mortar or to underwrite the more secular type duties, with no strings that would hamper the core ministry, then the funds could be gladly accepted. It is a good use of our tax dollars to give to programs that are working.

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For more information on how your church can get involved in reaching the community e-mail Ron Ovitt at ron@empowerministry.org and we will send you a copy of Close To The Heart of God. Also go to www.empowerministry.org for helpful materials.

Do you want to know more about your Spiritual Gifts? CLICK HERE to download your free Spiritual Gifts Test and Workbook.

 

Be A Wounded Healer

Have you ever noticed that in our lives some truths that seem to grab us more than others. It becomes a passion, a cause, a crusade in our life. For me one of those truths is the personal ministry of the each Christian. I deeply believe that each of us has been called as a minister of Jesus Christ. Now you may be wondering, when I say the word “minister” what do I mean? In the Biblical language the word “minister” means servant. Each of us is called to be a minister or to serve God out of our own uniqueness. Unfortunately the term has been lost in today’s church. We no longer think of “minister” in the terms of everyone’s role as a “servant” of Christ but instead relegate the role of Minister to that of a Pastor. That is a person who has a “special call’ who has been to seminary and oversees a church. But this is far from what God intended. Now certainly God has called Pastors to ministry. We all know and deeply believe that God has ordained Pastor Howard to be the shepherd of this church. In fact Paul says in Ephesians 4: 11-12

It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers,

Here is the interesting point, the verse says; to prepare God’s people for works of service,

Paul is saying that a Pastor has the role of helping equip members of the church to be ministers! Yes, God created you and I to be His representatives here on earth. In Romans 12:1-8, Paul again is writing about that fact that each of us should be ministering in the unique way that God has wired us. He writes:
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.

IN  VERSE SIX Paul continues:

We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man’s gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his faith. If it is serving, let him serve; if it is teaching, let him teach; if it is encouraging, let him encourage; if it is contributing to the needs of others, let him give generously; if it is leadership, let him govern diligently; if it is showing mercy, let him do it cheerfully.

God has created each of us to minister differently. Let me ask YOU… Have you come to a point in your life where you really believe that God has called you to be a minister or servant of His?

The fact is that most of those attending Sunday services in churches across America do not really grasp this fact. Yet the secular world understands it. As more and more people do not attend church people are doing good deeds through their work. A group of us went to the Greater Chicago Food Depository and had a wonderful time. It was interesting, we worked side by side with a group from the Chicago Tribune. Max Dupree, Chairman Emeritus of Herman Miller, Board Member of Hope College and author encourages secular people to get involved doing good. In his book, Leading Without Power Max Dupree writes:

Make the choice to serve others, for it is truly is a choice we all have. Make the choice to subordinate personal desires to a common good. Make room for spiritual matters, for more and more people in the United States are realizing just how necessary a spiritual dimension is to becoming a complete person. Nonprofit organizations and their spirit-lifting work have become a vital source of understanding. Non-profits and their commitment to moral purpose are strategic instruments of hope in our society and our world.

Having been in secular fundraising I have seen this non-profit rhetoric become more and more prevalent. The world is becoming of the mindset that it doesn’t need the church. In their eyes we aren’t making a difference. Many times when the world sees a problem the church is not their first choice in looking for a solution. It is ironic that the world looks to service as a way to get in touch with their spirituality while many who have true spirituality in Jesus Christ will not serve!

Part of the trouble is that we aren’t sure what we should do, so today I want to share one easy way that each of us can get involved in life-giving ministry. Each of us can minister to others by being God’s messenger. We can simply share with those around us how God has helped us in our life circumstances. God wants you and I to bear witness that He is real, that He helps us with real problems and has real answers to our needs. This is reaching out and helping others in need in the same way God reached out and helped us.

Look at today’s passage in Psalms 71. In this chapter we read about the real problems that the Psalmist is having; yet there is hope given in the middle of all the turmoil in life.

In verses 10 and 11 he writes;
 For my enemies speak against me; those who wait to kill me conspire together. They say, “God has forsaken him;
 
And yet listen as the Psalmist shares about God’s faithfulness.
But as for me, I will always have hope; I will praise you more and more.

He continues by writing:
 
My mouth will tell of your righteousness, of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure. I will come and proclaim your mighty acts, O Sovereign LORD; I will proclaim your righteousness, yours alone. Since my youth, O God, you have taught me, and to this day I declare your marvelous deeds.
Even when I am old and gray, do not forsake me, O God, till I declare your power to the next generation, your might to all who are to come.

This is our call. This is the quest that God has for us,  that we might be that life giving community that gives the next generation that chance to know, grow, serve and share Christ.

Here is the question: Are we reaching to the new generation with the story of God’s love? Are we sharing like the Psalmist, about the wonderful relationship we have with Jesus?
The fact is that most of us struggle with sharing with others. It’s not because we don’t know how to share.

We know how to share and express ourselves.
We can share all about sports.
We can talk about business.
If you want us to share, just ask us about our children or grandchildren.
We can recommend automobiles to complete strangers with confidence.
We can defend our political view and please don’t even get us started about our favorite foods.

We can share about all kinds of topics but when it comes to talking about Jesus we don’t know what to say. We aren’t experiencing the freedom that we should in sharing about the love of Christ.

I have struggled with this for many years. Part of the problem is that we have made witnessing so complicated. I believe it is because we are trying to be something we are not. We feel we have to be “perfect” in order to share. We think, “Who am I?” or we think, “I’m not moral enough, they would think that I am a hypocrite.”  The problem is that we have this image that in order to “share” about Christ we have to be on a pedestal. A Christian without flaw, imperfections or struggles. Where did this come from?  We come to God as a sinner and get gloriously saved but over time something happens. We forget about God’s grace and start to live a life of an imposter. For many of us we were raised in the faith and we often take God’s grace for granted. Instead we have an internal scorekeeper. We keep track of our life using the distorted belief that real Christians don’t sin or have any troubles. We have illusions that everything must go the way we plan and that nothing will ever go wrong. Worst yet we try to live up to what we believe are other people’s expectations. We know that our salvation was by grace but when we do sin, or when something does go wrong in our life we end up feeling defeated. We die to the daily joy that Christ has for us. We begin to harbor deep dark secrets. We put on a false self not just toward others but soon toward God himself. Week after week we come to services with our “church face” on. We smile and pretend that all is well in our life and don’t dare share about our struggles. Well if we have a hard time sharing here at church how would we ever share to our neighbors or people we work with?
The truth is, there are no perfect people in the church! No you, not I! We are not and never will be perfect, so let’s quit pretending. Instead we need to be authentic.
What do we need to do to be an authentic witness and minister of Christ? There are at least three things. First we must recognize and embrace our brokenness. Second we must accept and apply God’s grace to every one of the wounds in our life.  Finally, we must then go forth as wounded healers into the world ministering to those around us.

The first thing that we need to do to become an authentic witness and minister of Christ is to recognize and embrace our brokenness.
 
In Romans 7:21 – 25  Paul shares his own struggles between living in his broken carnal state and the Spirit-filled life. Paul writes:

So I find this law at work: When I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in the members of my body, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within my members. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to God—through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Paul recognized the struggle with his carnal sinful nature, but he did not stop there. In the very next verse Paul shouts out his marvelous declaration of independence. He writes:

There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.

Notice that Paul didn’t say victory came in sinless perfection.” There are no perfect people in the church. No he admits his struggles. Instead He shares about the solution He finds in Christ. Paul writes that there is no condemnation to those in Christ Jesus.
 He explains why He can say this in verse 15: Paul writes:

For you did not receive a spirit that makes you a slave again to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship. And by him we cry, “Abba, Father.” The Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God’s children.

You see Paul could accept his brokenness, because He embraced His belovedness.

Paul did not shrink from writing about his struggles. Instead he shared about them and then described how he gets victory. This is the model of ministry that we see over and over in Paul’s writing.

Brennan Manning in his book, Abba’s Child shares a story of Mike Yaco-nelli, the cofounder of Youth Specialties, who struggled with this very issue.

Mike Yaco-nelli went on a retreat to come to grips with his spiritual staleness. After time spent in solitude Yaco-nelli writes of his soul’s realization of his brokenness. He writes;

God had been trying to shout over the noisiness of my life and I couldn’t hear Him, but in the silence of solitude I heard Him and my slumbering soul was filled with the joy of the prodigal son. My soul was awakened by a loving father who had been looking and waiting for me. Finally, I had accepted my brokenness. – I had never come to terms with that. Let me explain. I knew that I was broken. I knew I was a sinner. I knew I continually disappointed God, but I could never accept that part of me. It was a part of me that embarrassed me, I continually felt the need to apologize, to run from my weakness to deny who I was and concentrate on what I should be. I was broken, yes, but I was continually trying never to be broken again – or at least to get to the place where I was seldom broken.
Now it has become clear to me that I had totally misunderstood the Christian faith. I came to see that it was in my brokenness, in my powerlessness, in my weakness that Jesus was made strong. It was in the acceptance of my lack of faith that God could give me faith. In was in the embracing of my brokenness that I could identify with other people’s brokenness. It was my role to identify with others’ pain, not relieve it. Ministry is sharing, not dominating; understanding, not theologizing; caring, not fixing.

To be effective ministers of Christ we must recognize our brokenness. Paul was a real example of this. Throughout his ministry he suffered and faced many struggles. In writing in I Corinthian church he writes:

I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. Five times I have received from the Jews thirty nine lashes. Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea., I have been in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles, in danger in the city , in danger from false brothers. I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep, I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked.

Paul certainly knew what it was like to be broken; to live a life that was less than pristine, yet this did not negate him from the ministry. All the more he was able to identify with others and witness to them.

In Hebrews 11 we read of all the victorious living as a result of faith. Noah, Moses, Abraham, Joseph and others trusted God for great things and yet when we read the accounts of their lives we see hardships, difficulties and often times sin. You see God did not promise that this life was going to be perfect, that we would be without sin or any difficulties. What he did promise is that he would never leave us or forsake us. In Romans 8: 34 – 39 Paul writes:

If God is for us, who can be against us?- Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

The fact is – all of us have struggles, non of us are perfect.

When I think of those who will be reading this I know that some of us will represent unimaginable suffering, pain, and heartbreak. The death of loved ones, personal illnesses, bankruptcies, divorce, addictions. How many of us have cried over our children, have had nights of terror or wrestled with anxiety and depression? In the midst of all of this, many of us have experienced the Peace of God that passes all understanding. And yet we ask,

How can I minister, how can I be a witness?
 
To answer that question all we have to do is to look around us.
In every street we passed, every house that we saw from the road on our way here this morning there were people looking for the same answers that you have. They have similar struggles that you and I have struggled with. At work we have fellow employees who are looking for the peace that we have. At our children’s soccer games the bleachers are full of parents who are suffering with many of the same problems that we have. Yet we do not share. Why is this?

Perhaps it is because we have not really made our peace with God. We have not embraced that in this life we will be broken. Instead of peace there is shame, guilt, anger, or remorse. We have not come fully back to Christ.

It was early on a Saturday morning that my twin brother called me. I will never forget the pain in his voice. “He’s gone” he screamed. “My Paul is gone.” In an instant Paul who was thirteen was swept away from this earth in a car accident. The pain that my brother experienced only a few of you in this audience can understand. For almost ten years my bother wrestled with God. He could function. He went to Church; he still prayed and even read the Bible. But deep in his heart he was broken and wounded. Year by year the pain was more bearable. When my own boy was hit by a car it was Rod who was the first to come to my comfort. He was able to enter into my fears.

I was speaking about a year ago in Detroit on Every Christian is a Minister and my brother Rod was there. He got up in the middle of the message and came back in about five minutes. Later that night he told me what happened. He explained that he was moved deep in his heart and that he had to get up. He went downstairs to the bathroom and cried out to God. “Finally He looked up to God and said, “I want back, I want to serve you again. It is time.” Rod allowed God to work deep in his heart and he is once again involved in live-giving ministry. He embraced his woundedness and moved toward his belovedness.
 
Not only must we embrace our brokenness, the second thing that we need to do in order to become the kind of witness that will reach out in the community around us is to accept and apply God’s grace for every one of the wounds in our life.

Brennan Manning has written a wonderful book on this very subject. It is called Abba’s Child. In his chapter called, Beloved, Brennan Manning shares the reflections of a teacher from Milwaukie who kept a marvelous journal on his walk with Christ. In his journal the teacher Eagen writes,

“The basis of my personal worth is not my processions, my talents, not esteem of others, reputation…not kudos of appreciation from parents and kids, not applause, and everyone telling you how important you are to the place –  I stand anchored now in God before whom I stand naked, this God who tells me, “you are my son, my beloved one!”
Brennan continues with his own commentary. He writes:

The ordinary self is the extraordinary self – the inconspicuous nobody who shivers in the cold of winter and sweats in the heat of summer, who wakes up unreconciled to the new day, who sits before a stack of pancakes, weaves through traffic, bangs around the basement, shops in the supermarket, pulls weeds and rakes up the leaves, makes snowballs, flies kites and listens to the sound of rain in the roof.
While the imposter draws his identity from past achievements and the adulation of others, the true self claims identity in it’s belovedness.”

The trouble is that many of us have a hard time believing that God loves us. I mean really loves us.

Oh we believe that God so loved the world that He gave His son that whosoever believes has eternal life. We believe God can love us enough to die for our sins, but once we become a Christian we soon forget about His unconditional love. We know nothing of the everyday celebration of being a broken, sinful, human who is loved by God in spite of our imperfection.  Brennan Manning continues in his chapter by writing:

“Our controlled frenzy creates the illusion of a well-ordered existence. We move from crisis to crisis, responding to the urgent and neglecting the essential. We still walk around. We still perform all the gestures and actions identified as human, but we resemble people carried along on the mechanical sidewalk of an airport. The fire in the belly dies. We no longer hear the inward music of our belovedness.

My friends, this is not the way Jesus wants us to live. Instead He says to us
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
We need to come to Jesus knowing our woundedness and accept His daily love and assistance in our lives.

Paul shares another example of this in I Corinthians 5:5, 7 – 9. He writes;

For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. We have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. 

Paul admits that he has struggles. He admits that he is suffering, but he doesn’t leave it there. He also experience the grace and love of Christ in his life. He shares of God’s power that even though he is pressed in on every side he is not crushed. Even though he admits he is perplexed, Christ helps him overcome being despaired. Finally, he shares that he is persecuted but not abandoned, struck down but not destroyed. This is what people are looking for. They are looking for a God who helps us in the nitty-gritty of life.

The author of Hebrews shares in chapter 4: 14 – 16 how we can accept our brokenness and belovedness:

Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.

Paul goes farther and shares how the struggles that you and I face, the brokenness that we experience in this life can actually allow us to minister more effectively for Christ.
Paul writes in Romans 5: 3-5
We also rejoice in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; 4perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us.

Again Paul shares in II Corinthians 12: 7 – 10
To keep me from becoming conceited because of these surpassingly great revelations, there was given me a thorn in my flesh, a messenger of Satan, to torment me. Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Paul also warns us that our struggle not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Paul then admonishes us to put on the full armor of God. Two of the best books I have read on this subject is Victory over Darkness and Bondage Breaker by Neil Anderson. These books can help you walk with Christ and experience freedom in many of the difficulties that we experience. We are looking forward to doing some indebt study of these books. If you are interested please let us know.

This brings up our third point. We are to share with others as Wounded Healers

Yes we are broken and sinful even as Christians, but it is Christ’ love, the fact that we are His beloved that gives us hope. It is His love that moves us into this point number three. Christ sends us forth, not as perfect, pious, holier than thou crusaders but rather as wounded healers showing others who are wounded how to be healed. It is one beggar showing another beggar where the bread is.

Again, Brennan Manning in his book, Abba’s Child. He writes:
In a futile attempt to erase our past, (or I would add our presence) we deprive our community of our healing gift. If we conceal our wounds out of fear and shame, our inner darkness can neither be illuminated nor become a light for others. Instead we need to become what Henri Nouwen calls Wounded Healers. The wounded healer implies that grace and healing are communicated through the vuneralibility of men and women who have been fractured and heartbroken by life. In Love’s service only wounded soldiers can serve.

The Holy Spirit gives each of us the ability to be wounded healers. Paul shares in
Romans 8: 26 – 28

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. – And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, whohave been called according to his purpose.

This passage give us comfort. God wants us to share this comfort with others. In
II Corth. 1: 3 –5 Paul shares:

Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in our troubles, so we can comfort those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves have received from God.

Again Brennan Manning shares:
 Our impulse to tell the salvation story arises from listening to the heartbeat of the risen Jesus within us. Telling the story does not require that we become ordained ministers or flamboyant street corner preachers. It does not demand that we try to convert people by concussion with one sledgehammer blow of the Bible after another. It simply means we share with others what our lives used to be like, what happened when we met Jesus, and how Jesus is affecting our lives now.

In I Peter 3:15 Peter writes;
Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have.

One of the best wounded healers I have ever know was Mr. Van. I was fifteen when I first met him. I was speaking at a church and he asked if we wanted to bring our Christian Club to come and help him with a children’s mission. I was overwhelmed by this man’s love, can do attitude. For two years I took ten to thirty-five young people to minister there every Wednesday and Thursday evening. When I started at Wayne State University I decided to live at the mission and work for my room and board.  This is when I really saw him in action. I also learned about his life. He was a successful accountant but had become an alcoholic. He caused his whole family to suffer. One day he became gloriously saved and was free from the pain of alcoholism. Unfortunately he had so severely alienated his family he was not able to win them back.  He lived along and ministered to all the hurting and suffering children in one of the most destitute sections of Detroit. God had taken his woundedness and allowed Gil to see his belovedness. In this realization he went out and ministered to hundreds of families in the same way God had helped him.
When we would lead singing at the children’s mission we would often ask them to shout our their favorite song. I remember so many times that Mr. Van would compete with the children shouting “ No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus” 
The author of that song, Charles Weigle was an itinerant evangelist.  One day after preaching at a gospel crusade, he came home to find a note from his wife.  She did not care for the life she led because of being an evangelist’s wife and she was leaving him.  The next few years were a time of despair for Weigle.  He wondered if anyone really cared for him, let alone God.  After a time, his faith was again restored and he became active for the Lord again.  During this time he wanted to put to paper a song that would share the feelings he had experienced while during his despondent days.  From his heart came the words and the tune for this hymn. It goes like this:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I would love to tell you what I think of Jesus
Since I found in Him a friend so strong and true;
I would tell you how He changed my life completely –
He did something that no other friend could do.
chorus:
No one ever cared for me like Jesus;
There’s no other friend so kind as He;
No one else could take the sin and darkness from me –
O how much He cared for me!

Let me ask you, are you willing to be a wounded healer? Are you willing to share with others the way God has helped you? Today, surrender yourself to Jesus to be His minister. All you need to be is a wounded healer!

_______________________________________________________________________ 

Serve in the way God has wired you? Use your skills, passions, experiences? CLICK HERE to download your FREE copy of How Am I Wired For Ministry?

Do you know what your Spiritual Gifts are? If not CLICK HERE to download your FREE copy of a Spiritual Gifts Test and Workbook. 

 

Your Personality and Ministry

Your Personality Traits
 
 Paul used the human body as a metaphor of what the “body” of believers is like. The head is different from the hand. The nose differs from the toes. Each is important, each has a job to do, each would be missed if they weren’t part of the body. Hopefully, by now, you are celebrating your uniqueness and are starting to understand how God can use almost everything about you for His glory. Now we want you to consider the many different personality traits that God has endowed you with.
 Our approach to personality is to show you different traits and the broad range of behavior in each one.

Understanding Ourself 
 The main reason for going over personality traits is so we can understand more about our own behavior. Insight into our behavior will help us choose vocations and volunteer situations that best  suit who we are. How can we maximize our effectiveness and experience the deep joy and satisfaction of serving God if we are constantly striving against our self and the situations that we are in? Knowing our traits not only allows us to discern where we may be most effective but it also shows us how to be the most effective in situations where we do not have a choice to serve or not. For example let’s look at parenting. God has called all of us with children to be good parents. He does not give out excuse slips to those that might be high in one personality trait and low in another. He calls us all to be a good parent. What we need to do is to understand the goals of good parenting and accomplish them through the way that we were designed. We are responsible for our behavior no matter what our traits are. Knowing who we are allows us to adjust and adapt any traits that we need to and  to use our others to their fullest advantage.

Understanding Others
 We cannot do ministry alone. We need each other, yet so many times we let our differences in personality separate us. Instead we need to celebrate our differences. God has created a wide range of human experience. We need to understand those that we fellowship with better. How else will we be able to minister effectively together? To do this we first describe the wide range of normalcy in the different traits. So often we narrow what we believe to be acceptable behavior. We look at others through our own bias. We hope that this section will shed some light on why people behave the way they do and that we would extend our hand of love, grace and understanding to each other.

Bearing Each Other’s Burdens
 Not only have we explained the wide range of normalcy for each trait we have included descriptions of  excessive behavior.  Which of us does not have times
when we are excessive in our behavior? Our goal is to help us see these excessive ranges so we can correct them and move more toward a more Biblical range of acceptable behavior. The power of the word of God, the fruit of the Spirit, and the fellowship of loving Christians can be the strength we need for any of our weaknesses. When we can see where our behavior is becoming excessive or we begin to understand someone else’s excessessiveness, we can help each other to patiently move more into normalcy. When this happens, I believe that we will minister together in ways we never dreamt possible. The world will see our love for each other and it will speak volumes of our Savior whom we represent. We need to reach a hurting and dying world, but how if we do not understand, accept and help one another? 
 This is about you volunteering for ministry. In so many churches the routine is to recruit someone to do a ministry. We look at the person’s skills, ability and experience and recruit them. The trouble is that we do not take into consideration their personality traits and the resulting preferences they have. We hope that the result of this will be a better knowledge of where and how you want to serve the Lord so you can talk to those at your church about volunteering in a ministry that fits you best. What a joy, excitement and passion burns in our soul when we are serving God in a way that best compliments the way He has created us.

Personality Theory
 The study of temperaments, which was a primitive form of personality theory, goes back to the time of Hippocrates in 460-370 B.C and the Greek civilization.  In the late seventeen hundreds Kant again popularized temperament theory.  Personality theory, as we know it today, started in the early nineteen hundreds with great advances in the 1950’s.  Although he is more famous for his experiments with LSD and other mind expanding drugs, today much of  our personality testing has its roots in Timothy Leary’s famous study in 1957 at the Kaiser Foundation in Oakland, California. He was also joined by LaForge and Suzek’s study of the Interpersonal Check List. Leary’s diagram, known as CircumPlex, was illustrated by a circle with a vertical/horizontal grid in the middle. The grid’s vertical axis going north and south represented the opposites: Dominant and Submissive. This line intersected the horizontal axis, going east and west, which represented the opposites; Hostility and Affection. This landmark grid created a whole field of personality research resulting in many different variations of this early research.   
 There has been widespread use of personality study in Christendom. While I see the usefulness in the theory of personality traits and want to make some applications in this book, I am concerned about the oversimplification with the use of many personality tests. We are not automatons, programmed with a personality, and therefore destined to behave in certain predictable behavior. We have no excuse for poor interpersonal relationships simply because we are a certain personality type and may not be perfectly compatible  with someone having a different type personality.
 The Bible concerns itself with  a wide spectrum of personality traits. The beauty of the Bible is that it shows that all types of personalities can indeed live for God. There is no “perfect” personality. Rather, every human being is uniquely created and is responsible for their behavior before God. For example, people  representing all the personality types marry. Are anyone of them excused from being a good marriage partner? No, God is able to work through each of us, no matter what our personality type, using our strengths and helping us with our weaknesses. It is up to each individual to be responsible for their behavior.  With the help of the Holy Spirit and the fruit that it produces in our life, we are able to overcome any personality deficiency or overcompensation. All the personality traits, when lived in a responsible way, can be used for God.

Do you want to know more about your personality and ministry?

CLICK HERE to get your FREE DOWNLOAD of Your Personality and Ministry Workbook and Assessment.

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CLICK HERE to download your FREE Spiritual GIfts Test and workbook.

Determining Your Ministry Preference?

What Is My Ministry Preference?

 I can hear you now, “Do you mean I get to choose a ministry that I really want to do?” In this day when the only way to fill a need in the church is to spend hours on the phone trying to recruit someone, it seems rare that we are given a choice of where we really want to minister. Usually we have to fill a need that no one else will. Even if we go to a church that promotes volunteerism, often the choices are outside our interests or we don’t know how to choose what is right for us. The purpose of this book is to help the church, by equipping you to volunteer, to take the initiative and find or create a ministry that will best use who you are to the glory of God. The church is ripe with opportunity just waiting for the congregations across this country to take ownership of ministry.

What Ministry Is Best For You?
Vocational testing is a huge business today. Companies spend hundreds of millions of dollars every year trying to save on the billions of dollars lost in mis-hires. Some of the best tests are based on extensive research. Researchers find people in certain vocational fields and ask them for information on themselves. Interests, college majors, personality traits and other critical data is all gathered. The information is then studied looking for variables and commonalities. The goal is to extrapolate from the studies what are major predictors for someone going into the same field. From this tests are created. These tests are then given to people in the field and these test scores are studied. The goal is to come up with a high percentage of correlation between the test scores and certain vocations.
Wouldn’t it be great if we could give you a test to help you decide on a ministry? It certainly would be much easier for us to take the results of your tests and say, “Based on other people with your same profile you would be best at…” That would be it. You could close this book and we could sleep at night thinking that we have done our job. The problem is none of the vocational tests are anywhere near 100% predictive of your final result.  The best they can do is to show you what you could be good at. You may score high in science and math; therefore, they can predict that you would be good as a chemist, but they cannot tell you that you will be a chemist. Final results are much more complicated than that.
 To make it even more difficult, for most of us, our ministry is voluntary. This opens up so many more variables. For example, a good vocational test may say that you would be good in a medical profession. Let’s say that the vocational test was right. You indeed have chosen a medical field. You work long hours as a nurse. But that doesn’t mean that you want to have a medical ministry, too. By the time your shift is over, the last thing you want to do is volunteer at a clinic. Besides, your vocation may only tap into one of your passions. It may be that you would much prefer a music ministry. This is why we have created a preference test. Because of the complexities in helping people discover a ministry, we find it most beneficial if we help you with different processes of selection and elimination. Our goal is to help you figure out what ministries, at this point in time, you would prefer to be involved in.

What Is A Preference?
What makes you prefer one ministry over another? Many times it’s things that are totally unpredictable. Given a chance to choose, there are a myriad of reasons why we may prefer one ministry over another. It could be the level of perceived need, the leadership, circumstances, the team participating, your schedule or any one of hundreds of other variables. We have taken some of the more common variables and have broken them into three levels of consideration.

First Consideration-Seeing The Need
 One of the biggest considerations in choosing to get involved in a ministry is seeing the need. Notice that it is “seeing” the need. Need alone isn’t enough. Somehow the need has to make it into our consciousness and create a response.  What was the story of the Good Samaritan if not to illustrate that even “religious and seemingly moral leaders” can ignore an obvious need. 
 In 1964 in Queens, New York there was a crime that caught the attention of the whole country. It was the  stabbing death of Kitty Genovese. She was chased by her assailant for over half an hour and attacked viciously three times. But what made this so horrific, was the fact that there were 38 bystanders that saw the whole thing and not one of them called the police or helped rescue Kitty.  I remember the news story. America was in shock. Articles were printed in papers all across our country about the apathy that our overcrowded urban lifestyle had created.
 I can’t help but make the comparison to the church today. All around us are urban areas with great needs. Right in our own community are people that are lonely, hurting and not knowing Christ and yet as a church we are almost non-existent. We have absolved ourselves from social responsibility. Are there so many needs, so many activities, so many other things clamoring for our attention that we have become apathetic toward those that need our help? Malcolm Gladwell, the  author of The Tipping Point, suggests that there may be another reason for not reacting to the hurting needs of people around us.
 Gladwell writes about the research of two New York psychologists who tried to better understand what they called the “bystander problem.” They staged “accidents” and observed how groups of people would react. They watched the different variables and gathered information about each incident.  When they were through, one critical factor stood out. The one factor that seemed to make the biggest difference to whether a person would act or not, was the amount of people witnessing the event. They found that when people felt that others were watching, that someone else would take responsibility for what was happening. The more people witnessing the event the less a person felt that they needed to act. According to their research, responsibility for action gets diffused in large groups. The psychologist’s conclusion was that if Kitty Genovese’s attack was seen by only one or two people, it is probable that she may still be alive today!
 When I first read this account, I realized that this may help explain why we can have so many churches in America and yet still are not making a social or moral impact. Could it be that many of us don’t react to the needs around us because we feel someone else is doing something about it? Or do we really  believe that solving our spiritual, moral and social problems in this country is going to be done by someone else? Do we think that we are absolved from our responsibility to respond to the cries of those around us because there are so many listening? May God wake us up from this false thinking!
 I’m sure that some of those that heard the screams of Kitty Genovese were apathetic. No doubt, some were cynical, others too busy to stop, but chances are that most of those thirty-eight bystanders would have helped had they really known no one else was going to. They did not see the need, they did not perceive the criticalness of the situation.
 Now you and I cannot respond to every need around us, but we can allow the Lord to guide us and make us aware of those needs that we can help. There are two things that you and I can do that will allow us and our church to make a bigger difference in the community around us.

Step 1—Become a Need Finder
 First, we must commit ourself, as an individual and as a church, to be a “need finder”. We need to go out into the community and see it as Jesus sees it. We claim to know Christ yet we know nothing of His compassion and love for those around us. We need to do prayer walks, surveys, talk to people, read the paper, talk to the police and town officials. What are the needs? What are the needs today and what do we anticipate the needs will be in the future?
 What are the needs of the people in community, our neighborhoods  or the needs of the people that we work with? Make finding needs in the surrounding communities a church project. Create a bulletin board with lists, put suggestion boxes out  for people to put needs in, hand out cards to be filled out and put in the offertory. Get every small group and every Sunday school class involved. From the elementary student to the oldest member of the church, everyone must become a “need finder”. Make finding needs the top priority of the church for a month or maybe two.  The results will astound you. You will be amazed at the stories, the energy, the excitement as people uncover more and more needs. It will also break your heart. When is the last time we were broken hearted over the needs of our community? As we all start to see needs as Jesus does and we enlarge our list, we can move to the second phase, that is finding out what needs we should work with.

Step 2—Decide what needs we should work on 
 The second step to meeting needs is to decide what needs we should work with, both as a church and as individuals.  As we look over the list, we can begin to find out if others in the community are meeting the needs or not. This will allow us to become more aware of the circumstances around us and hopefully keep us from “assuming” that someone else is going to take care of the problem.
 We can let God speak to our hearts and begin to get a feel for what is “moving” us. Then we can do what good managers do.  We can do something about those needs that we feel we must, we can delay action on those that can wait,  we can defer or delegate some of the needs to other people, groups, churches or agencies that are already involved or more capable than us,  or if the need is already being met (or was not a real need in the first place) we can decide to drop the item.  
 The beauty of this system is that it takes responsibility to see that the real needs are attended to, by us or someone else. Can you imagine if every church, in every community worked together like this? What a witness we would have.

Second Consideration – What Can I Do To Make A Difference?
 It stands to reason that you will be happiest, and the most fulfilled, if your ministry preferences complement the way you are wired for ministry. Not only you, but the ministry will benefit too! If given a choice, it makes sense to minister in a way that best suits who you are.
 When looking over the lists of ministries that we have later in this workbook, it would be good to ask yourself:

 What ministries would use my Spirituals gift(s)?

 What ministries work with the causes that I am passionate about?

 What ministries seem to fit my skills and background?
  
 What could I picture myself doing that would get me out of bed on a Saturday morning?
 
 God has created us for ministry that takes full advantage of who we are, a ministry that uses  our skills, our likes, our Spiritual gifts and our desires. Let’s spend some time considering what those ministries would be.

Choosing a Ministry 
 So how does this work? How do we choose a ministry? We do it by considering the needs around us and matching them with our skills, abilities, spiritual gifts, experiences and preferences. We do this in an attitude of prayer, asking God to guide us and give us wisdom.  We have two tests for you to participate in. The first is a Ministry Preference Self-Assessment. We have listed ministries in broad categories for you to consider.  It will be the broad category that will first attract your attention. Within the category are many suggestions of types of roles that you could participate in. This is where your interests can be determined.
For Example
 The first category is Youth Ministry. Youth work may appeal to you so you pause to look at some of the suggestions of types of ministry within Youth Ministry. For the sake of an example, let’s say that you are already happy in a vocation so that rules out being a youth pastor. However, there are many other choices left. You see “retreat volunteer” and “church youth task committee member” and think, “Yes, these ministries really appeal to me.”  You would then circle both ministries and where it says “Your Score”, you would write an 8, 9 or 10 depending on how strong you felt about those ministries.
 If the different ministries listed on the test are close but made you think of something else you would prefer, that is not written down, by all means write down your suggestion and then score the larger category of Youth Ministry appropriately.  Scoring Youth Ministry high does not mean you want to do everything associated with the category. It means that the category is important to you and that there are specific ministries, as indicated, that you are very interested in.

Ministry Preference Self Assessment
Below is the list of church and local para-church ministries. Does the paragraph pretty well describe your feelings? Do any of the areas of service interest you? Please rate yourself on a scale 1 –5 (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so) and circle the ministries that you are interested in or add ministries of your own.

Youth Ministry (1)
 You like to work with young people. You believe in the great need for leaders and role models. You want to see the best programs for the young people and are willing to help any way you can. You relate well with teenagers and have their respect. You know about  adolescence; the fears, temptations, the struggles. You are willing to be patient, loving and pray for them.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Jr. high, high school or college age Sunday school teacher; youth director; youth counselor; Christian school teacher; camp counselor; youth night chaperone; host for youth activity; prayer supporter; church youth task committee member; retreat volunteer; games coordinator; volunteer on youth nights; driver to events; life skills mentor; tutor; support to parent/teen conflicts; drug counselor; big brother/sister; adolescent/family counselor; college/ career guidance counselor.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Children’s Work (2)
 Children are our future. You love to be with children and help them experience the love of Jesus. You have patience and a good sense of humor. Children like to be around you. You know about the different developmental stages and are able to help the child grow. You know how hard the parenting process is and feel great empathy for the parent(s).

Areas Of Ministry:
 Sunday school teacher; Christian Education Supervisor; nursery attendant; Christian pre-school or elementary school teacher; song leader; games director; VBS volunteer; Bible Club worker; MOPS volunteer; day care specialist; teacher; special education worker; pediatric medicine, child psychologist; family counselor; respite care.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Evangelism (3)
 You are burdened for the lost and  believe in being proactive with the sharing of the Gospel. You are willing to share your testimony, share the plan of salvation, distribute literature, whatever it takes. Your house is a place where you participate in friendship evangelism. You believe in reaching the community by helping them through need-based evangelism. At work you share the love of Christ through your life and in appropriate ways. You try to be a witness in the way you live so not to bring reproach against Christ. You feel the church should reach out to the neighborhood and are willing to help anyway that you can. You are burdened for the lost throughout the world.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Be on a church evangelism team; mission committee; set up literature distribution; teach evangelism; be a greeter at church, do visitation with new visitors; participate in door to door distribution of  literature on the church and/or gospel literature; do evangelistic preaching; work in community projects, meeting needs and sharing testimony; lead prayer meetings for evangelistic revival; work with other churches about area wide evangelistic campaign; support ministries that evangelize; assist the church with different evangelistic tools such as radio, literature and video.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Visitation Of Sick And Elderly (4)
 Your heart goes out to those who are shut in; you enjoy listening to people’s personal stories; you enjoy keeping people “caught up” with current events of the church; you have studied the development stages of aging and empathize with their situation; you find great joy in taking meals, helping house clean or doing yard work for those that can’t; you don’t mind taking someone to the store, to the hairdressers or out to eat somewhere; even though it breaks your heart you count it a privilege to pray for those that are dying and bring comfort anyway you can; you have a respect for those that have lived a full life and try to maintain dignity in their life, anyway you can.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Taking meals; driving people to appointments or take them shopping; setting up events; reading to an individual or a group; visit regularly at a nursing home; prayer regularly for shut-ins; advocate for the needs of the elderly in your church; set up a visitation team; organize work crews to help the elderly with home repairs; visit those that are sick from your congregation and pray for them; work at a retirement or nursing home; set up an emergency fund for those elderly on fixed income; bring the elderly to children’s events; set up luncheons and events for elderly; take appropriate church work to those that are shut-in so they can be a useful member.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Community Ministry (5)
 You are moved when you hear of the needs of others; you pray on behalf of the needy; you are action oriented and want to help anyway you can; you advocate with the church on behalf of those in need; you know about and volunteer to assist in community development programs; you are willing to mentor someone with needs; you give of your resources to those in need; you volunteer to be on committees to help in community projects; you believe that the church should witness to the community through getting involved and meeting needs, you get employers and other community leaders involved with the needs of the community.
Areas Of Ministry:
 Volunteer to help various community programs; organize the church to assist in a food pantry, clothes drive, urban mission trips; volunteer to help those in church with needs; represent various Christian community development programs to the church; start a mentoring program at the church; advocate for the needs of children such as child care, foster care and adoption; link your church with an international Christian Relief agency; give where you can to organizations that are working with the needy; start an after school safe place for children; get involved with families in need; organize church for blood drives; mentor teenage mothers; work for a local ministry that participates in mercy ministry; help with job readiness, retention and advancement training; provide summer jobs or internships; get involved in community politics to bring about changes; be a big brother or sister; open your home for temporary shelter; advocate for healthcare for the needy; work on affordable housing; adopt a family in need; teach parenting skills; be a home visitor; volunteer medical expertise; be an advocate for health issues; offer respite for those who do foster care; care for sick and elderly.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Administration (6)
 You know that it takes administration work to help a church or ministry function so you help where you can; you assist with office duties; you volunteer your accounting, marketing, office management, executive or clerical skills when needed; you help with acquisition of state-of-the-art office equipment.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Volunteer to help with mailings, answer phones or help with bulletins; help with accounting; assist with computers purchase, set-up or maintenance; assist in printing needs; set-up bulletin boards; volunteer assistance with web site; volunteer training in your field of expertise; assist in the marketing and advertising needs of the church; help assist a committee by setting up meetings; sending out timely announcements.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Leadership (7)
 You want to use your experience in management in the church or ministry; you want to see things done decently and in order; you do nor hoard over people but are a servant leader; you are willing to sit on committees and help anywhere you can; you pray for the pastor and church committees and for the director and staff of local ministries that you feel called to support; you stand ready to assist with leadership issues if needed; you consider it a sacred duty to be a Deacon or Deaconess and live according to I Timothy 3; you strive not to be overtaken with spiritual pride but serve as a leader remembering God’s grace and mercy; you keep up with the latest in church leadership materials, attend training when possible and disseminate what you learn to the rest of  the leadership.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Being a Elder/Deacon or Deaconess; serve on various committees; attend prayer meetings; meet regularly with the Pastor to pray; assist in leadership using your expertise; serve on Board of local ministry; participate in strategic planning and vision casting; help communicate vision for the church; assist in fund raising for the major projects in church or para-church ministry you are involved with.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Maintenance/Buildings/Grounds/Vehicles (8)
 You are concerned about supporting ministry through the use of equipment, buildings and vehicles; you believe in the importance of the church’s or local ministry’s appearance and the testimony it gives the neighborhood; you believe in excellence, within the fiscal limitation of the church or ministry.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Help keep vehicles running; set up maintenance schedule; volunteer to drive bus or van; help set up and/or tear down chairs, tables, equipment; be on a committee to assure safety of building, grounds, vehicles and their appropriate use; oversee janitorial crew; volunteer for painting, carpentry, repairing and landscaping duties; donate any specialized expertise that you have; use your network to try and help the church get quality service at a reasonable or discounted price; donate toward needed equipment.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Christian Education (9)
 You believe that the church body should know the Word and how to apply it to their lives; you like to teach; you have a passion for a specific Christian topic and like to share it; you like to find the best teachers for each class, one that knows how to best communicate to the audience; you have a good working knowledge of web-based teaching; you like to help in a Christian resource center and library; you believe that the church should be a resource to its people and strive to have the best educational resources possible. 

Areas Of Ministry:
 Set up a church library/resource center; teach Sunday school, adult home Bible studies, youth group or senior citizen groups; be a Sunday School superintendent; provide training seminar opportunities; provide teacher training; provide the best classroom equipment possible; strive to get others in the community to attend teaching sessions in the church; bring in specialized speakers to teach on relevant topics, represent learning opportunities to the church.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Counseling/Mentoring (10)
 You have empathy for those that are hurting emotionally and socially; you believe that many people can change if they are shown how; you know that situations are complex at best and try not to be overly simplistic in seeking solutions; you believe that God has sent the comforter so you seek to work through the Holy Spirit and the Bible in dealing with people; you believe in the power of mentoring and try to get involved in areas that you can make a contribution; you try to get others involved in mentoring and helping those that need technical, emotion or spiritual help; you believe in support groups where people can comfort and assist others from their own experiences.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Set up a counseling center and referral network; volunteer as a mentor in your area of expertise; organize self help groups; use your psychological and/or medical expertise to help in the church or para-church organization; help start appropriate support groups, meeting the needs of church and community; be a friend to those who are hurting and help them follow up on their therapy or mentoring; help educate the church on Biblical responses to the many emotional and social issues facing Christians today; coordinate prayer, small groups and accountability partners for those needing assistance.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Music (11)
 You believe that music is important to the church so you are willing to help anyway that you can; you know that not everyone has the same tastes so you maintain to be true to your calling while trying not to offend others; you believe that music has a wide range of uses and try to glorify God with all that you do.

Areas Of Ministry:
Participate in choir, band or orchestra; teach music; help in marketing music programs; assist as stagehand, lights, or sound; write music and/or lyrics; create or find good arrangements for performances at church; assist in a musical ministry, perform in musical group or as a solo.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Drama/Speech (12)
 You want to help communicate Biblical principles through the medium of drama and or speech; you realize that serving God is the highest calling so you strive to do your best for Him; you make your skills available for groups in the church; you are willing to coach others; you know that writing is a scared trust so you dedicate your craft to Him and pray for His guidance.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Perform in skits to illustrate sermons; perform in plays for special service; work with choir in performing musical; write dramas, skits and speeches to be used in church; direct dramas; tutor young people in acting; entertain children, elderly and other special groups; speak to different groups in church on various topics; assist in designing and building sets; work as a stage hand; assist in lighting and sound; sell tickets and help with marketing.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all,  5 = Very much so)   Your Score ______

Art (13)
 You use your creative force to serve God; artistic expression is something you really enjoy and you want to share it; you enjoy helping others learn more about their artistic self; you know that art is a way to make friends and reach out to non-church members.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Express yourself through the fine arts, crafts, poetry, graphics or other form of art; help decorate church; use graphics to help communicate; work on web site or presentations; create mural; teach/tutor art; create items to raise money; use your art as a way to befriend someone; communicate and minister through your art.
Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______
Adult Ministry (14)
 You have a burden for the adults and want to help them get assimilated into the church; you understand adult development and the differences in each generation; you desire to see adults involved in small groups; you seek to help in areas that you have experience and knowledge; you are a team player and want to work with the other adult ministries in the church; you have a passion for adults to be active in ministry; you believe that the church should be reaching out to adults in the community through various creative ministries.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Sunday school teacher; host home group meetings; one on one discipleship; lead support group for one of many topics relevant to needs in church and community; mentor adults; teach marriage seminars; assist in parenting skill training; help those that are suffering; be a lay-pastor over small group of adults; help with career set backs; coordinate your services with others in the church; set up career planning and job center in the church; be an adult counselor; host-small home Bible-fellowship group; participate in home visitation; plan social activities for various adult groups; set-up adult resource center.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Computer Technology (15)
 We are in the electronic age. You like to work with computers and software and believe that the church should take advantage of technology; you want to be able to help the church or para-church ministry using your skills; you believe in working with a team and understand that in a church there may be different opinions and want to work together for the glory of God; you realize that the church is depending on you so you finish your tasks in a reasonable turnaround time; you are professional in all your endeavors as a volunteer.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Setting up networks; work on web site; installing software; teaching software to staff; maintain the system; tutoring/mentoring people in computer skills; help computerize all areas of church ministry; help with web site; set up a computer learning center.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______
Food Service (16)
 You know the importance of food and the role it plays in fellowship and ministry. You believe in the importance of a good kitchen and fellowship hall and having adequate food service. You believe in service and the testimony that it gives to the community and those visiting the church. You want to make sure that weddings, celebrations, funerals, conferences, daycare and other crucial ministries get the food service they need.

Areas Of Ministry
 Participate on food service committee, volunteer to cook; help schedule events; volunteer to clean–up; help update and install new food service equipment; participate on regular basis in area of food service; plan meals and organize cooks.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Electronics/Sound/Video (17)
 You know that communications is a key to effective ministry. You believe in using electronics, sound and video to produce the best communications possible.

Areas Of Ministry
 Installation of new sound system; running sound for services; doing the camera work for a video; creating the story boards for an effective video; editing video; creating a complete electronic suite for the auditorium; managing the sound, light, video team for church services.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Missions (18)
 You believe that God has called us to go into the whole world to preach the gospel and as a church we should be involved in missions; you do what you can to keep the cause of missions in the forefront of church business; you take prayer and the raising of support for the missionaries as a scared trust; while the missionaries are on the field, you are an advocate for them.
Areas Of Ministry:
 Being on the Mission Board; praying faithfully for the missionaries; collecting gifts, supplies and support for those in the field; help missionary with furlough plans; work on annual Missions conference; coordinate short term mission trips for members of the church, circulate missions articles and stories to the church.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Pastoral Duties (19)
 You have a “call” in your life to oversee a congregation (or a specialized group like seniors, youth, prisoners, homeless, sport teams, mission groups etc.); you see preaching and teaching as a sacred call and therefore prepare diligently both in prayer and study before you preach or teach the Word of God; you take time to be with God so you can be the person that He wants you to be; you resist being proud and strive to be a servant leader; you trust God for your ministry and go where He is working; you like to assist in pastoral duties of visitation, comforting the hurting, welcoming new people and helping them assimilate into the church; assist in leadership and vision of the church.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Preaching; teaching; administration; overseeing the spiritual welfare of those entrusted to you; visit members of the church; perform various ceremonies, i.e. weddings, funerals, dedications, baptisms, communion; responsible for church services; contribute to the vision of the church; assist in the leadership.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______
Leisure and Recreation Ministry (20)
 You believe that church buildings should serve the church and community through leisure and recreational activities. You like to assist with sports programs like softball, basketball and soccer that help give the congregation an outlet and an opportunity to invite the community. You would like to assist in having cultural events on campus. You believe that the church can be a witness by providing wholesome, well organized and supervised sports programs for the community.

Areas Of Ministry:
 Using a gym and fields for  special events, sports and cultural activities; camping programs; senior day care program; Awana, Brigade, Pioneer programs; Upward Basketball; art training; exercise facilities, walking trails, boys and girl scouts, after school programs; and community center.

Using a  scale of  1 – 5, rate whether you feel you would like to serve in this ministry (1 = Not at all, 5 = Very much so)  

Your Score ______

Now that you know your preferences for ministry what next? 

Why not match your preferences to the way God has wired you? Your skills, passions, experiences? CLICK HERE to download your FREE copy of How Am I Wired For Ministry?

Do you know what your Spiritual Gifts are? If not CLICK HERE to download your FREE copy of a Spiritual Gifts Test and Workbook. 
 

WHERE SHOULD I SERVE? Solving the Ministry Puzzle

  Knowing where to serve in ministry has plagued many believers. We often find preachers challenge our motivation. If we loved Jesus then we would gladly serve Him. While I believe that statement is true I also believe that people honestly struggle with the question of how they should serve Christ. Unless we were asked it is safe to assume that many of us wouldn’t be volunteering at all. And even when we do, many of us are asked to do something that is not that challenging or even begins to tap into the skill, passion and experience that God has given us. The truth is many churches are not very creative in their selection of ministries you can get involved in. The purpose of this workbook is to help you (and your church) to think out of the box when it comes to ministry selection. 
 
Serving God In Everything We Do 
 God has put us on this earth to love Him and serve Him in everything we do. We can break “everything” into three different areas of personal responsibility. These are our vocation, our relationships and our volunteerism.

Vocation
 Vocation is a confusing term, yet if we are to fully understand ministry we must comprehend this important element of life. Vocation is related to what we do for employment. God deeply cares about the way you and I spend such a large part of our adult life. In fact God has designed us to be more happy, fulfilled and at peace at some jobs than others. This may sound foreign to you. Perhaps you  are stuck in some dead end job with no comprehension that God may have created you for something more meaningful, but He has!

Job, Occupation or Vocation?
 There is a big difference between a job, occupation and a vocation. Each of us has had a job, most of us an occupation and those of us who seek for it, get to spend our time with a vocation. There is a difference.
 A job is doing a task for pay or to fulfill an obligation. It is an exchange of your time and labor for something of monetary value.
 An occupation comes from the root word “to occupy” It is occupying your time with a job. It is more than a single task or project. It is the primary source of your income. It is what you are doing for a “living”. An occupation that requires more training and further education and specialization, such as a doctor or engineer, is often called a profession.
 A vocation, while similar to an occupation, is different in this one respect. It is an occupation or profession that fulfills what you consider to be your “calling” or ministry at this particular time in your life. It could be a teacher, nurse, CEO, artist, or simply being a good, loving and kind employee, ministering to those that you come in contact with. 
 Do you see the difference? So many of us are in an job or occupation where we are underemployed. We are working at a job that doesn’t utilize our skills, talents or passions. When this happens, our inner self demands that we step out by faith into a vocation, something that fits our calling, but most of us do not know how to do that. We are not sure what it is we should be doing. We only know that what we are doing doesn’t fit, and so we sit in a job that is unfulfilling day after day after day.

What is the difference between having a vocation and being underemployed? Let’s consider the four scenarios.

High Ministry/Low Pay
 In this kind of job we are involved in our “calling” through a ministry driven job, however it doesn’t pay very much. This is usually indicative of an entry level job in a field that strikes a cord with our core beliefs and values. In order for this job to become a vocation, we would have to work our way into more responsibility and pay increases, or we would have to be bi-vocational, supplementing our income some other way.  
 
High Ministry/High Pay
 The jobs in this catergory are considered “vocations”. They are jobs that fit our ministry in life and pay well, perhaps not as high as other choices but enough to allow us to live out ministry. 
 
Low Ministry/Low Pay
 Because of the low pay and lack of  a ministry orientation, jobs in this catergory are considered entry level or a supplemental part-time job. To support an adult life style we eventually need to find a job that pays more or supplement our income in some other way.

High Pay/Low Ministry
 When we stay in a job like this for too long, we will start to feel underemployed. We are getting paid well enough but cannot find peace, purpose or meaning in what we are spending most of our time on. Often we are trapped because we have a lifestyle that needs every penny we earn. To take a job that is more meaningful or better utilizes our gifts and skills but pays less doesn’t seem like an option. For us to make a leap to a more meaningful career would necessitate a tightening of our budget, some sacrifice and perhaps a second source of income. When we do, however, switch to a vocation, the peace, joy and fulfillment make any seemingly sacrifice well worth it.
 Our goal is to find  a vocation, but we will not be able to, until we understand and believe that God is vitally interested in who we are and what we do. We need to comprehend that our vocation is just as much a part of our ministry in life as working in the church. God does not see secular and sacred. He sees us as individuals “called” to live for Him in everything we do.
 
Relationships
 There is a false paradigm that many believe about their life ministry. They believe that God has put relationships farther down the list of priorities than ministry or vocation. I believed that. During our first ministry Janine, my wife, was absolutely miserable. Not because of the people we knew or the ministry but because of me. I mean it with all sincerity when I say that my wife is one of the most servant-hearted people I know. She has a deep faith and a love for ministry that I strive to imitate. The problem wasn’t with Janine; it was the fact that I was not doing my part to help provide for our emotional and financial needs. I had a warped view of ministry. I felt called to “ministry” and did not see that my relationship to my wife and children was just as an important part of my ministry in life as the ministry of preaching and teaching.  I felt that money was an unnecessary evil and that we could make it by on my salary. The fact was my monthly income  was way below the U.S. poverty rate.  I did not know how to discern what was a healthy response to my call to ministry. I had the misinformed view that it was God first, ministry second and my family third. I bought the sacred/secular lie. I felt that “church” ministry was more sacred than the other parts of my ministry in life. I did not even know that there were other parts of my ministry. If I had, I would have made healthier choices for my wife and children as to the use of my time and acquiring the funds for our modest budget.
 Our relationships with God, family, church and community are part of God’s ministry in our life. We should apply the same zeal, passion, energy and strategy to these as any other part of our ministry. We need to ask God, “How can I use my passions, strengths and gifts to bless each of the relationships that I am in.” This is part of God’s ministry for our life.

Volunteerism
 The third part of our ministry in life is the area of volunteerism. Volunteerism, is the delegating of our discretionary time, income and resources to causes that are important to us. God has created each of us differently; therefore, we each have different interests and priorities that can be lived out in ministry to others.
 For many people church experience has been relegated to  Sunday with its worship and Biblical preaching. Others include small group Bible studies and fellowship. While these are very important, there is a service element that is missing. Unfortunately, the 80/20 rule has been alive and well in the church. Surveys claim that less than 30% of the people attending churches in America are involved in any ministry at all. As a result of this inactivity, the church has lost much of its influence in the world. But there is hope. I see a trend that is slowly growing. In the 1980’s it was the “Unleashing the Church” movement that woke some churches up. In the 90’s and today there has been Willow Creeks’ Connection and Saddleback’s Purpose Driven Church programs teaching thousands of churches how to get their members “assimilated” into the church and ministry. Frazer Memorial Church in Montgomery, Alabama, has been teaching churches their system they use to get over 90% of their members involved in ministry. And today there is a church that has taken this to a new level.
 Pastor Robert Lewis of the Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas has chronicled the last four years of their church’s ministry in a book called, The Church Of Irresistible Influence. This is a wonderful account of how a church, who was already heavily involved in a community, decided to go to a higher level of influence.
 Dr. Lewis came to their “Big Idea” at a leadership retreat in the winter of 1996. They attempted to assess the health of their church. It seemed odd because they seemed successful. They grew from a small group in 1977 to over  3,500 attending on Sunday. They had helped plant fifteen churches and had been in a continuous building expansion for over ten years.
 What created the change was when someone at the meeting asked if they were helping change the community.  Someone then read from Matthew 5:16 where Jesus says:
 Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.
 
 It was that verse that started them on a process of becoming the light in their community. They wanted to be a “church of irresistible influence!”
 As a result of that meeting, Fellowship Bible Church took three steps that have led them down a road of tremendous personal growth of their members and significant outreach into the community.
 The first step was confession. Fellowship Bible needed, as individuals and as a church, to confess that they had not been the witnesses of God’s love that they should have been. How about us? Have we, and the church we go to, been the effective light in the world around us? Does the community glorify God because of our existence? Are there people in the community who have come to know Christ because of our love and compassion? If not, then we need to repent. We need to see our lack of action as God sees it. We need to see it as a sinful selfish distortion of what God intended. He intended each of us to minister together to a hurt and dying world right at our back door. When we truly see our sin, when we really feel the pain that our disobedience has brought the Father, when we see that it is “I” who has missed the mark and that together, “we” have not taken “good works” to our community, then God will be able to take us to the next step.
 Fellowship Bible Church’s next step was to “Vision”, that is to see what God wanted them to be. Looking through the New Testament they came up with three guidelines for a vision for their church. They desired to be:  
 A church that has a passion for Jesus Christ and evangelism.
 A fellowship with high moral standards.
 A church that is loving their community through good deeds so much  that people in the community are amazed!
  
 The final step for Fellowship Bible, was to unleash people with purpose. This was a specific plan to give people exposure to various ministries so they could eventually participate in one. Over time, as the congregation became excited about ministry, the church would get a sense of God’s leading in church-wide strategic investments into different ministries. These would be serious sacrificial and strategic investments of time, energy and money.
 At Calvary we set out to build an atmosphere for ministry revolution. Volunteer committees were created to drive the process. It is incredible to watch people use the business skills they have acquired and temper them with the leading of the Holy Spirit. First they created a five year vision by evaluating needs and creating goal connected to a time table. They decided to become more purpose driven and began to make incremental changes. We incorporated an annual, Every Person In Ministry Campaign, resulting in many more people becoming involved in ministry. As a staff, we created a ministry environment where people could feel free to test out new and refreshing ideas, to think out side of the box. People were encouraged to become “need” finders and then create ministries meeting the various needs. Existing ministries were asked to revisit their mission and create new ministry goals plans and budgets based on the new five year plan..  The results have been a dramatic. There is an energy and excitement for ministry. It is unbelievable what volunteers are doing.

Our Life Is A Journey, Ask God For Wisdom
 Usually when we consider our ministries in life, we think that the answer will be simple, concrete and easy to understand. We want a voice from heaven saying, “You will be this” or “ you will do that.” But that is not how it works. Life is too complicated for a simplistic description of our life’s ministry. No, our life is a journey and whether we are hiking, sailing or flying a rocket ship the journey is never a straight line. The way to get from here to there is to constantly recorrect our course. We travel until we start to veer off course and then we check our bearings and make the necessary adjustments to get back on course. This allows us to focus on the day’s journey with all of its complexities, disruptions, and unexpected detours and still make our final destination.
 I sure learned about correcting our course in wilderness training. We would be given a compass, a map, and destination to get to. Determining the direction we needed to go, we would start to hike. It would not be long before we would be off course. It was inevitable. Large trees, ponds, creeks, cliffs would all cause slight and sometimes dramatic variations in the direction we were going. We learned that it was best to set our compass and pick something not too far away, right on the straight line we had to go, as a marker. As long as we kept that marker in our vision and arrived there, all we had to do was line up the compass in the direction we had to go and choose the next marker. We may have been veering off course on our way to the marker, but when we reached it we would realign our journey in the correct direction and off we would go again.   
 You may be thinking, “Ron, it’s too late, I am way off course, I’ve gone the wrong way! I can’t minister for God.” Oh, yes you can! My wife has a bumper sticker on her car that says, “God allows U-turns!” Isn’t that true? God knows that a life of ministry is difficult and that we can get off course, even go the wrong way but Praise God, He allows u-turns, He helps us recorrect our course.  We can ask God to give us wisdom and show us the way.
  In Proverbs 2:1-10, Solomon writes about seeking wisdom and understanding. He writes,

 My son, if you accept my words and store up my commands within you, turning your ear to wisdom and applying your heart to understanding, and if you call out  for insight and cry aloud for understanding, and if you look for it as for silver and search for it as for hidden treasure, then you will understand the fear of the LORD and find the knowledge of God.
 For the LORD gives wisdom, and from his mouth come knowledge and understanding. He holds victory in store for the upright, he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless, for he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. Then you will understand what is right and just and fair—every good path. For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul.
 
 This was designed to help you seek wisdom and understanding about your involvement in ministry. It was created to help you learn all about yourself so you can constantly recorrect your course. Ask God to open your mind so you will have understanding about your ministry in life.
  
 Lord, I pray that you will open my eyes that I may see how you made me and how I can best serve you. I pray that I will have a better understanding of my ministry and be faithful to live my life for you. In Jesus Name, Amen.

 So what is stopping us? Let’s get our map, strike out a course and recorrect when we have to. The thrill is in the adventure. May God help each of us to see how we were created for ministry and give us the courage to launch out and start serving Him. 

There is no limit to what God could do as you and the others in your church are Spirit led in the use of these gifts. What are some ways that you can use your gifts? You can find out more about that in our workbook How Am I Wired For Ministry?  CLICK HERE for your FREE download of How Am I Wired for Ministry.

Want to know more about Spiritual Gifts? Download your FREE copy of our Spiritual Gifts Test and Workbook.  CLICK HERE for a Spiritual Gifts Test and workbook

You Can Make A Difference As A Social Entrepreneur

Social Entrepreneurs
 There is a phrase used more and more in business magazines. It is called “social entrepreneurs”. In the non-profit arena, it is used one way, and in the business world, there is another meaning. The non-profit use of the term “social entrepreneur” is where a charitable organization learns how to apply entrepreneurism to their core competencies and create an income stream that will help support their charitable agenda. For example, a thrift store not only provides jobs and job training, it also helps defray part of the cost of a job-training program. A homeless shelter in Chicago has started a landscaping business that gives the men training and a job. It also brings in enough money to pay for the training and supervision of the program. More and more social agencies are creating companies large enough to support their whole ministry without any significant need for donations.   
 The more traditional use of the term “social entrepreneurism” is from the business world. It is regarding an entrepreneur or a company that uses its skills, resources and network to do social good. The entrepreneur interested in social causes wants to use his or her entrepreneurial skills and knowledge to help a charity. It is more than giving money. Because of his or her business savvy, he or she wants to be more “hands on” by consulting with the organization, networking, donating non-cash gifts, endorsing the charity and sometimes involvement in the governance of the organization. The combination of large donations and business acumen is bringing refreshing results to charities across the nation.
 I have done this. It seems each year I do pro-bono work on Boards or in creating fund raising plans for organizations. I have helped organizations do visioning, thereby recharging their ability to raise funds. In community development, an entrepreneur’s opportunity to do pro-bono work is even larger. There is  opportunity to help create businesses, build enterprise zones, employ people, help educate others in business and entrepreneursism,  and help build housing developments. For a Christian entrepreneur who wants to help spread the gospel by meeting the critical needs of others, does it get any better than this? To me, there is nothing more exciting than using my entrepreneurial gifts to help a local church reach out to those in need in their own community. This is the love of Christ in action.
 This is where we want to see the church involved. We want churches to encourage and partner with those in their congregation that are business people, entrepreneurs, managers or company owners. This is a chance to collaborate with volunteers from the congregation and do something significant in distressed neighborhoods.  The church can help nurture this new breed of Christian “venture philanthropists”, encouraging them to leverage with their donations in new and exciting ways. This is what I call Social-Driven Capitalism.
 
Social-Driven Capitalism
 There are new ways of making charitable contributions that seem to be more of a win-win for those that own or manage corporations. I call this new philanthropy “social-driven capitalism”.

Charity Event Cause Marketing
 “Cause marketing” is different than traditional business philanthropy that gives donations and receives some press and recognition. In cause marketing, like traditional philanthropy, a business also gives a donation. However, with cause marketing, the company uses a fine tuned marketing campaign taking advantage of the market exposure and the extra emotional linkage with the consumer to move product sales. Sponsorship of events was the first form of cause marketing. Sponsoring a charitable event was a real way that business could give to an non- profit organization and receive some marketing exposure in return. This took its cue from secular sponsorship where companies used marketing dollars to gain market exposure. The biggest example of this is NASCAR. The cars and driver uniforms are multicolored billboards of corporate sponsorship. Sporting events are very effective at using sponsorship as well. NIKE and Gatorade were companies that brought this sports sponsorship marketing to the forefront. 
  Today cause marketing has become a major form of fund raising for larger charities. Donations from companies can come in the form of a percent of the sales of the product, or the money given for a sponsorship at a fundraising event. Either way, the charity is getting a great donation and tremendous awareness of their organization. The business in return is marketing their product while building customer loyalty through the good will resulting from being seen as a philanthropist toward the cause.
 The organization that put “cause” promotional marketing and sponsorship in the charity world on the map was The Children’s Miracle Network. I was at World Relief doing a national cause-marketing project with coin banks in supermarkets, discount chains and convenient stores. I was able to see Children’s Miracle Network in action first hand as they approached the same stores I had coin banks in. In the years that followed, I witnessed the “cause marketing” industry grow into a moving force in philanthropy.
 Traditionally a cause-marketing “sponsor” would get good “press” and recognition. The grandfather of this approach is Jerry Lewis’s telethon. Children’s Miracle Network took it to the next level. They increased the “win” for the sponsoring company. They put together in-store campaigns with well coordinated advertising, point-of-purchase displays and couponing though newspaper circulars. This marketing combination would  dramatically move more product. As a result of increased sales it was easier and easier to find sponsors and stores that wanted to get involved. The Children’s Miracle Network model set a whole new standard in the industry. Today, rather than simply looking for charitable partners that can help them win over the affections of those who believe in the “cause”, sponsors want an increase in sales as a result of the campaign.

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Does your company do something to make a difference? Respond to this post and we will collect them and put them into a PDF booklet for everyone to learn from.

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Company-Based Cause Marketing
 Instead of looking for a charity-event or a cause-marketing campaign, some companies want to incorporate a cause into their company ethos. Perhaps the best known examples of a company using charitable causes as part of their marketing campaign are Ben and Jerry Ice Cream and The Body Shop. They were certainly among the first. Both companies let their customers know that part of the product sale would go to the causes that they were promoting. The difference between this and the Children’s Miracle Network is that the Children’s Miracle Network is perceived as being involved in an annual-event type of campaign, whereas Ben and Jerry and the Body Shop present their charitable causes all year long as part of their mission. So during Thanksgiving when customers bought their turkeys at the Children’s Miracle Network display in the front of a grocery store, part of the proceeds went to the CMN. However, anytime customers bought a hand lotion from the Body Shop, they were actually helping save the rainforest. There was no doubt in their mind.

For-Profit Companies for Charity (Venture Philanthropy)
 The next wave of charitable corporate giving has been popularized by Paul Newman and his “Newman’s Own” brand name products. Instead of a portion of sales going to the cause, the products were advertised as all of the profits going to charity! This is an example of a for-profit company that was created for a charitable reason. In the August 7, 2001 issue of USA Today there was an article called Ben & Jerry, Co-founder to Try ‘Venture Philanthropy’. The article featured three companies that were created to raise money for charitable causes. One was Newman’s Own. The article wrote:

 Actor Paul Newman was a pioneer of venture philanthropy. Newman’s Own, co-founded by Newman to peddle salad dressing, has grown into a food products behemoth.
 It also gives away its profits. The 19 year-old company, based in Westport, Conn., annually sells $100 million worth of popcorn, lemonade, ice cream and oil-and-vinegar dressing.
 It has donated $115 million for hunger relief, for medical research and to fund camps for seriously ill children.5
 
The USA Today article also featured Ben Cohen, of Ben and Jerry, getting involved in this same form of venture philanthropy. Ben Cohen’s goal is to buy companies in low-income neighborhoods. He then wants to raise wages and improve other employee benefits.
 In his first deal, Cohen used his Barred Rock Fund to buy Sun and Earth, a cleaning products maker, in partnership with a non-profit corporation. The article reported:

 The fund owns 80% of Sun and Earth with its partner. The remaining 20% was set aside for employees. Sun and Earth wages were raised as much as 23%. Employees will get company benefits for the first time. All profits will be used to buy other companies, which will be run the same way. Cohen also says that he is giving management advice.6
 
 Another company that the USA Today described was Pura Vida. John Sage, a former Microsoft executive, created Pura Vida, a coffee retail company in Seattle. Sage co-founded the company with a ministry helping poor children in Costa Rica where the coffee is exported.

 Like Cohen and other wealthy entrepreneurs, Sage, 40, wants to use capitalism for charitable good by leveraging his business skills. ‘I wasn’t content to sit on the sidelines and be a passive philanthropist,’ Sage says.

Pura Vida is Internet-based and has 17 employees and expects almost $1 million in revenue this year. All it’s profits will go to charity. So far it has given $200,000 to needy families in Costa Rica, a major coffee exporter, for food, clothing and medicine.7

This is an exciting new trend and one that we believe the church and its members should be involved. I have seen many sucessful Christian business people wonder what they could do with some of their profits. Some have worried whether riches would spoil their children, so they set up foundations that will help charities and allow their children to learn philanthropy. Though this has been very successful, I would like to see it raised to another level. Why not create a company for the Lord? Let the children participate by running it. This company could produce jobs in needy areas for those in the community, helping residents earn good living wages. Profits could be given back to community through its local schools, churches and agencies. Taxes could help build community infrastructure. Small businesses to support this new commerce would be an off shoot of this new local entrepreneurship. While the Christian entrepreneur helps with their company, the church could work in the community assisting social agencies, organizing construction and rehab projects, participating in mentoring programs and job training. There are sundry ways to help in the revitalization of the community.

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This was taken for our booklet Compassionate Capitalist. CLICK HERE for your free download.

We Must Stop Rationalizing Away the Poor

The truth is that reading about the poor and needy can make a person, that has the comforts of this life, feel uncomfortable. Too often, instead of taking this discomfort and channeling it into constructive energy to help someone’s situation, we try to figure out ways to explain the plight of the poor so we can feel better about our own good fortune. These are often disguised in myths, generalizations and stereotypes about those in need. How many times have we heard, and perhaps even propagated, remarks like, “Those people are lazy”, “They don’t want to work.” “They are living large off of the welfare.” “It’s their own fault.” “They don’t want to change.” Or even worse, “They deserve what they get.”

The fact is, for most of the poor these stereotypes simply are not true! We need to look at the facts and then examine our hearts. We need to repent of our apathy and start to do something to change the plight of so many right here in our country.

Responding To A Great Need      

Jesus tells a moving story about a person who was robbed, wounded and left for dead on the road that led to Jericho. Both a Priest and Levite, when they saw the wounded man on the road, walked around him and kept going. They decided not to do anything. This story was told to shock and alarm us. It goes against everything we know about the love of God and how people that profess to know this love should act. We have similar experiences to the Priest and Levite that Jesus talked about. How many times have we gone to work, festivals or sporting events, regularly passing areas of the city that are underdeveloped, full of people in great need and yet we do nothing. Survey after survey point out that well over 70% of the people in churches listening to sermons every week are not involved in any ministry. The results go much lower if we ask for those involved in helping those in need outside the four walls of the church.  As Christians we often pride ourselves in following the tithe. But do we really understand what God is asking of us? In Deuteronomy 14 it says: 
 

At the end of every three years, bring all the tithes of that year’s produce and store it in your towns, so that the Levites and the aliens, the fatherless and the widows who live in your towns may come and eat and be satisfied, and so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. ‘If there is a poor man among your brothers in any town of the land that the Lord your God is giving you, do not be hardhearted or tightfisted toward your poor brother. Rather be openhanded and freely lend him whatever he needs.

‘Be careful not to harbor this wicked thought, ‘The seventh year, the year for canceling debts, is near’ so that you do not show ill will toward your needy brother and give him nothing. He may then appeal to the Lord against you, and you will be found guilty of sin. Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then God will bless you in all your work and in everything you put your hand to. There will always be poor in the land. Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

The Wounded On The Side Of The Road

Ron Snider, in his book Just Generosity, writes a powerful introduction about the plight of the average poor in America. He writes:

What would it be like to live as a family of four in the United States on $16,530 a year? That’s the poverty level in the richest nation on earth. 36 million people struggle to survive at or below this level.

Try to imagine what your family, or a family you know best, would need to give up to exist on $16,530 a year. Begin by selling your house and moving to a modest two-bedroom apartment ($525 a month including heat). No more study, recreation room, bedroom for each child, second bathroom, backyard, or porch. If you are willing to live in a lower-income, multiracial neighborhood, you might be able to buy a small house.

Next, sell all your cars. You don’t have a garage anyway. You can get around on public transportation, or perhaps you can afford an old car, if you have a friend who can make necessary repairs and you purchase only liability insurance. Either way, you will be able to spend only $45 a week on transportation.

Forget about being in fashion. New clothes each season are unthinkable; Nike sneakers are out of the question. If you visit the local thrift store for most things, buy sturdy shoes, and use winter coats for several years, you can probably get by on $380 per person a year.

You will no longer be able to afford to eat at restaurants. You will have to figure out how to avoid hunger and stay healthy on just a little more than $1 per meal per person.

No more regular phone calls to Grandma, other relatives, or friends in other cities. Your telephone budget is just $25 a month.

And be sure to turn off the lights when you leave a room because you have only $40 a month for all the utilities not included in your rent.

Let’s review:

Housing $6,300

Utilities $  780

Food $4,800

Transportation $2,340

Clothing $1,580

Social Security taxes $  788    

TOTAL (yearly) $16,528 

Please notice what the budget does not include: No household appliances, no vacations, no toiletries, no birthday or Christmas gifts, no recreation, no visits to the dentists, no private health insurance, no donations for church, no child care, no movies, no travel outside the city, no private music lessons, no sports equipment for the children.

Poor people, of course, do have some of these things. However unthinkable from a middle-class perspective, somehow they manage to spend less on some of the other items or receive help from family, friends or church.

This is what millions of our neighbors struggle with year after year with little hope for improvement. In addition to scraping by financially, many poor people face terrible schools, widespread crime, and a lack of quality health care. More than 43 million do not even have health insurance.

God commands us to be openhanded toward the poor and needy. Do we believe this? Is this part of our theology? Do we realize that there are broken and torn down neighborhoods in need of repair? When it comes to salvation and preaching the Gospel, we believe that “God so loved the world.” Then why is it when it comes to helping someone with the basics in life, we are slow to react? This is not what God wants. As we search the scriptures to find our responsibility to the poor, sick, suffering, and those unjustly treated we will see that, like with evangelism, God has told us to go into all the world and do something about it. Have you seen those, not that far from your home, that are suffering, struggling to barely get by, victims of crime and injustice, as people that Jesus loves? Do we hear Jesus say, “In as much as you cared for the least of these, you have cared for me?” Are we willing to say, “Here am I Lord, send me”? 
 

We are calling upon the Church to join in a revolution to rebuild impoverished communities

We are calling upon the Church to join in a revolution to rebuild impoverished communities through:

Church Ministry Partnerships
 We call upon the Church to get involved in helping rebuild communities by partnering with their sister churches in impoverished neighborhoods. This can be accomplished through assisting in neighborhood evangelism, building adequate facilities, aid in mercy ministries and support in any teaching or pastoral capacity if needed.

Eradication of Poverty
 We call upon the Church to get involved in helping rebuild communities by the eradication of poverty. This can be accomplished through assisting local churches in job training, placement, retention and advancement. We can also assist these sister churches by mentoring, teaching job skills and helping create entrepreneurial opportunities. We can advocate for fair living wages and affordable daycare.

Quality Education
 We call upon the Church to get involved in helping rebuild communities by partnering with communities to help provide quality education. Whether it is assisting local churches to provide alternative education or working with existing schools through facility repairs, tutoring, after school homework centers, summer learning academies, churches can aid in quality education to the children of the community.  

Affordable Housing
 We call upon the Church to get involved in helping rebuild communities by assisting in the clean up of neighborhoods, remodeling distressed properties, building of affordable homes and mentoring potential new home owners.

Youth Programs
 We call upon the Church to get involved in helping rebuild communities by partnering with their sister churches and assisting where needed in the provision of day care, youth programs, educational enhancement and parenting training.

Assisting the Elderly
 We call upon the Church to get involved in helping rebuild communities by partnering with their sister churches in providing elder care, senior housing, and adequate health provisions.

Health Care
 We call upon the Church to get involved in helping rebuild communities by partnering with sister churches and making sure that quality affordable health care is available to all members of the community.

What Then Is Our Response?
When we look at Acts at the very birth of the Church, how can we consider living any different than they did? In Acts 2:42-47 it says:

 They devoted themselves to the apostle’s teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. Everyone was filled with awe, and many wonders and miraculous signs were done by the apostles. All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
 
 Again in Acts 4:32, the scriptures say:
  
 All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and much grace was upon them all. There were no needy among them. For from time to time those who owned lands or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone as he had need.

You Are The Church. What Are You Going To Do?
There has never been a better time to get involved in community development. Municipalities are looking for assistance in the face of an over burgeoning social issues and shrinking revenue. What if churches would work together in entrepreneurial ways and create results? What if the impact of a sustained evangelical community development project reduced crime, teen pregnancy and lowered the recidivism of people back into the penal system? What if faith-based economic initiatives and mixed-income housing actually did bring back the economy to distraught communities? What if we could rebuild neighborhoods without displacing the poor? What if churches again became vibrant assets to a community in which it was located? Maybe then not only we, but the world would understand what Jesus meant when He said, “Let your light so shine before men that they may glorify your Father in Heaven.”

Taken from Ron Ovitt’s book Close To The Heart Of God. To learn more about making a differnce go to www.layministry.com

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