Considering Busyness in Ministry

No doubt about it, ministry is time consuming. Some people think we read books all day (yes, I read plenty of books- that is part of my job responsibilities). There are also plenty of meetings, during the day and in the evening and sometimes on weekends. There are phone calls, e-mails, personal counseling, working lunches…

Ministry takes time. I don’t say that to make it sound like pastors are busier that other people. I say it because some people think it isn’t. And that busyness can be a problem. Being too busy is one of The Mistakes Leaders Make.

“… it seems that most leaders are moving too fast and trying to do too much. There is precious little time set aside to think, pray, plan, and listen to the Lord.”

Ministry is more than doing. Leadership is about more than doing things. It is about setting a pace, a direction and a tone. And if you do that intentionally (thinking, praying, planning), it will just happen and when that happens the results are usually not pretty. The pace becomes too fast, there is no real direction and the tone is “don’t bother me now.” It happens in parenting, and it happens in ministry.

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Notes to Leaders from Jack Miller- 2/27

“Think much of the Savior’s suffering for you on that dreadful cross, think much of your sin that provoked such suffering, and then enter by faith into the love that took away your sin and guilt, and then give your work your best.”

Vision: “What I would stress, then, is that a man of vision gets his vision only in and through prayer.  Only prayer with a goal of glorifying God at any cost can give God’s vision to a man or woman. … Hindrances there are.  One of these happens to be reservations in our hearts about the nature and character of His will for our lives.”

“One evidence of the Spirit’s presence in our lives is our seeing where we really are and admitting it to others.  One cannot make progress in life or ministry without being a forthright and forthcoming person. … Especially I am likely to discover I am not doing things for God’s glory and out of delight and fellowship with Him, but out of half-concealed self-interest and self-glorying.”

From The Heart of a Servant Leader: Letters from Jack Miller

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