By: Annie
When we talk about serving at church or leadership, it’s often focused on what people aren’t doing. Look at all these vacancies. Why aren’t more people stepping up? If you’d only put your trust in God, you could do great things. I’m not saying there’s no value in that line of thinking, but what’s another way of looking at it? What are people doing?
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According to Sam, the Children’s Ministry is run by about 70 volunteers and more than half of them are taking a break due to burn out or their personal lives are changing. I could say the same thing about every ministry at ET. People are frustrated, burning out, or growing up (getting married, buying homes, having babies, moving away).
I can’t help but wonder if the challenges we face with serving are because we’re too focused on our “pursuit of happiness.” That’s not to say that having a life outside of church is bad or that anyone who needs a break is being unreasonable. God created us to work and have family and friends; He also wants us to find rest because He cares about our well-being. My question, though, has more to do with how we approach life.
“Successful people” tell us that if we’re passionate about our work, we’ll never work a day in our lives. Personality tests affirm us in our strengths thereby justifying our weaknesses; “I’m not a math person” or “I’m not creative.” To me, they all say the same thing: if it doesn’t make you happy, don’t do it. So we shrink away from challenges in life or offset unfulfilling experiences with happy ones; in doing so, I fear we miss out on experiencing God.
We’re currently thinking about cancelling Fall Fest this year. Everyone approached to get involved said they’d love to help, but they won’t be the lead organizer. Putting warranted personal reasons aside, what else is holding you back? Maybe that question makes you uncomfortable and you’d rather focus on things that make you feel good about yourself. I wonder if we faced the uncomfortable truths on all sides and surrender it all to God, maybe, together, we’ll all gain a better understanding of what sustainable ministry looks like.