To me one of the most important things that will determine if we meet our goals or not, and accomplish the things we want, is our personal growth. While there is much to be said about things we can do to help with personal growth, I think one of the most important things is self evaluation. Not being always critical of yourself, but evaluating and learning from both your failures and successes. I have heard it said that if you don’t learn from your mistakes, you are doomed to repeat them. I tend to be a little bit of a perfectionist, and can be hard on myself, but it helps me a lot when I take some time and just think and reflect on things that I have learned. The past four years working in Bolivia has taught me many things and as I reflected on those things recently, there were several that seemed to stick out. Maybe they will help you as they have helped me.
1. The importance of personal growth
This might seem obvious with what I just wrote but in reality if you are not intentional you will not grow. Our personal growth comes first off from the Lord and allowing Him to work in our lives. We must work to have a close relationship with Him and walk with Him and in His word daily. Also we must be willing to learn from others. It is very important to be constantly reading good books, listening to podcast, asking questions, anything that will help you grow. I usually try to read books, or listen to podcast about everything from preaching and the Bible to leadership to marriage and finances, and even general topics that interest me. All of these things help me both grow and be more rounded as I minister to others. So every spare moment I have, whether in the gym, running, traveling, or sitting in an office waiting I try to always have something in hand that I can be learning from. Here are a few ideas of at least a few podcasts that I recommend. Leadership with Vision (Austin Gardner), Rainer on Leadership (Thom Rainer), This is your life (Michael Hyatt), EntreLeadership (Dave Ramsey), Stuff you should know, TED Radio Hour.
2. The importance of focusing on men
I heard it said once that the success of our ministry is not in how many we have or keep but in how many we send. Some of the largest ministries that I have seen, when they come to the end of the principle leaders time there, just fall to pieces or die because there is no one to continue on or take their place. This can be seen especially on the mission field because our main goal is not to pastor a church but to prepare someone else to take our place and be the pastor. Unfortunately many missionaries, when they come to the end of their term and need to return for a furlough, don’t have anyone to take their place and either have to stay or bring someone in from another ministry. I am not being critical because we have experienced this personally and therefore I think I can speak honestly about how important it is. There is not time or space to go into how we go about preparing these men here, but if you would like more information, go to www.worldevangelism.net and click on articles or podcasts. By the way this is not just for missionaries because all of us are called to perfect the saints. The main thing is to realize the time and effort that needs to be put into reaching and training men to serve God wherever you are. There are many responsibilities in the ministry but few more important than investing in training men.
3. The amount of time it take people to grow.
If we are honest we all probably have many things in our lives that we still need to work on regularly, so if you take a person starting from zero it really takes a lot of work and time to help them grow to maturity. Now I know that the Lord is who has to do the work in a persons heart and life but he has also called us to perfect the saints and provoke to love and good works just to mention a few. It has always amazed me that we are expected to spend four years in Bible College to prepare after growing up in a Christian home while we think that men who have grown up in a pagan society can be mature and ready for the ministry in only a few months. Before we arrived in Bolivia, I had already planned how many churches we were going to start in the first year and how many pastors we would have and then when we arrived on the field I realized how large the task was that lay before us. If you have ever spent much time in the ministry you know the frustrations that come when you work and work and not many seem to respond and having one person after another not “turn out”. The key is to stay true and stay at it and you will see some men begin to grow and step up for the ministry. So, if you take on the task of doing the ministry, trying to make disciples, just realize that it’s a long term investment.
4. The importance of spending valuable time with family.
Referring back to number 2 the one ministry that I can say that is more important than any other is our family because after all without our family we don’t have a ministry. Life on the mission field or in any ministry can be trying for even the strongest marriage and family. Balancing family and ministry is not easy and like personal growth if we are not intentional it won’t happen. While I don’t think there are easily defined lines to determine how much time we should spend in the ministry and how much we should spend with our family, I know that as I learned in Bible College “God given duties don’t conflict”. There is always going to be some sacrifice in one area as you might need to focus on another, but we can never let one go so much that it begins to suffer. So while we might have to spend some extra time working at church or with our people at times, we must determine to spend valuable and quality time with both or spouse and children. Always have a date night once a week or at the most two and schedule time in your calendar for vacations and time to spend with your children just playing. Time passes too fast and the lost moments can’t be gotten back.
So as you take some time every so often to reflect over the last few months or years, ask yourself,”What have I learned, what could I have done differently, where am I going to work to be better in the future?”. It will only take a few minutes but could change the course of your life and ministry forever. I would love to hear some of the lessons that you have learned recently in your own life. If there is something in particular that has made a difference, let me know.