II
Timothy 1:6-9
Many people promise to provide the secret to a
successful pastoral ministry. Conferences, curricula, and consultants like to
offer products for discouraged pastors. Attend this conference and you will
come away with a ministry-changing model. Purchase this curriculum and you will
regain interest. Listen to this expert who can diagnose your problem and lead
you to renewal. Pastors soon feel as if they cannot possibly lead a
ministry with only the Word of God and the Spirit’s gifts.
Everyone wants to succeed in what they do. Pastors
are no exception. God wants all ministers to have a good and fruitful ministry
at whatever He has called them to do; whether that’s being a pastor, a
missionary, an evangelist, or whatever. God wants to crown our efforts with
success. The first thing we must have to be successful in the ministry is God’s
anointing on our lives.
The apostle Paul had this in mind when he prayed, in
Ephesians, that we might experience the “exceeding greatness” of God’s power in
our lives (Ephesians 1:19). We are all candidates for it. But, what point would
there be in God anointing us with His power if we’re not going to do anything
with it?
We all want God to fill us with His Spirit; but for
what reason? To accomplish what? The primary reason we need God’s anointing is
so He can accomplish something through us.
It isn’t easy being a pastor. Pastors get
discouraged more often than they care to admit. There are steps we can take to
overcome discouragement and thereby changing our lives and ministry
dramatically!
The primary difference between the person who is
doing a great work for God and the one who’s just getting by is this: one is
enjoying the anointing of God on his life; he is ministering in a fresh and
living way in every service; the other one is not, he’s relying mostly on his
own ability to get him by.
God is not impressed with our “cozy” little churches
where everyone is always in agreement, where no one ever disturbs the water. A
pastor is not successful simply because everyone is in agreement. A pastor is
successful when he is obeying God, not when he is pleasing the people. A pastor
should constantly be “stretching” himself, attempting things for God which
couldn’t possibly succeed without His anointing.
Another thing
that is important for a successful ministry is the setting of proper goals. A
pastor who doesn’t set goals for the church or his ministry usually doesn’t
accomplish very much. Setting goals isn’t a sacred cow or anything like that;
it is, however, a very important ingredient for success. Goals aren’t difficult
to set. It’s nothing more than outlining in advance the things we feel God
wants to accomplish through our ministry. If you don’t know what God wants to
do through you, how can you concentrate your energies on bringing it about?
What is it that makes a pastor succeed and what is
it that makes a church succeed? Some churches are always thriving in the Lord.
They’re growing, their people are giving, and they’re having a tremendous
impact on their community. What is it that makes this happen? It’s a
combination of the anointing of God in their services and the “goals” they have
carefully outlined for their ministry.
The main reason why some pastors don’t set goals is
that they’re afraid of failing. They’re afraid to set goals because they’re
afraid if they set them and fail they will be ridiculed and thought of as a bad
administrator.
Goals have a way of broadening our faith, of helping
us reach our full potential. Without them, there’s too much of a temptation to
drift and do less than our best. They encourage us to stretch ourselves just a
little further. They encourage us to pray and work just a little harder to
accomplish just a little more.
God didn’t call us to be “cozy”. He’s commissioned
us to evangelize the world. That means getting up, getting out, and getting on
with the work he has committed us to do. But, first, we must have a sense of
what He wants to accomplish through our ministry.
Over the years I have counseled and worked with a
lot of pastors and I have discovered that the pastors who have no specific
goals for his ministry tend to lack excitement. They are prone to mediocrity.
They tend to drift and usually become critical of those who succeed. They tend
to experience a great deal of disappointment in their lives and ministry
because things don’t usually work out.
There are many pastors who are leaving their lives
to chance. They are just sort of drifting along; never asking, “Where I am
headed, what is God’s direction for my ministry, what is it that God would like
to achieve through me, and am I willing to commit myself to this regardless of
the consequences or costs?”
Mediocrity is not of God. Wastefulness is not of
God. Drifting is not of God. Dullness is not of God. A pastor who has a clear
set of goals and has the anointing of God on his life, who knows what God wants
him to accomplish has an energy within that is always abounding. He has an
excitement and an attitude that’s positive. He is not depressed because it’s
raining. It doesn’t make any differences if it is cloudy, snowing, or whatever
because God is still on the throne and that’s all that matters. He has been on
his knees before God and has risen from the place of prayer with a sense of
enthusiasm and expectancy of what God is going to accomplish.
Be filled with the Spirit; don’t settle for less
than that. Then ask God to give you a clear vision of what He wants to
accomplish through your life and ministry. Write these down in the form of
immediate and long-range goal, and you will begin to experience wonderful
things began to happen in your ministry, in the church, and in your life.
Pastor, your “success” is based on Jesus’ finished
work on the cross, not the amount of work you accomplish in a given day. Keep
working hard using your gifts while trusting God. This is the secret to a
successful pastoral ministry!
