7 Ways to Protect and Prolong Your Ministry

Enjoying a nice day off from work today. Woke up at eight o'clock, haven't showered, haven't shaved, had a relaxing breakfast of cold cereal, and then sat down in my comfortable amish-made glider to do some studying. Wait, what?

I know it sounds crazy, but taking a day off from my job is often the only way I can get any planning, studying, or prep-work done. This is a common occurrence for anyone in the ministry. Our ministries are centered around people and people have a tendency to need us at some of the most inconvenient times. However, taking time off of work in order to catch-up on work is not healthy.

I know that some of the members at my church may think that this post is a complaint about ministers working long hours for little pay, but this post is actually intended for my pastor friends as some advice from my thirty plus years of ministry. 

God never intended for ministry to be something that would destroy a family or even an individual, but I often read about yet another pastor who burned out of the ministry or got divorced or has had a child that decided they hate church enough to never come back. Even Jesus needed time away from the people and ministry.

That is why I have come to depend on the following 7 ways to protect and prolong my own ministry.

1. Refresh Your Spirit

It is important to remind yourself daily that we are in a spiritual battle. The battle is not against our church members, but the enemy loves to use the very people in our ministries to attack us, beat us up, wear us down, and sadly even defeat us. God instructed us to put on the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:11) so that we might protect ourselves against the enemy. If you are not spending time each day in worship, study, and prayer, then stop everything else. It is vitally important that you refresh your spirit daily before even attempting to minister to your congregation or community. Ministry can distract you from the most important thing: God.

Brother Lawrence (c. 1614-1691) understood the importance of putting God first:

"This is what being in His holy presence is like. My day-to-day life consists of giving God my simple, loving attention. If I'm distracted, he calls me back in tones that are supernaturally beautiful...My prayers consist of a simple continuation of this same exercise. Sometimes I imagine that I'm a piece of stone, waiting for the sculptor. When I give myself to God this way, He begins sculpting of my soul into the perfect image of His beloved Son. At other times, I feel my whole mind and heart being raised up into God's presence, as if, without effort, they had always belonged there." Brother Lawrence, The Practice of the Presence of God (New Kinsington, PA: Whitaker House, 1982), page 38.

When things happen that take away your time with God, and they will, find creative ways to replace that time. Download the YouVersion Bible App and listen to some scripture as you drive to visit hospitals. Turn off the commercially interrupted Christian radio station and listen to CDs or MP3s of your favorite worship music. Take a moment to enjoy the beauty of God's creation as you walk or drive places. Spend time praying as you drive downtown for that meeting.

2. Reignite Your Passions

Seminary classes did not prepare me for ministry. My passion has always been in teaching and discipling others, not in dealing with conflicts, preparing budgets, going to staff meetings, etc. (read Harry Causey's Things They Didn't Tell Me About Being a Minister of Music). The everyday job of ministry can easily take away the joy of our passion. This is true in any field. The tedium of the job can overwhelm you to the point that you believe the thing you once loved is now work. And hard work.

You must first make sure that you are doing everything you can to refresh your spirit. But just as Elijah had the people soak the wood with water in 1 Kings 18, we can often feel drowned by ministry and see no hope for reigniting the fire that God had placed in our hearts for the church.  When the work of ministry threatens to inundate your passions, you must make a concerted effort to focus on those passions. Take some time to attend a conference in your field. Read and study more about your passion. Spend time around other people who have the same passion. And don't forget Nike's suggestion: Just Do It.

3. Renew Your Energy

Every moving object needs energy to continue moving, not because of the initial inertia failing, but because of friction. Newton's first law of motion states, "An object at rest stays at rest and an object in motion stays in motion with the same speed and in the same direction unless acted upon by an unbalanced force." If left to itself, that object would continue to function without any need for energy to propel it forward. But Newton continued to build on Galileo's concept of inertia when he proved that it was friction which inhibited the object from continue to move forward.

In life, friction happens. Since pastors are generally passionate about their calling, they typically must find a way to refuel that is outside of their calling. Refueling is not necessarily a spiritual step and should not be confused with refreshing your spirit. Refueling is more of an emotional and physical necessity. I get refueled taking some time off to read fiction books, go hiking, visit tourist sites, spend time with friends and family, or even writing. Find what refuels you and spend some time each week doing that: sports, recreation, hobbies, hanging with friends, etc.

4. Restore Your Family

I have not been the most successful in balancing ministry, work, spiritual growth, and family time. My family will most likely look back and think of me as a work-a-holic because I am constantly doing something "job" related even while home. When I do have a few moments to relax, I prefer to watch TV or read a book rather than interacting with others, but I have always tried to make time for  my family each day as well.

Ministry especially has a way of interrupting our family life. My boys have come to just expect that I will get a ministry call or text just as we are sitting down at their favorite restaurant to eat. They understand that I must keep my phone beside me even when we are enjoying family game night or watching a movie. They dread hearing my phone ring knowing that I might have to drop everything to leave immediately for a hospital call. But they also have used these interruptions to our family to become a part of ministering to church members themselves.

Since unplanned ministry is going to interrupt your family time, it is necessary that you sometimes interrupt planned ministry time for your family. I purposely do not try to do every ministry activity at my church. I get to spend one day with my family and I protect that vehemently. Since my boys are homeschooled I can take off during the week sometimes to just spend time with them. During extremely busy ministry times, I make every effort to be home to eat lunch and/or supper with my family. I make a point of asking my wife how things went for her today and listen as she shares about such exciting things as homeschool lessons, laundry, cleaning, shopping, the cats, and more. Don't allow ministry to kill your families.

5. Reorganize Your Priorities

When you find that the most important things are not happening, do something to reorganize your priorities. There is an old church nursery rhyme that goes like this, "Mary had a little lamb, the lamb became a sheep. It joined the local Baptist Church, and died for lack of sleep." Satan loves to keep the church busy doing good things so that we won't have enough time to do the best things.

There are old school tools and new school tools for organization. Find something that works for you and start using it to prioritize your activities. The method is not important. Just find something that works for you. When I first got married my wife used to have little post-it notes all over the house in order to help her keep organized in her studies. Now she uses Google Calendar. Click here to find a list by PC Magazine of 100 iPhone apps to help get your organized. 

6. Regroup Your Plans

John Steinbeck, in his book Of Mice and Men, quoted a Scottish poem by Robert Burns, "The best laid schemes of mice and men often go astray." There may come a time when you realize that regardless of your intentions, the things you have planned are not what you need to be doing. Sometimes it is difficult to admit to your church that you made a mistake when you started that new program or when you scheduled that training session. I have found that the church is more understanding than we think and admitting your mistakes helps to humanize you to your church. And since pride is an issue many pastors struggle with, a little humanizing is good for the soul.

Make sure that part of your staff time is spent in evaluating your current plans as well as completed events. Don't push through a bad plan just because you have already spent months preparing for it. Nothing is worse than continuing with a bad plan that gives little to no results and takes all of your energy and time.

Tale a look at the plan and see if it really fits with the vision and goals of the church. Simple Church by Thom Rainer and Visoneering by Andy Stanley are excellent books to read together as a staff. You will discover new ways to consider the importance of the plans you have made. I would caution you not to rush to extremes after reading these books. You don't want to throw out the baby with the bathwater or force your staff into finding creative ways to fit all of your current activities into your vision. Both would be detrimental to your church.

7. Restart Your Ministry

Sometimes you have tried everything and are still bogged down. Don't beat yourself up if you find yourself against a brick wall. Brick walls can do a lot of damage. Instead, consider that God just might be telling you it is time to restart your ministry. While it is possible to restart a ministry at the same church, often it is necessary to begin a new ministry in a new church. Moving to a new ministry  when you have exhausted all other avenues is not the end of the world.

It is better to move on than to dampen your spiritual fervor, derail your passions, detonate your energy, or destroy your family. I remember that I once felt really guilty when I thought it was time to transition to a new ministry. I kept trying to figure out what I could have done to fix the problem. Some churches just do not want to be fixed. I found the book Mastering Transitions to be extremely helpful during that time.

Jesus taught His disciples that not every place would welcome them (Matthew 10:14 and Luke 9:5). I have experienced that moment in my own ministry life. I stopped the loaded U-haul just after we passed the city limits, got out of the cab, and shook the dust from my shoes. I honestly felt that God lifted an unbearable weight off of my chest at that exact moment. There are times when I still wonder if I was just not listening to God when I accepted the call to that church, but God gently reminds me that even in the failures of our life He can teach us valuable lessons.

God has called you to serve Him and His church. Don't allow the enemy to defeat you. Get refreshed, reignited, renewed, restored, reorganized, regrouped, and, if you must, restart.