What's Your Problem?

What is the problem with ministry?  Why does nearly every single action or event or program need to be accompanied with angst, distrust, confusion and commotion?

The easy answer is: Satan.  His only goal is to get us fighting against each other and pull our focus off of God and on to petty things like song arrangements, pew colors and window coverings.

But it’s too easy to simply blame Satan.  So let’s look at a more human example. Perhaps James can offer us some thoughts on this…

What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.  (James 4:1-3)

Why do we fight?  Because we don’t get our way.  Kinda like back in 3^rd grade when Tommy stole your blue crayon and made you cry so you decided to grab Tommy’s lunch and toss it out the window. 

Yeah, it’s like that. 

Childish, petty, immature and a total waste of God’s talents, treasures and time.

We don’t get our way with (name the ministry) and so we whine and complain; grumble and moan.  We begin spewing our angst and hate and BS among the flock with the sole intent of disrupting the joy and peace in the fellowship.  Of course, we don’t call it that.  We call it something far more righteous sounding – we call it “concern for the church” or some other completely false pile of you-know-what that helps us sleep at night. 

Meanwhile, ministry leaders and others in the church are dying because of this nonsense.

So, what’s the problem?  YOU ARE, if the above, in any way, describes you.  If you don’t like the new staff member or the new ministry or the new vision, you have two choices: change your heart and stay, or remain hard-hearted and leave.  Period. 

I once had a disgruntled ministry leader tell me that by remaining in leadership, even though they cannot in any way agree with the new direction of the church, they were taking the high road.

Wrong!

The high road is a change of heart.  Remaining in a leadership position while maintaining a sour attitude is not taking the high road.  What a cowardly thing to say.

In the end the choice is clear – either change your heart, or change your geography. 

If, by some wild chance, any of this post speaks to you then I encourage you to take some time and read through the book of James.  Just let the Holy Spirit lovingly massage your heart and bring you to a deeper awareness of where you might need to change your attitude about things – or – be bold and simply leave the church.

Because it’s very possible that the problem with your church – is you.