Eleven Ways To Improve Your Ministry

Always keeping your life “under construction.”

1. Listen to the voice of God speaking in the inner man.

I know I need to spend time in prayer, but I have discovered that what I pray is just as important as when or how long I pray. This necessitates constant monitoring of the spiritual impulses of my heart. Ritualistic praying interferes with divine direction, but patient listening to God’s voice yields wonderful and relevant insights about my life and ministry. God speaks to me if I take the time to listen.

2. Read books on ministry, leadership and church growth.

These subjects directly relate to what you do. Reading constitutes a vital source of inspiration and information for anyone at any level of ministry. Reading fuels your mind and ignites your heart. It affords much-needed criticism to come your way.

3. Write out your thoughts.

Fleeting thoughts come and go so quickly that often you’re left with the fragrance but not the substance. Writing out your thoughts preserves, clarifies and enhances them. It makes raw ideas usable.

4. Go to conferences and seminars.

Consider these meetings essential to your ministry. Fellowshipping with peers provides a very personal way to examine yourself. They encounter the same problems and challenges that you face. You need to know and understand how they deal with them. You need to hear their stories, their thoughts, their words and their experiences. The conference services subject your heart and mind to preaching and teaching. Topics covered recharge your batteries.

5. Ask questions of people who are doing great things for God.

Who among us wouldn’t want to sit down with the Apostle Paul or Apostle Peter? Some day we will, but great warriors exist among us today as well. I thrill at any opportunity to talk with them, “pick their brain”, and catch the overflow of their wisdom. Sometimes, one statement wipes away years of frustration. I don’t attempt to imitate them, but I believe I can learn from them.

6. Associate with people whom God is using.

We are the sum total of our friends and associates. I want to rub shoulders with those who will inspire and challenge me, not those who drag me down. Bitter souls and complaining spirits may infect me through association. I try to surround myself with those who most closely represent my ideal of true Christianity.

7. Keep your mind open to fresh ideas.

Each of us is a work in progress. Once I think I have arrived, that there is no new thought worth thinking, that fresh ideas are more trouble than they’re worth, I’m dead. Closed minds are fatal to ministries and oppressive to followers. The road to improvement runs straight through the town of fresh ideas.

8. Edit out negative thoughts.

Red flags go up when too many negative thoughts invade my mind. No great idea vaults to success without first enduring and rejecting negativisms. For me, every thought is innocent until proven guilty.

9. Look at everyone as a potential contributor to your life.

Don’t you like people who give you gifts? One reason I like people is that every person I meet has a gift for me. The fit and feeble, the great and small, the wealthy and poor, the renowned and unknown, all of them have a word that adds value to my ministry. To cut any of them off is to sabotage myself.

10. Pray the tough prayers.

I know when it’s time to get down to business with God. When I’m wrong, when I need to confess, when I’m in trouble, I swallow hard and lay it all out before Him. Glossing over problems, playing games with God, pretending that things are fine when I know they aren’t brings my spiritual life to a screeching halt. That often means crucifixion, re-dedication, and pain. Afterwards, it propels me into a new dimension in ministry.

11. Don’t let your ministry stagnate.

God has called all of us to excellence and effectiveness in His kingdom. The room for improvement may be bigger now than it has ever been.