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“I will maintain balance between my labor for the church and my devotion to God.”

“I will prioritize for my family, recognizing my ministry starts at home.”

This final value is what preserves us and keeps us from ourselves.  It reminds us that there is more to life than the church and that some of it is even more important.  Scripture is littered with examples of people who refused to tend to their homes while tending to their ministry.  Aaron’s sons didn’t get God’s priorities.  Samuel’s sons were known nationally for being dishonest.  Don’t even get started on David’s kids!  The problem for so many in ministry is that they forget the first family in “their church” happens to live in “their home”!  Rest, family time, recreation, all lead to balance and all lead to preserving our ministry and our home.

“I will celebrate our success and the success of others.”

“I will celebrate God’s work in my life and church sharing my joy with all.”

John Maxwell reminds us that if we don’t share our good news no one else will!  The church wants to hear to good news, they want to know that we’re doing something and succeeding.  With multiple services it is a necessity to be intentional about celebration.  Too often some great decision will be made in one service and the others will be clueless.  It breathes life into the entire church as they share in the joy of a life changed.  I love hearing the response in a service as I announce a baptism from the previous hour.  It draws our family together.

We must seize any opportunity for celebration and be as willing to celebrate others as we are ourselves.  This promotes team work and builds solid relationships.  If you can’t celebrate the success of the others on your team, you have a problem.  If you can’t start celebrating, you might need to find another team.  Because when one team member wins the whole team wins.  I love that our staff is moving beyond our walls.  Our worship minister has a website and CD out; our youth minister did a simulcast of a youth rally with other churches.  When our ministers’ work is recognized as excellent our church is recognized as excellent and that blesses us all.  When a missions team returns from the field and they have stories of the Spirit at work, we should hear those and celebrate God’s work through them.

These celebrations inspire the church and will hopefully move them to new places as they anticipate God’s work.  Celebration is a powerful motivator and a great guardian.  It moves us to positive places and reminds us that good times are coming even when things get difficult. If you’ve ever worked in the church, you know that too often you hear more negative than good.  Celebration is what keeps us alive.  It reminds us that God is at work and that he is using us.

“I will try new and creative ways of ministry.”

“I will allow the Spirit to move me to places on faith.”

Risk equals experiment which equals new.  We can’t try something new if we don’t risk the old.  This means we try it, don’t have to keep it, but we’ll never know if we don’t try.  If you aren’t risking something, you’re not moving on faith.  If you aren’t risking something, you’re not trying something new.  Risk keeps ministry from becoming stagnant.  Risk does not always bring success, but those who risk will eventually find it.

We recently risked a few things at the church.  We risked our Wednesday night programming.  Last year we tried a talk show format that was a big success.  This year we evaluated the old elective format, the new talk show format and asked if they complimented our mission.  The leadership decided that the Wednesday night format was reduplication and a competitive strategy with our small groups.  So, we moved our small groups into Wednesday night.  This was a success, it allowed two new groups to form and moved previously non committed members into committed groups.  This was a success.  We failed when we tried doing Wednesday nights at the church without food – okay we don’t have to do that again.

Risk allows us to recreate our ministry in a way that is effective and glorifying to God.  Risk can be dangerous and can be costly.  If you never risk then you’re betting on constancy in culture and that maybe the biggest risk of all.

“I will make my heart and home comfortable for the Spirit.”

“I will make our church welcoming to believers and seekers.”

Corporate hospitality starts with personal hospitality.  We can’t expect to have unfriendly people make up a friendly institution.  Hospitality must start with me as I open myself up to God and those he directs in my path.  Scripture tells us that God is present among assembled believers, so God is in our churches.  I wonder if he always feels welcome?

Too many believers have too many restrictions on what God can do  they limit his work and restrict his true nature.  When we start defining how God can work by human terms like charismatic or liturgical, emotional or cerebral we limit his presence and expression.  How comfortable can God feel when we tell him when to speak, where to sit and when to leave?  Hospitality is a spiritual discipline that starts by welcoming God into our lives and ministry.

If this happens in my spirit, then I become receptive to others and can empower our church to be welcoming as well.  We must first learn to welcome God and then we can learn to welcome others.  Welcoming others doesn’t mean impressing them, it means accepting them.  Hospitality requires sincerity, not showmanship. We should do all we can to make our homes inviting and our churches welcoming.  Realizing that our homes and churches are not the focus, the relationships are.  Hospitality challenges us to make people feel welcome, coming into the presence of God is tough enough.  Let’s not make the church an obstacle.  Let us express the hospitable heart of our Savior by welcoming Him and his children into our homes.