Intro to Christian Leadership:  Ministry & Church Management 

Ministry happens when you take what God has given you and has taught you, and you begin to pass it on to other people. If you're going to minister, to help other people, you need to be able to overcome rejection, anger, pride, the world, the flesh, the devil, defeatism and complacency. Then you can begin to minister unhampered!!! 

What happens is that, as you realize how good the Lord has been to you, you begin to want to pass some of that goodness on to other people. You see people hurting, addicted to negative lifestyles, in poverty and sorrow – and you want to go help them; to comfort them with the comfort that you have been comforted with.  It’s that compassion of the Lord that spurs you on and compels you to reach out. 

Then, there’s the management of what you’re doing and the functioning of the people as a body. To be a great leader, you have to fall in love with the people you are called to help. This causes you to see beyond their faults and weaknesses, to look beyond their faults and see their needs, like the old Gospel song puts it.  

You look beyond their faults, you see their needs. Because you love them, you also look beyond their needs and discover their strengths. You discover their strengths and help your people to develop them, and to operate in the areas that God has gifted them in.

Leadership includes helping it to all flow together, and to pour oil on the waters when they get troubled. You bring out the potential in each member. You help them work well with others, for the glory of God.  

As soon as you make up your mind to get out there and help people, you're going to encounter resistance. Some of it will be from your own mind and spirit. It will tell you that you don't have what it takes, that you'll just fail, that people won't listen to you, that you need to go back to school, or get a better job, or do something else first. 

If you wait until all the lights are green before you head into town, you’ll never get out of the driveway. If you wait until you're perfect, you'll never reach anyone. So you make the decision that you'll reach who you can, help who you can and ask the Lord to guide you to people who are hungry for change.

You make the decision, you make the commitment and then you begin to pray for the Lord to guide your steps. And you go looking for those people, and you love them. You teach them and lead them one step at a time while you are also growing as fast as you can, by reading and learning and yielding to the Lord.  

You teach your little group what the Lord is teaching you, you love them, pray for them, and become an example to them. Every negative thing that has happened in your life and their lives, you show the hand of the Lord in it. And you commit to building them up, edifying and strengthening them, and being there for them during their hard times. 

That’s ministry, and church management in a nutshell. It’s a lifetime challenge, and a lifetime of growing and drawing nearer to the Lord and His people. But it sure beats a meaningless job, where the only rewards are temporal! 

- Steve Davis

Copyright Steven L. Davis  www.SteveDavis.org