Discouragement comes at the oddest of times for those who are in the ministry. Often it’s right after a major victory – wanna know why? The devil would like you, in your own mind, to accept the idea that what just happened is now null and void, due to the crisis, or event(s) that showed up afterwards.
Other times, discouragement comes when nothing seems to be happening in your ministry – or, things haven’t been going right for a longer period of time. In this case, the devil would like it very much if you felt useless, under-qualified, or obsolete in your position as a leader.
Don’t think for a moment that this wasn’t planned. Our enemy is very strategic and is an expert at planning ahead.
Here are a few suggestions of how you can kick it into gear. Why? Because, kicking it into gear will get you out of your office chair, off the sidelines – or in some cases: up off the floor.
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- Pray
- Go back and redraft the vision God gave you in the first place
- Make an appointment with someone you respect and tell them your vision – sell it to them!
- Revisit the victories your CM has won in the past year – now make a list of victories to win from this point on
- Go to every classroom and imagine something new that could happen in the next month
- Go to that bigger church in town and take notes, pictures and promo pieces and list what you could “borrow” and start doing it.
- If you are the bigger church in town – here’s an edgy idea: Go to the smaller church that is on it’s way up and see the drive, determination and vision that’s there. What can you “borrow”?
- Talk to a mentor in CM
- If you don’t have a mentor is CM – get one!
- Get with your Pastor and get his fresh perspective on the vision for the church
- Have kids in your church do a survey to tell you what they really like about church and what they would like to do.
- Pray
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Surprise I checked it our while you were in your meeting.
Good post, and just a little self promotion but when you mentioned in your post about getting a mentor, I want to remind people of a very affordable way is through Kidology. Yes with Kidology Coaching (http://www.kidology.org/page.asp?i=138) they can get that individual mentorship.
OK, that’s all. keep up the great blogging.
Thanks Todd,
Let me echo Todd’s idea here – check out the kidology option. Todd is one of the coaches, and a darn good one!
As a pastor’s wife- this topic is near to my heart!First of all, I have to say that I do not belviee that the “Church” is at fault!! The Bible is very clear, that it is to be us PARENTS that are to be training our children in righteousness!!! Sunday School & Youth Group were started many, many years later & really were started for the “non-churched” kids! Those statistics are sad, but I think they are a lot due to the fact that parents have been relying on the church to teach their children about Christ- instead of taking an active role themselves (& actually living what they belviee)!A couple things our church does that I LOVE are… when children turn 4, they join their parents in “big” church- children younger than that are certainly welcome, but there is nursery & children’s church provided for children under 4. Although I do understand how difficult it can be for some kids to sit so long (we are all about wiggles at our house), we belviee that having children in the service, plants seeds in their little hearts! :)We also have just started a curriculum (our pastors & elders & teachers have created) that lasts 7 years & walks everyone through the Bible… all Sunday School classes of various ages as well as the sermon are focused on the SAME topic… are memorizing the same verse, etc. In this way, children (along with their parents) will go through an in depth study of the whole Bible twice.Sorry, this is getting way too long! ;)Great question!Jessica