Years ago, I remember feeling as if God had handed me the burden of the orphan care crisis for our entire church. It was heavy and confusing. I remember lying awake at night on several occasions, wondering what I could do to really make an impact. I could only have so many kids in my house. How did I get other people in our church to feel the same way? I’m assuming that because you are reading this, you feel the same way. God gave you a burden to make an impact. And like most people, you probably think the way to make the biggest impact is to get your Pastor or leadership to care as well. But because they don’t, you think there’s nothing you can do.
When our ministry started 8 years ago, that was the mentality of the entire team. We would show up to a leadership team meeting once a quarter, talk about all the things we couldn’t do, then go home and not do anything for 3 months. And guess what, nothing happened. No one decided to become a foster parent by watching us be frustrated. But once we stopped believing the lie that we couldn’t do anything until it came from the top, we started to see God move in huge ways. I’m guessing that you too, want to see God move to huge ways in your church. Whether you are a volunteer or staff leader, have an established ministry or want to start a ministry, we all have one thing in common: we don’t always get what we want, and we don’t always have control. Our great ideas get shot down, we’re asked to incorporate an initiative or event that feels like more work than it’s worth, we’re not taken seriously, or no one will talk to us.
So, what can you do?
1. Build a team
2. Create opportunities for everyone to be involved
3. Communicate
No matter where your ministry is, I hope that you learned something, and I hope you will continually think about the things you can do, instead of what you can’t do. Don’t live in scarcity mentality. Imagine what Indiana would look like if one person in every congregation did the thing they could do, instead of being focused on what they couldn’t do.