4 Things That Ministry Taught Me To Be Of Great Value
“It’s not about you.” It’s the one tag line that summarizes myself being a part of a music ministry. Entering in this ministry, I’ve had plans that I think would be beneficial for the church - musically and technically. But as time passes by, the music ministry would play a huge part of how I would deal with certain situations that my perspective of what’s important will be shifted to something greater. The Apostle Paul speaks about Christ’s humility in Philippians 2:1-16 and as I stay in the ministry, I never thought that I would be the one who will be taught by God and be changed and that the ministry played a big part in how my perspective would change in terms of giving myself for others and for God. Nevertheless, these learnings aren’t just applicable to worship teams but to all who serve the Lord everywhere from the ushers down the hall who give a warm smile, to the simplest of those who arrange the chairs every week.
I realized that a lot of things should be considered in serving the people of God and His church. Four are some of what I’ve learned:
1. Submitting is necessary (Hebrews 13:17; Ephesians 5:21)
Have you ever had feelings of resentment and disappointment with your ministry leaders because of some things that didn’t happen or still aren’t happening because of their decision making? I know that struggle. In a weekend where I would get to serve, suggestions in my mind would come on how to make things better as soon as we receive the song list. But then, these things would change because some things are needed to be done. Even as Sunday itself comes, these arrangements would have to be removed or changed as ordered by our ministry leaders. When such interventions happen, pressure shows up on me because I have this thinking that “I prepared for it” or that “They are making things worse”. But now, peace of mind comes as I submit instead of choosing to dwell on negative feelings. Now, the most practical thing for me to do is to suggest ideas wherein if our leaders approve of it or not, I will submit and I will still be faithful because our leaders’ decisions come from God. I have to trust Him and my leaders with it.
We can say that God is our reason why we do the things we wanted to do for the church. But if we dig deeper, we may be just using Him to feed our ego. I struggle with submission because I really wanted to make things my way and also make myself be known for the ministry’s accomplishments. It’s only by grace that I am able to always know my thoughts and heart of wrong motives. To examine myself of who I really am as a servant.
Learning to be thankful when such instructions come, our humility and character is being molded by God because in submission He reveals our heart’s estate.
2. Throwing perfection away (Philippians 2:3-4; Epheshians 4:29)
I love putting my heart into the work that’s in front of me, regardless if it’s a big or small task. But with that being said, I was unaware that I struggled with perfectionism. There came one time that it’s because of my micromanagement and perfectionism that I didn’t know that I have hurt other volunteers because of how I am so attentive to meddling with their work. I became tactless with my words and became so controlling with my actions that it resulted to volunteers being shy of unleashing their own creativity, their potential and wit. By God’s grace and through the love of others, I began to learn that excellence does not necessarily mean perfection.
Excellence is needed but if there is a sort of standard you are trying to achieve where people can stumble, it can lead to ministries working for a production rather than responding to the work of Jesus’ by leading others to Him. It’s actually okay for people to mess up. I was so stressed of people making mistakes but as I learned about the grace of God more by seeing myself as a sinner, instead of showing an iron fist I’m compelled to encourage people more which led them doing better the next time. By others’ help, I’ve learned to let go of my perfectionism and micromanagement. There’s nothing wrong with striving to be excellent for the Lord because He deserves it. If people commit mistakes with skill, you should display the love and the humility of Christ and it will work out well along the way.
3. Dying from “the leadership” thought of entitlement (Philippians 2:14-16; Colossians 3:22-24)
I thought that being a leader means you are “front and center” because you play a vital role in the ministry. You are the one people look up to with the delegating of tasks, you set what needs to be done. That is true. But these built in me false expectations that people must treat me with honor and respect. As you meet people along the way, these expectations can be false. I’ve had a great rebuking in this aspect because the focus is again being on me, not God. In the ministry, I’ve learned that it is a privilege to be entrusted with a team and so people should be mentored as I am being mentored and that to disciple is to be of greater worth and that to build trust in leadership is to display being vulnerable first.
Think of yourself in an area where there is no stage or altar, and no congregation to lead and to speak with. The Apostle Paul in a majority of his letters encouraged people to do all things in the best we could be as it is God that we serve. Therefore, our leadership should be carved in the simplest of things because God places responsibilities for us to be good stewards.
For example, If I am a leader, then it should display with me being a good and loving son or brother to my family by being honest and available. If I am a leader, then I should as well be as faithful when I’m asked to clean my room or wash the dishes, or do well in school or work.
This world tells us that leadership should have many followers, to speak rhetorically, to look in a certain way, or to be in a notable position. Christianity says otherwise because we learn what it means to be a leader by being faithful with what is just closest to us or what surrounds us.
4. Using food to know your ministry
Being in a ministry, I’ve also learned to display the love of Jesus by crafting intentionality to those around me. I was usually labeled as shy and awkward. Yet, the root cause of it is me not wanting to associate with other people. It is by grace that I have gotten rid of that attitude and that now I initiate conversations over backstage meals that would then eventually get people into heartfelt talks, an encouragement, or an opportunity to receive and offer prayers. As time is my love language, I became intentional with spending time with my team or friends from the ministry outside church. I now treat and see my friends in the church as brothers and sisters and we now carry each other’s burdens. That bond begins because we ate outside or just went for coffee, visit one person’s house together or just do fun things. Jesus used meal times to show His glory and for people to know Him in a special way like how sharing over the table is represented in Jewish culture as sharing life and openness with one another. We should all do the same as well.
These are only some of the things I can share as I am also still learning. You will learn to lead people to worship, be excellent, and love people through ministry by putting the humility of Christ in you by submitting to one another, by empowering people, mentoring, and by building up one another.
