Last Thursday morning I didn’t have a lot of ministry to do. Part of that was because a friend had borrowed my car so he could attend a church service in the country area, but there wouldn’t be lots to do even if I had my car.
We were on Easter holiday (spring break) so the kids who I normally worked with weren’t around. They were either visiting family, or on their own adventures. And the adults I visited were busy with the kids who weren’t in school!
So at 9:00 I brewed as second pot of coffee, sat down on my porch, and started over.
With the changing seasons in Saint Vincent, my plan to reach and disciple people must change as well. To be honest this is a very tough thing. It’s easier to simply keep doing what your doing instead of starting something completely different. Starting over always involves lots of work, and time to gain any kind of momentum.
But starting over is absolutely necessary……
if I want to be effective
The thing is, it isn’t enough to minister, ministry must be done EFFECTIVELY! This means evaluation and change must take place. I measure effectiveness of ministry by asking myself “is this working?”
Now at that moment the answer was, “yes that ministry philosophy is working” because after Easter break things would go back to normal schedule. However, the summer is soon approaching (we get out in May) and at that time my ministry would definitely NOT be working!
In a way Easter break is a sneak-peek of what the summer offers…and a warning things had to change.
So I started over.
Starting over is never easy, but it’s worth it! Changes if done carefully and properly will bring excitement as well as interest. Yes things might get messy and difficult as new challenges are faced, but that’s the price of growth.
Monday I launched a new ministry philosophy that emphasizes one on one tutoring with children who need special help (you can read about it here). At a picnic table in my backyard I worked with some basic math, and English problems with a boy who was struggling at school. Before leaving I wrote up a contract promising to buy him a football towards the end of the summer if he continued meeting with me, and completed homework I brought each day.
This afternoon while visiting some kids I dropped off some homework for him, and after he completed it checked his answers (he did very well). Walking back one of the boys asked “why don’t you bring me any homework?”
He had no idea a football was promised…..
He just wanted to be involved in my tutoring ministry!
Starting over is never easy. But the courage to confess something doesn’t work, and creating something that does will always yield fruit.
Johnhwilburn.org 