One of my heroes in the kingdom ministry of our Lord Jesus Christ is Bill Bright. He was a businessman who later met with the Lord and his life was changed forever. This encounter with the Lord birthed in him a passion to reach the lost. So, at 31 years of age, he started a ministry in a university campus with the strategy of using university students for world evangelization. The ministry’s name is Campus Crusade for Christ.
By the time he died at the age of 81 in 2004, he had built that ministry into the largest Christian ministry on earth, with people in 225 countries with 26,000 full time staff, and more than 225,000 volunteer trained workers. He did the ‘Jesus Film’ which had been watched by more than 5.2 billion people in 234 countries. He wrote 100 books which circulated more than 2 billion copies and 2.1 billion decisions for Christ.
After 50 years in ministry, millions of people have come to Christ as a result of his ministry. Yet he never turned it to church, neither was he an ordained professional clergy man! It was simply a ministry to woo and win sinners to the Lord and it remained like that until he died in 2004 and his closest friend became his successor!
A. What is Ministry? Colossians 4:17; 1 Tim. 5:5-8; Acts 20:20-24; Acts 1:17; 2 Cor. 4:1; 1 Tim. 1:12
Ministry is a divine vision, passion, burden, desire, gift and calling to a particular assignment, either you are a professional minister or not. (Romans 12:6-8). Ministry is a personal calling, not a committee thing. “No statue was ever erected to a committee, but a person.”
a. Professional Ministry (Ephesians 4:10- 11)-Pastor, Prophet, Apostle, Evangelist and Teacher To equip the saints to do ministry.
b. Special Gifting and Calling to an aspect of kingdom work-Romans 12:6-8.
The following are facts of ministry:
- The Foundation for ministry is Character
- The Nature of ministry is Service
- The Motive of ministry is Love
- The Measure of ministry is Sacrifice
- The Authority of ministry is Submission
- The Purpose of ministry is Glory of God
- The Tool of ministry is Prayer and Word of God
- The Privilege of ministry is Fruitfulness
- The Power of ministry is the Holy Spirit
- The Model of ministry is Jesus Christ.
B. Fundamentals of Flourishing Ministry Tim. 1:12 Jeremiah 17:7-8; 12
For ministry to grow, increase, flourish and multiply, there are certain fundamentals that must be put in place. Fundamentals are non- negotiables and basic factors.
1. Contact – You must have deep contact with the source of Living Water. He must be your source and you must receive inflow of life from Him – John 15:5
2. Calling – You must hear His personal call to a particular area of ministry. Interest and desires are not enough, His calling must be clear to you through the Spirit’s voice, audible, revelation and His encounters.
3. Covenant – God must make a covenant relationship with you. His personal covenant with you in His word is what will make Him work with you and through you.
4. Choice – Your choice to obey the Lord and do His will is very crucial. Obedience to God is the key to ministry flourishing.
5. Charisma – Your gift will help the flourishing of your ministry. You must work according to your gifting.
6. Character – Your character goes a long way to determine whether your ministry will flourish or not. Flaky, shallow and ungodly characters will bring ruin to your ministry.
7. Chastening – Your ministry will only – flourish as you allow the Lord to test, try and chasten you. If you fail to pass the test and trials of the Lord, then you cannot move to the next level of ministry. Test and trials are meant to chasten and mould you to His image.
8. Credibility – You must be truthful, honest, open, trustworthy and reliable in your life and dealings. Trust is the glue that binds ministry together. If you cannot be trusted, then you cannot be followed for long.
9. Competence – You must be capable to handle the complexities of today’s ministry. And you can only be capable when you enhance your competence by training and updating yourself.
10. Channel – Your life must be a clean, clear and uncontaminated channel for the Holy Spirit to flow through. Without the presence, power and outworkings of the Holy Spirit, nothing else will work.
11. Contribution – Your ministry must make positive contribution to the life of people. It must be a contributing, and not a consuming ministry. The positive contributions you make will make people to embrace your ministry.
12. Creativity – You must be creative, innovative and change friendly in the way you do ministry. Embrace new ideas and effective ways of doing ministry that do not violate the word of God.
Recommended Reading
CHRIST’S MILLENNIAL REIGN
The God of the Second Chance: Restoration After a Fall
How To Build A Good Prayer Life
C. 7 Enemies of Flourishing Ministry
From my interaction with many ministry leaders, I have come to discover these seven enemies that stagnate and destroy many promising ministries.
a. Short-cuts: Not wanting to follow the process but looking for quick success and breakthrough.
b. Satisfaction: Contented with average and past success. Not looking to the future with renewed vision.
c. Selfishness: Looking out only for your interest and not the interest of God and others ruins ministries.
d. Sinfulness: When sins are allowed and not dealt with, they ravage the spiritual health of the ministry.
e. Sluggishness: Coldness, lukewarmness and spiritual aparthy will kill off the presence of God in any ministry.
f. Stubbornness: Disobedience and prideful style will ruin ministries’ health. Don’t be stubborn for God to change and use.
g. Structure: Wrong structure, administration and management styles will kill off the spiritual potentials of ministries.
Deal with these enemies before they deal with you and your ministry!