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The Lord Your Healer: 

Discover Him and Find His Healing Touch by Paul J. Bucknell

Newest! The Lord Your Healer

Discover Him and Find His Healing Touch

First step of discipleship
revive devotions
Advanced Discipleship

The Bible Teaching Commentary on Genesis: The Book of Foundations

Commentaries that specialize on training the teacher!

Overcoming Anxiety: Finding Peace, Discovering God

 

Take Your Next Step Into Ministry

Take Your Next Step Into Ministry

Understanding God’s Training Program
for those in Ministry

Rev. Paul J. Bucknell


The Next Step | God's Goals | Starting Point | Learning from others
Pursuit of Christ | Experience | Evaluation | Spiritual | Training | Relationships


The Pursuit of Christ:

By Developing Proper Church Relationships

Purpose

Developing Proper Church Relationships is part of the Take Your Next Step into Ministry series that shows how to carry on good and proper relationships with one's home church and making sure clear communication is occurring.

Developing Proper Church Relationships

Carry on good and proper relationships with those in one’s home church. Make sure clear communication is occurring.

Something is drastically wrong with our training. Many churches are filled with divisive people and focus on church politics3 rather than on following the Lord. Others have experienced an actual church split. You are rare if you do not know of such a church.

The Lord, however, wants to train up leaders like Jesus that were bold but tender to Him. The modern spirit of individualism often prevents us from knowing how to wait upon God when tension arises with those in authority over us.


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Part of the problem is that we do not know how to relate to those in authority over us nor depend upon the Lord to carry out an effective ministry. Because we move around so much, we can easily avoid ‘conflict’ until we are out in the mission field! That is a mistake.

The Lord is very interested in training us in this area. Even Jesus’ disciples faced this problem! Let’s try to simply introduce this training process and then follow through with some questions to help you think through the way you can relate to others.

Learning from relationships

Our hearts are tested by the relationships around us. Training in how to carry on good relationships should happen in the family when one grows up. In these most recent generations many are not receiving this training. This problem has worsened as few grow up in larger families. Others have never seen the model of a good family. Others do not know how to biblically (rightly) respect authority and care for those under our charge.

The church is a good place to learn these things too. This happens, for example, when we know there is a better way to do something. Do you then ‘follow’ your advice or your elder’s contrary advice? Do you treat your opinion as equal or better to the one who is in authority? How do you handle the situation? Do you get resentful or speak against the leaders?

As we respect our leaders, then we can learn from them, even if they make poor decisions. When we learn from them, then they will encourage us to excel and enter into ministry. If we insist on doing it our own way, then we will find relationships in the church quite strained.

The scriptures tell us to honor our elders. The way we respond to our elders gives us a good picture of our humility or pride. We need to be willing to trust the Lord with our great dreams and plans in the face of what we might think is some dull and ineffective scheme advanced by another. This is the time we need to wait upon the Lord and seek Him about how to do carry out His ministry. He will amazingly open doors for us.

Respecting your elders

Communicate well with your leaders

Seek accountability and mentorship to keep the vision clear

Summary

The most effective minister is the one who does not focus on completing certain qualifications for the ministry, but the one that persistently pursues the Lord throughout his life training. Persistent pursuit of the Lord is necessary because of our sinful heart, forgetfulness and temptations that we face during our lives. Seeking the Lord is also needed because of the nature of our relationship with God.

Moses saw the burning bush at the beginning of His ministry but that was not sufficient to sustain him throughout his service to the Lord. The Lord knew that there was much more to knowing God and spent His life pursuing a deeper relationship with Him (Exodus 33:13-14).

“Now therefore, I pray Thee, if I have found favor in They sight, let me know Thy ways, that I may know Thee, so that I may find favor in Thy sight” (Exodus 33:13).

An effective ministry is built on a deepening relationship with our gracious God. Therefore preparing ourselves for effective ministry is an ongoing task. There are standards and qualifications to meet, but fruitful ministry flows from an ongoing relationship with God through Christ.

Each of the four general areas that were mentioned above assists us to keep growing in that relationship with God.

How exciting it is to realize that the call to serve Him is also an invitation to know Him more!