Good Morning Pastor!
“God Can Make It Happen” is a book that was written several years ago that inspired many in ministry. It caused me to realize that if God wants something He truly can make it happen or at least open the doors of possibility for us to walk through. Many pastors suffer insecurity as a result of spoken or unspoken expectations of how their church grows. In other words, we have become result oriented so that how good of a pastor you are is determined by how full your church is on Sunday mornings. Basically this is the same way that the world judges the value of people, success or how much money they earn.
Over the years I have seen pastors who are extremely gifted whose churches don’t grow. I have also seen pastors who had very little giftedness whose churches grew like wildfire. Although both pastors seemed spiritual, organized, hard working and sincere it certainly appears to me that God made it happen for one and not the other. We should be careful to judge pastors based upon the size of their congregations or buildings. And some of the toughest critics are other pastors!
Pastors with small congregations have a really tough job. In fact, so though that I believe that a lot of pastors with larger congregations couldn’t do the job the pastor of a small congregation is required to do. The pastor of a smaller congregation has less resources to draw workers from, less selection of quality leaders and less money to purchase the tools he needs to carry on an up to date ministry in these high tech days. He usually cannot afford a secretary and so he must depend on volunteers or do it himself. The pastors in small congregations are required to wear many hats whereas the pastor of a larger congregation can specialize. Be careful how you judge these pastors.
Although I believe that church growth is still a mystery, I do believe there is one principle that has to happen is a must for a pastor who desires his church to grow. He must be all that he can be, do all that he can do and depend on God for supernatural results.
So my friend, if you are discouraged with your ministry today remember, “God Can Make It Happen!”
In His Delight,
Lyn Sahr
Prov. 3:13
