Spinning Your Wheels

Do you ever feel like you are spinning your ministry wheels in a mud pit? Maybe the church staff and deacons, being led by the Holy Spirit, have presented a change to the church body only to have one or two people throw up opposition to the change. This leads to the stalling of the change and can often lead to discouragement on the behalf of the leadership of the church.

After 30 plus years in the ministry, I have seen my husband and the leadership of the churches where we have serve get stuck in the ministry mud.  One thing I know about my husband is that he prays diligently for God’s guidance and direction for the church.  He never presents an idea before asking others to pray with him.  If even one person who is praying with my husband disagrees, Ricky will lay the idea aside for a while.  However, if the idea is met with favoritism after much prayer, my husband will take the idea to the deacon body for their advice and prayers.  After all the soul searching is done and if all are in agreement, the idea is then presented to the church.  Many times the body is asked to pray about the idea for a month before a final decision is made.

What really amazes me is the number of people who never show up for business meetings and who are surprised when a new idea is implemented in the life of the church.  It is those individuals who usually start the gripping, nay-saying, and working the phone lines.  This is when the wheels of ministry start getting stuck in the mud and I get frustrated.

I am a person who likes to see things happening.  I want to see people engaging in true worship.  I want to see people from all walks of life, socioeconomic backgrounds and of all nationalities saved.  I desire to do whatever it takes without “watering down the gospel” to get lost people in the church.  This approach takes a lot of prayer and guidance from the Holy Spirit. 

Just like when a car gets bogged down in the mud and starts spinning its wheels, sometime the church can get stuck in the mud, spinning their ministry wheels, and eventually give up.  However, instead of giving up, we should work hard to overcome the obstacles before us.  We should search for a solution to the problem, work together to get out of the mud, and get on with ministry.