Ministry or Mini-story?
I have the privilege (or the curse) to be both senior pastor and only paid staff member of my church. This means I have oversight to all the ministries. Yet at the same time, I also lead the youth ministry. Frequently in any ministry, especially youth ministry people begin to think that their ministry is superior to other ministries. Or the bell choir will think they are better than the children’s ministry or the kitchen ministry thinks the youth ministry does not matter. I have seen this time and again when people will tell the youth ministry they have to fund raise for a mission trip but buy the bell choir 5,000 dollars worth of new bells or many other similar things.
Being the senior pastor means I have to wrangle all these issues together and figure out how these ministries are really mini-stories that fit into the larger scheme of the ministry of the church I serve, and how that church fits into the even larger ministry of Christ.
No one person or ministry exists in a bubble and all have to share their resources, how that happens can be difficult but somehow it works and somehow God uses all of it to make beautiful things happen.
Each ministry is equally valid in the kingdom of heaven, if you ever doubt that sit on the toilet at church and decide would you rather have toilet paper or a sermon? A brass bell or a 2-ply square? Each ministry needs to meet the needs of the congregation and meet the needs of the people not in the congregation. When we put one ministry above another and pretend it is better than another we become arrogant and self-righteous.
Aren’t we all saved by the same grace?
If each ministry is a mini-story then what is the larger story? The larger story is that God loves humanity and has called us to worship him and be in relationship with him no matter what we are doing, whether that is sweeping the floor or speaking from the pulpit.
So then, if your mini-story is beat down by someone else who thinks their ministry is better than yours, take heart and hold on because it isn’t. They have received the same grace at the same cross.
If you think your ministry is better than someone else’s because you have more kids, bigger budget, or whatever the reason, Stop it! Jesus did not save you so that you can think of yourself as better than someone else.
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It’s all part of the “politics of seperatism” so to speak, which are driven by peoples selfishness and who’s goal is self promotion…and that is definitly contrary to what Christ was about! I sense your frustration, and it may be most difficult, but I’d try to ‘nip it in the bud! (an old yankee expression)