Saturday, June 12, 2010

Changing "mine" to "ours" to "His"


So we finally finished up the last of the Degree Completion Program that Sarah and I have been trying to survive for the last 19 months and I figured it was about time I get back to blogging on a regular or at least semi-regular basis.


For my first post DCP post I thought I would share some of my thoughts and struggles with transitioning my ministry into our ministry and ultimately into His ministry. I will probably address this more in a future post as this is still very much an ongoing thing right now, but in the mean time feel free to comment with your own thoughts, ideas and experiences.



I'll be honest, there is a certain amount of pride that has kept me from doing this sooner. As the person who started this ministry and ran it solo for so long, I feel a sense of ownership which makes it difficult to release the control necessary for others to lead.


And yet in all honesty this isn't the area I struggle with the most. My biggest struggle is in fact transitioning from a solo mindset to a team mindset. I'm just so used to doing everything on my own that when someone shows up and says "how can I help?" I'm at a loss. Not because there is nothing to do but because I just don't know how to break it up and break it down.


Finally a third block to this whole process is plain old fear. Fear that if I share my plans, passions and ideas, especially the raw unfinished ones that they will be torn apart in a hail of criticism.
The problem is that because of this my ministry remains as it's always been firmly within my grasp and no bigger than I can handle. If my ministry is going to grow, then it has to cease being my ministry. If the vision is to be realized I have to let it become soft and pliable. In short my ministry must die in order that God's ministry might grow and blossom. I have to stop asking God to help me accomplish my vision and start offering to help God accomplish His.