A couple of weeks ago, I was privileged to be invited to the offices of Group Publishing to observe a field test of the programs for this summer’s mission trips. I learned some youth ministry specific things I can use, but there was a general principle to be gleaned as well. Group Publishing knows who they are and what they do.
All of which has me thinking about us in our ministries. Far too often we can get so caught up in the daily grind – meetings to attend, curricula to get together, rehearsals to arrange, programs to produce, people to visit, classes to teach, and on and on it goes – that we lose sight of our ministry goals. We are so busy, we sometimes neglect taking time to reflect on whether all of our activity fits the purposes and goals we have in our ministry.
The image that comes to mind for me is of a sheep that gets separated from the fold because she is moving from tuft of grass to tuft of grass, never looking up to see where everyone else is. Ministry can be like that. We don’t intend to get off track, our to-do list just leads us there.
I’m going to take some time this week to reflect on who I am, what I do, and where I would like to go. To know that what I am saying yes to matters, and giving myself permission to say no to what doesn’t. Won’t you join me?
When was the last time you took some time to set some goals? Who are you? Where are you going?