This post is all about how to minister to others.
Sometimes it can be scary to preach God’s word and to preach it in truth.
I have been a youth leader for over 7 years now, i have travelled the world, spoken in hundreds of churches, preaching the name of Jesus and… its hard. Ministry is not for the weak at all. I have gone door to door, handed out pamphlets.
I have experienced both the good and the bad ways of preaching and i finally found something that works, that leaves people powerfully inspired, radically changed and caused many souls to be saved and regain their faith in Christ
So, in this article, i will go over the top five most effective ways of how to minister and plant seeds in others that God will be able to use and grow.
How to Minister to Others
1.Level your intentions
When stepping into ministry, it’s very easy to get distracted.
We first start off with good intentions- to preach God’s word and get people saved but then over time, when we start gaining an audience, and people start recognizing how great of a preacher you are or how well you can put together words, or even how well you lead worship service, whatever field you are in and, slowly it starts getting to our heads. We think, “Wait a minute i am pretty good-I am a great minister!”. And we drift away to seeking fame and fortune rather than seeking souls.
One of my favorite Christian entrepreneurs: Rory Vaden always says: There is no fear when the mission to serve is clear,
And what that means is, when you are speaking, whether it is to just one person or to a big audience, its not about you as a speaker, its about the audience. You are not there to earn appaulase or do anything for you, you are there to serve people and as long as you are focused on serving them, you won’t be nervous or in your head about it.
And lately i have been rehearsing that before i go up to preach. You are not saving or delivering people through your own power or excellency of words but by the power and salvation of Jesus Christ. Depend on that. Remind yourself of that. Its not about how well you speak, or the perfect articulation and intelligent diction and vocabulary that you use, its about God’s lifesaving Spirit that will work through you and touch someone’s heart to turn and surrender. That can be done in a few simple words. That can be done in just one moment. Its not about us.
You preach, God saves. Remember that.
2.Settle the Foundation
If we do not know the truth of what the word of God truly says, people will not be saved. The power of salvation resides only in the truth of God’s word. If we preach something that is not biblical, people will not hear the true word of God, and they will not gain the true faith of Christ.
Do we know the word of God enough, to change ourselves first? To preach the gospel through our lifestyle? Our actions and words and behavior? This is the first stage of ministry that must be perfected- how we acknowledge and understand and apply the word to ourselves. Because if we truly get it, if we truly understand the word of God and keep it hidden in our hearts, it will change us, it will transform us.
And the next question to ask is do we understand it enough to be able to tell others?
There will be many people who come at us with criticisms and who will twist the word of God and change it to suit their lifestyle of sin or to trip you up and contradict you.
Do you know the word enough to put to silence those accusations?
Can you defend Christianity? Can you answer the people’s questions, even the ones not necessarily based on malice but just curiosity?
We need to get in the word first and learn and meditate and equip ourselves to be ready to go out in the field to serve.
3.Dust Your Feet Off
One of the most difficult parts of ministry is the rejection that you will often get when you tell others about Jesus. And this can be paralyzing almost to the point of giving up ministry all together. But a powerful mindset shift to have is to realize that If they do not listen, and they curse you and reject you, it’s not about you.
Remember the first point i mentioned? Its not about you, it’s about God-
the same principle applies right on through to every stage of ministry, from the preparation to the delivery to the reaction of others. When people reject you, know that they are rejecting Jesus. Jesus told his disciples “Do not Marvel if the world hates you because it hated me first.” Don’t waste your time and let yourself get discouraged by the rejection of others.
Sometimes this cross we have to carry can mean to suffer and be rejected and persecuted for our faith like Jesus was.
But It’s worth it. Jesus died because we were worth it.
He could’ve said no, its not worth it, only a handful will make it, just condemn them all. No, he valued us enough. We were worth the pain. So, value people like Jesus values people.
We need to view souls as precious, because the devil knows our value and thats why he is so relentless in temptation and persecution and distraction. We have to be relentless too.
4.Do not Conform
The number one mistake i often see when people try to bring people into Jesus is relating to their sin but not to their pain. What do i mean by this?
We shouldn’t try to promote Jesus or Christianity by condoning sin or bringing salvation down to the worldly level. Many people try to connect with the world by talking like them, drinking with them, in efforts to reach them where they are. But by doing this, we aren’t introducing them to a new life, we are allowing them to remain comfortable and situated in their sin.
Rather than trying to connect and reach them by sinning, we must relate and connect with them based on their struggles. And i say this to say that we as Christians, one of the most powerful tools of ministry we can have, is to just be that one person for them, for anyone, for everyone.
That one person who actually cares and takes the time to listen and understand and connect. People want to connect. People want hope, people want to be healed and to learn a better way to life than they are currently living- so give it to them, be that one person that is kind that will wait with them that will tarry with them that will pray with them and cry with them and understand and listen.
5.Be Christ-minded not Mission-minded
I pray often: “I don’t want to be connected more to the mission than i am to God”
We can get distracted by the work that is required in the ministry that we end up having no time for God. But I don’t want to be so passionate about saving souls, that my own relationship with Jesus suffers.
We go around proclaiming: Make him known, make him known! But we must first ask ourselves, do i know him? Like really know him? We preach, make heaven crowded! Well, am I going to heaven? Don’t focus so much on doing instead of being. Save your own soul first. Be rooted in the word, in prayer, in fasting, in your life in God. Then give from what you already have. I pray this all the time: God, Iwant to be so full of you that i overflow into others. I want to give from my overflow. Chase after God. That’s how you will be able to effectively connect with others (when you are connected to God.)
This post was all about how to minister to others.
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