What Money Means to Ministry

"Money follows the ministry." - Timothy J. Winters

Money is a means for ministry.  We make things happen in ministry with the aid of money.  It can happen in the form of charitable donations, offerings, tithes and other ways that people give to the ministry.  Money helps the ministry.

Wise Words from Winters

When Pastor Timothy J. Winters shared his insights on money following the ministry with me, he was speaking on preparation for a minister to discover his own personal calling.  He stated that some wanted to wait on the money to begin their ministry, an approach that did not signify a high level of faith.  We are to build the ministry, and the money and other resources needed will follow the ministry's work being initiated.

What Money Means to Ministry

We do not need money to operate ministry.  

That's a fact.

There is no doubt that money helps churches, parachurches, faith-based nonprofits and countless coalitions and associations doing good works.  However, money is not the main resource for ministry.  There are other resources incorporated in the anatomy of ministry that keep it going beyond money.

Money helps ministry.

Money helps us help others beyond what we are already doing for people.

Expanding the Ministry

We can expand the ministry from what it has been or who it has been helping, even where it has been operating.  Imagine the vision it took for Robert Schuller to see the possibilities of an empty drive-in movie theatre in Orange County.  It took vision, but it also took money to build the Crystal Cathedral, to produce the longstanding Sunday TV broadcast The Hour of Power, and publish a wide array of books.  With financial support, along with patience and dedication, the ministry was able to expand beyond its origin to world-renowned standing.

Life Path Gear & Accessories

The money did not make the ministry.  The money only served the purpose of helping to expand the ministry.

Money can help us serve more people.  It can help us produce and sell more products like gear and accessories.  It can help us provide more goods and services to the poor and needy.  It can help us take our ministry further than the current borders of our service.

Money can help with expanding the ministry.

Enhancing the Ministry

Money is a means for enhancing the ministry.

In other words, the ministry can grow in a different way and to a different level with the help of money.  You can enhance the ministry with additional elements.  You might change the selection of available items at your food pantry.  You might be able to provide your volunteers t-shirts or buttons to wear while serving.  You could enhance your ministry with more money.

You just have to be careful with sponsorships and donations.  These should help you do what you do, not direct and determine what you do.  You do not want money to inhibit or limit the ministry's ability to do good for others.

Money can help enhance the ministry.

Just keep it all in mind.  Money has a place in ministry, but money only follows the ministry.  Follow your heart first.  Find your calling.  Focus on that calling and its work.  You will be overwhelmed and amazed at the world of supporters out there, especially those who have more to offer than money- a willingness to pitch in and do some of the work with you.

Read more from Rev. Bruce on the Calling to Serve:

• Called Out and Counted On
• Shepherding is Serving
• Serving as Ministers

@Prayer is designed to stir up inspiration
by Lifepath08

A Brotherhood of Burdens

Bear ye one another's burdens,
and so fulfil the law of Christ.
-Galatians 6:2 (KJV)

Christians are to bear one another's burdens.  It is the way of Christ.  That's what He did, right? Remember WWJD? Was that just a fad? Or, did you really take that to heart?

Bear ye one another's burdens. . .

Wow! That's heavy.  Literally, it is heavy due to what it really means.  We are to carry the burdens of our brothers and sisters.  We are to feel their pain.  That means that we should empathize with others.  We are not called to simply stand off to the side and sympathize with them, feeling bad for them and going on. 

God wants us to live with the burdens of others as if they are our own.  If your brother suffers from addiction, you should live with it.  Even if you have never indulged, you are to suffer with your brother and sister as well as seek a remedy as if it were your own life in a shambles.  The same goes for homelessness, adultery, selfishness, greed and other things.  We need to share with our brothers and sisters.

Let's be Christlike about it.  He went out of His way for us.  He suffered for our sakes.

Partners and Presenters for Bible Lessons

Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor. For if either of them falls, the one will lift up his companion. But woe to the one who falls when there is not another to lift him up. - Ecc. 4:9-10 (NASB)

Prayer partners work well.  Accountability partners keep you honest and on your toes. A teaching partner should do the job of both as well as help you lead the Bible lesson.

For those of you who teach the Bible, find you a partner.  Find you someone who can pray with you and for you as you prepare your Sunday school lesson.  If you lead a small group, let your partner know as you begin to prepare.  Invite your partner to check in with you or to study the Scriptures with you in preparation.  Let them share insights with you and hear your concerns about nervousness and issues.

You might need this same person to hold you accountable.  You may be ready to skip some tough issues that are in the Bible lesson.  Be sure that your partner is a person of conviction who will tell you to keep to the text and keep it real.  You need someone who will force you to cut it straight and ensuring that you are rightly dividing the word of truth.

Discipleship Inside Out

Follow my example, as I follow the example of Christ.-1 Corinthians 11:1

Paul outlines the dynamics of discipleship that most church leaders should take today. He doesn't offer a do-as-I-say-not as-I-do leadership credo. He simply shares truth with a church that had numerous internal struggles a way for getting on the right track and simply following another follower of Christ. Such an approach echoes much of what Jesus shared after offering the parable of the Good Samaritan when He stated: "Go and do likewise."

"Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?"
The expert in the law replied, "The one who had mercy on him." Jesus told him, "Go and do likewise."

Church leaders have to see themselves leading others down the right path of Christian living. Just as Paul shared, an example of faithful Christian living should be provided to the Christian newcomer in the form of a living, breathing believer who can mentor others as the embark on their personal journey with Jesus. Every pastoral leader should have a body of people he has trained and taught for leadership roles that may or may not fit into the church's organizational chart. If you can't find anyone you have taught and trained for leadership, then your first move may be to pray to the Lord for insight and ideas on how to identify and start training others for future leadership roles. Here is where vision serves as a key ingredient. You'll have to see where you want to go and design a pathway for getting there.

Paul demonstrates another key component of discipleship. Discipleship is personal. You have to be willing to allow someone to examine you up close and personal as you seek to disciple them. They'll hear you more as they come to know and understand you more. They need to know that you are still flesh and blood behind all of that saintly speaking and righteous rhetoric.

Don't expect to be perfect. Try with all your might, but don't simply expect it. We are all imperfect people privileged to be working on God's perfect plan. The journey is worth telling others because they can look forward with hope to the joy that they will experience when their Bible students get a grasp of their weekly small group lesson on righteous redemption or when the man who struggled with his identity in Christ becomes at peace with striving to be more like Him. Discipleship is exactly that; a journey that you have agreed to go on with someone else as you serve as their tour guide. Yep. That's what it is.

Build Your Reputation with Your Resources

Here's the lesson: Use your worldly resources to benefit others and make friends. Then, when your earthly possessions are gone, they will welcome you to an eternal home.

Luke 16:9 (NLT)

The Lord taught about the power of our possessions. Imagine if you used your wealth to build relationships. Many of the Quakers understood such practices when settling in Pennsylvania, establishing services and organizations that worked towards the greater good of society. Similarly, Richard Allen, founder of the A.M.E. denomination, used his resources to establish the Free African Society (FAS), a non-denominational mutual aid society, which assisted fugitive slaves and new migrants to Philadelphia. The Salvation Army, Goodwill, YMCA and YWCA were all established on Christian beliefs and principles, utilizing volunteer manpower and donated resources to conduct 'good works.' We have countless examples of it being done. Our issue is that we must continue the legacy of building a reputation among mankind by using our resources to provide services and support for the poor and the needy.

Behind a Blessed Man

Someone will say it before they're done reading this piece, so let me put it out there now. Behind every good man is a good woman. Some will argue about whether that is the mama or the wife, but I would like to focus on the wife for the purpose of this article.

Behind every blessed man is a special woman who does special things. The man is considered blessed because of what he represents and presents to all of those who observe him, but he is actually blessed because of what and who he has behind him and on his side. What is behind him is usually a relationship with God that is full of faith and trust. Who is behind him is that special woman who offers special support for her man.

This man is blessed because of 4 specific and special things that his woman does:

1. She believes in him and his dreams.
2. She builds him up with support and strengthening.
3. She binds together with him as one in unity.
4. She brings out the best in him every step of the way.

Brother, if you have not found her, I suggest that you open your eyes and look around. If she isn't doing these four or doesn't even show the potential to do so, you are on the wrong course. The Word is clear on the fact that finding her brings him favor with the Lord. This is not the hip-hop advice of Cash Money and Marvelous that says: "... Cause you're all she has, and you're all she can get. So run out and find yourself an ugly chick ..." The truth is that you need to go beyond the "beauty's only skin deep" sisters who never make it to Bible study, Sunday school or prayer meeting and don't do much in worship other than lifting holy hands. The Lord may not favor you when you have a woman more aligned with Proverbs 7 rather than Proverbs 31.

Make it your business to be certain of having a solid relationship with your mate. You need a solid relationship. You need a strong relationship. You need a supportive relationship. You need a superwoman relationship. When you find her, love her and trust her, treating her like a rare jewel that's hard to find.

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Woman of the Night by Bruce Jackson

Her mother must be proud
Because she's the type
That only a mother could love.
With those wide hips of temptation
And those supple, sultry lips,
I would have thought her to be more of woman than a lady.
Her ringlets of curls
Dangle down in streams of brown
And her curves seem just enough to catch a man's eye.
To see her is to seek her,
But she's not one to be taken.
She smiles with the subtle smoothness of a serpent.
This temptress of the night
With her eyes aglow
Never seems to let her guard down
to the slightest invitation.
A night with the girls
And out on the town
She may be found
Wrapped in something tight
Only to show her beauty.
She lives for the night
And gives little signs of life,
But she rarely sleeps these days.
Her bed has been made,
Although it be messy,
And she rarely uses it to sleep.
One man by day,
Maybe another by night,
She makes her way
Like a cat on the prowl.
Her smile is as empty
As her heart seems to be
With just enough life to only live for the night.

A poem from the upcoming book Words from the Underground