Evaluating Ministries from the Inside Out

The old growth tree on the back of our church property is beautiful this time of year.  I have heard stories from many of you about your children playing under that tree and other fond memories around it.  If you haven’t been out on the back part of our church property in a while, you can take a look at the tree from the parking lot and see that it appears to be in good health.  Unfortunately, the tree is not in good health at all and sadly it is actually scheduled to be cut down very soon.  Upon close inspection (that is, standing directly under the tree and looking up) it can easily be seen that the main center portion of the trunk is dead and unable to provide a solid base necessary to keep the outer branches strong and vibrant for very much longer.  Since there is no barrier between our neighbors and their yards the best and safest thing to do is to have it cut down.  Of course, we do not want it to fall randomly and cause damage or injury.  What looks healthy from a few hundred yards away is actually in need of removal.

Something similar happened with many church ministries during the COVID shutdown of 2020.  At various churches across the country, support for various ministries began to dry up, because people were not able to physically be together.  As things began to open back up, I spoke with many pastors and ministers who explained that their church would not be as “stretched out” as they had been prior to the shutdown.  Most churches had ministries which should have ended years ago, yet they were still dedicating budget money to keep them going.  Many churches were bogged down with more ministry efforts than they could keep healthy, and they found themselves often unable to shift gears.  It is a very difficult thing to tell someone “Your ministry is no longer effective for the church, so we need to stop doing it.”  We are all emotionally attached to such things.  We all have fond memories of bus ministries in the 1970s and 80s.  Churches would purchase an old school bus, paint it a different color, then simply drive around on Sunday morning and fill the bus up with children who wanted to attend church.  But times have changed, and a bus ministry as described just no longer works.

Please understand that I am not referencing any particular ministry or program at Lakewood (not at all!).  I do not feel that we have too many ministries going right now.  However, my point is to call us as a congregation to regularly (annually?) do a close inspection of everything that we are doing, and ask ourselves, “Is God still calling us to do this?”  Rather than do something just because we’ve always done it, we should only continue to do those things which the Lord calls and equips us to do.  We need to always be on point to properly use the mix of gifts which God has blessed us with, through His people.

Blessings, 

Pastor Bruce

bruce.cullom@gmail.com