Flashback to 20 years ago when we still had Sunday evening services, and one Sunday night I was talking and I said, “We want our church to grow.” There were three older people sitting together and one of them piped up and said, “No we don’t.” Just like that. They just spewed those three words out. I remember that moment vividly. I was shocked. My jaw dropped. And what made it worse, there was a new, younger family sitting two rows in front of them who never came back. I was completely heartbroken. This was just one of the negative mindsets of the church when I came to my current church 21.5 years ago. No desire to grow, and any ministry that was done was first and foremost to appease the “in crowd.” Those early years were extraordinarily difficult and painful years.
Fast forward to 2021, 2022, 2023, and just today after another amazing conversation – young people and adults stepping up and saying, “I want to serve. I see a need and I want to help. I feel God is calling me to start a new ministry. I feel a call to ministry.” I can’t help but be in awe when I think about Galatians 6:9, “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap if we do not give up.” Pastor friends and colleagues, ministry is both rewarding and difficult, and some contexts are simply more difficult and dysfunctional. But may these Spirit inspired words from the apostle Paul to the first century churches of Galatia be a source of strength, inspiration, and unyielding resolve for you to keep on pressing on as the Lord calls you!