How Do I Motivate My Church for Ministry?
00:00:00.000 | (upbeat music)
00:00:02.580 | - Joshua writes in and asks,
00:00:06.360 | "I'm the pastor of a small congregation
00:00:08.640 | "in Western North Carolina.
00:00:10.380 | "It has been very difficult to get people excited
00:00:12.120 | "about serving the Lord in the local church,
00:00:13.680 | "and hence there are only a few committed people
00:00:15.560 | "serving here.
00:00:16.840 | "Because of this lack of interest to serve,
00:00:18.520 | "ministry growth is being stunted.
00:00:20.200 | "Pastor John, what advice would you give me
00:00:22.040 | "to help people get excited about serving Christ?"
00:00:27.160 | - Well, I am really eager to say something helpful,
00:00:31.040 | if I can, about that, because I've seen it done badly,
00:00:34.600 | and I've seen it done well,
00:00:36.160 | and I've tried to do it myself for 33 years as a pastor.
00:00:39.760 | I know pastors want their people to love the church,
00:00:42.700 | and love service, and link arms with the pastor,
00:00:45.200 | and throw themselves in with joy,
00:00:46.840 | and when it doesn't happen, it can be really discouraging.
00:00:49.880 | I've seen it done badly.
00:00:50.880 | My wife and I were in a church,
00:00:52.680 | that was probably 10 years ago, on vacation in a town,
00:00:56.040 | and we decided to go to church Sunday evening,
00:00:59.360 | and we went, and it was the most berating sermon
00:01:04.240 | we had ever heard.
00:01:05.560 | This pastor, for 30 minutes, was spanking his people,
00:01:08.940 | criticizing his people, complaining to his people,
00:01:11.320 | and the issue was Wednesday night attendance.
00:01:15.300 | And when we walked out, Noel, my wife,
00:01:17.560 | never criticizes anybody.
00:01:19.240 | She said to me in the car on the way home,
00:01:23.660 | I don't think we'll go back there.
00:01:26.020 | I mean, that's a documentation of how not to do it.
00:01:30.080 | It just doesn't do any good to use the pulpit
00:01:34.140 | to spank your people.
00:01:35.220 | On the other hand, when I was out of love with the church,
00:01:39.300 | and wondering if the church, like an idiot,
00:01:41.820 | wondering if the church had any future in 1968 and '69,
00:01:46.220 | when I was 20 years old, 22 years old,
00:01:51.460 | I went to Ray Ortland Senior's church in Pasadena,
00:01:55.580 | and Sunday after Sunday, watch this man in the pulpit
00:02:00.420 | love his God, love his church, and love his ministry,
00:02:05.420 | and summon people into his loves.
00:02:10.340 | And everything in me fell in love with the church.
00:02:12.900 | So the simple answer there was,
00:02:17.860 | here was a man who so manifestly exalted
00:02:22.460 | over the word of God,
00:02:23.660 | so manifestly exalted over the church of God,
00:02:27.620 | and over the ministry God had called him to,
00:02:30.200 | how could you not want that?
00:02:31.940 | He was so happy in his ministry,
00:02:33.940 | and so loved his ministry,
00:02:36.100 | that I'm just all frustrated here in my pew,
00:02:39.780 | and he's happy in the pulpit.
00:02:41.900 | There's a way to fix this, you know?
00:02:43.700 | I want what he has.
00:02:46.260 | And so I think the key there,
00:02:49.740 | and this is what I tried to do for 33 years
00:02:52.540 | with more or less success,
00:02:54.820 | I think the key to motivating people for ministry
00:02:59.540 | is to talk more about God and less about ministry.
00:03:02.340 | When people have asked me,
00:03:04.020 | how do you motivate people for world missions?
00:03:06.140 | I say, stop talking about world missions,
00:03:08.100 | and start talking about a global God.
00:03:10.420 | And I don't mean just talk about him, I mean love him.
00:03:13.380 | I mean exalt in him, I mean blow people away
00:03:16.500 | with his vision for this world,
00:03:18.100 | and his absolute promises that this gospel
00:03:20.780 | is gonna be preached to all the nations,
00:03:22.540 | and the glories that's gonna happen for this Christ
00:03:24.900 | when all the nations stream to him.
00:03:26.700 | People don't get excited about burdens
00:03:31.500 | being laid on their back.
00:03:33.440 | They get excited about a burden lifter.
00:03:36.060 | They get excited about a God infinitely worthy
00:03:39.100 | of their allegiance and their worship.
00:03:42.980 | So my counsel is at the beginning of a ministry,
00:03:47.300 | and really I suppose anywhere along the ministry,
00:03:49.220 | put very little emphasis on programs.
00:03:51.660 | Put very little emphasis on activities in the church.
00:03:54.420 | Don't come into a church and say,
00:03:56.020 | okay, we got these five activities,
00:03:57.580 | and I'm in here to revitalize those five activities.
00:04:01.620 | That's just a crazy way to go about church renewal.
00:04:05.380 | Rather, put a huge emphasis on heralding,
00:04:09.740 | exalting over the greatness of God,
00:04:13.420 | the unsearchable riches of Christ,
00:04:15.860 | the glories of our salvation,
00:04:17.940 | the wonders of the Bible,
00:04:20.860 | and weave into that a life of prayer for your people
00:04:25.860 | that God would give them a taste for this glory
00:04:30.020 | so that they don't feel forced.
00:04:32.800 | They have a desire and a longing
00:04:34.620 | because God has become something amazing to them
00:04:38.580 | 'cause you really don't want any other kind of service, do you?
00:04:43.580 | You don't want service because you've scared them into it
00:04:46.980 | or twisted their arm into it.
00:04:50.100 | You want service that is overflowing out of...
00:04:55.100 | Here's a story.
00:04:57.340 | I came to Bethlehem 33 years ago,
00:04:59.700 | and there was a corps of people.
00:05:01.780 | It was small, who didn't like me,
00:05:03.620 | and they stonewalled me.
00:05:05.020 | They wouldn't sing the songs.
00:05:06.160 | They folded their arms.
00:05:07.100 | They sat on the back pew.
00:05:08.220 | There were about 11 pews in those days.
00:05:09.940 | They sat on the back one.
00:05:10.860 | They were just like really close 'cause 11 is not many,
00:05:14.340 | and I did everything I knew to win them over,
00:05:17.320 | and finally, I just said to them,
00:05:19.160 | you know, I love you,
00:05:23.180 | and I intend to outrejoice you and outlast you,
00:05:29.060 | (laughs)
00:05:32.220 | and I did.
00:05:33.460 | They were all gone eventually.
00:05:36.100 | Some of them won over.
00:05:37.540 | Some of them just vanished,
00:05:39.600 | and my point is I didn't try to get them into service.
00:05:44.600 | Like if I could just get them into service,
00:05:47.420 | I didn't want them in service.
00:05:49.140 | They would be bad blood everywhere.
00:05:51.860 | I wanted them to love Christ and to love the gospel
00:05:55.460 | and to love singing and to love worshiping
00:05:57.700 | and yes, to love me,
00:06:00.860 | but I was not going to be drug down to their level
00:06:04.300 | and fold my arms, become bitter, and become angry.
00:06:07.780 | I really wanted to so exult over Christ
00:06:11.940 | that they would see,
00:06:13.500 | and I give thanks to all the ones who did,
00:06:15.580 | and I pray that those who left
00:06:18.820 | might have found it in another place,
00:06:20.580 | so my last word is don't preach and teach
00:06:25.580 | and labor over programs and activities.
00:06:30.300 | Give yourself to the word and to the glories of God.
00:06:34.260 | - Thank you, Pastor John,
00:06:35.260 | and thank you for listening to this podcast.
00:06:36.900 | Email your questions to us at askpastorjohn@desiringgod.org,
00:06:39.940 | and you can visit us online at desiringgod.org
00:06:42.060 | to find thousands of books and articles and sermons
00:06:44.740 | and other resources from John Piper,
00:06:46.280 | all completely for free.
00:06:47.740 | I'm your host, Tony Reinke.
00:06:48.580 | Thanks for listening.
00:06:49.580 | (upbeat music)
00:06:52.160 | (upbeat music)
00:06:54.740 | [BLANK_AUDIO]