Church leadership is not for the weak of heart. Whether you are a senior pastor, worship leader or a small group leader, a lot of blood, sweat, and tears goes into what you do. Every so often–after weeks, months or even years of leading your ministry– you must take a step back and ask yourself, “Is this still working?” Are you still leading effectively? Is your ministry running like a well-oiled machine, or could your leadership use a tune up? Here are some tips to get back up and running:
Learn to Delegate
Don’t try to be a hero. No one expects one person to carry the entire load alone. Enter: volunteers. Spend time getting together a team of volunteers/other staff members to help you. Maybe you already have volunteers waiting for an opportunity to get involved. If so, great! The key is to come up with a list of goals, or things that need to be accomplished, and delegate the tasks that can be done by someone else. Sharing responsibility with others helps to not only get tasks done quicker and more effectively, but also helps others feel connected.
Think Long-Term
Where do you see your ministry/church five, ten, or even fifteen years from now? There’s nothing wrong with working on goals for the “right now,” but you should constantly be striving to achieve your long-term goals. If you want to add a campus location in three years, start planning what that will look like. If you’d like to add a full band or choir to your small music ministry, treat the few people you have as if they are the 50 or 100 people you’d like to have. Matthew 25:23 says, “Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over many things.”
Trust God Always
Serving in God and actively participating in ministry is rewarding, but there will be definitely be hard days. There will be mountains and valleys. At the peak of the mountains, you will be so thankful to God for allowing your ministry to grow. In the valleys, you will wonder if God is still present. Trust. God. Always. Remember that God has placed a calling on your life, no matter how big or how small. It is not your job to know how to make everything work, but it is your duty to allow God to be in control. He is faithful to do what He promised us in His word that He would do.
This may have found you ten years deep into ministry, or you may have just gotten your first pastoring position. No matter where you are in your journey of ministry, I want to encourage you to keep pressing into the calling He has for you. When you begin to doubt, lean into God. He sees what tomorrow holds, so trust Him today.
Kirsten lives in Richmond, VA with her husband, Carl and her beautiful daughter, Maci. She and her husband serve as Youth Pastors and Worship Leaders at their church. She loves her job and the opportunity she has to serve pastors and ministry leaders full time. When she’s not at work or church, you can probably find her wandering the aisles of Target with a Starbucks lemonade in hand. 
