Growing Ministry without all the HYPE: Keep it Humble

Keep it Humble

Pride is one of those things you have to deal with all the time, like changing the oil in your car. Preventive maintenance is key to this.  Pride will kill any growth.  Why?  Because God won’t be on your side.  “God resist the proud”  If you want to grow without the hype, then stay away from pride.  

I love how Paul in Philippians puts it.  He tells of all his qualifications, all the things he has done and then he tells us “I count them all as worthless.” 

Later on he says that “he forgets the past and presses forward”  He forgets all the successes, all the accolades, and all the favor and presses toward the goal.  Forget your qualifications, and you could have all of them. Stay focused on God getting the glory. 

Humble is:

1.  Total dependence on God. If your vision doesn’t need God to help you out in it, every time you show up, then it’s not big enough.  Be ready to receive help! Sometimes God sends help through other people. 

2.  Complete submission to God’s will and ways.  This is doing what God tells you to do, when He tells you to do it. This requires you staying plugged in to HIM! This is a lifestyle.  This is you getting to know Him and His ways.  I love Moses’ prayer “If you have found favor in me, show me your ways.” Listen to your leaders, your mentors, your life coaches, God has placed them in your life for a reason.  

3.  Knowing who you are with others.  Your a servant.  Plain and simple.  You don’t have to beat yourself up in front of others, so people will think you are humble.  You don’t even have to tell people your the leader.  They will automatically know when they see you serving others, and leading others to do the same.  People want to be around the love of Christ. Our society is hungry for it.  

Let’s look at this in action.  How about a tea party, fine china stuff and great decorations? But instead of inviting just the ladies from church, how about including the women from the homeless shelter, or women from a domestic abuse shelter, or women from a drug rehab. Why don’t you do the tea party just for them? Let them feel special, let them feel the love of God, let them know they are cared for.  Let them know a Savior exist!  Don’t withhold the fine china for fear of someone stealing it. Don’t charge and go all out. God is your provider. Depend on Him to foot that bill. Submit to God’s way of doing this tea party. Take the back table.  Tell your guest speaker they don’t get a reserved table. Really step outside the box and let the reserved table be for the down and out. Take another step outside the box and let the younger generation plan it!  Who knows it might get supplemented with a  coffee house, or a spaghetti dinner, or a movie night, or a day handing out water at the beach.