Have you ever found yourself looking back and thinking, “Man, I wished I had fill in the blank .”
It’s not a pleasant feeling knowing that you should have done things differently. Usually it has resulted in either missed opportunity or someone getting hurt (you or someone you care about).
As a Children’s Ministry Leader – or any type of ministry leader, really – there are many things which we might look back on and wish we’d done differently. Here are a few things which I’ve heard in ministry circles and which I hope you never have to say in disappointment:
- “I wish I had spent as much time caring for the spiritual health of my own kids as I did for those in my ministry.”
- “I wish I’d focused more on people and less on program.”
- “I wish I’d made the Gospel more central in my ministry teaching, rather than just teaching good character.”
- “I wish I had read God’s Word for the sake of reading God’s Word and not just for preparing my lessons.”
- “I wish I’d done ministry with a team mentality rather than too often doing it alone.”
- “I wish I’d taken all the time off I was given instead of working through so much of it.”
- “I wish I’d had more face to face conversations on the floor with kids rather than rushing through every Sunday morning putting out fires.”
- “I wish I’d gone to the service more.”
- “I wish I’d been bolder in replacing tradition with vision.”
- “I wish I’d developed people to lead ministry with me as much as I equipped people to do ministry with me.”
- “I wish I hadn’t let my work for the church replace my own relationship with God so often.”
- “I wish … [ what would you add? ]
3 Keys To A No-Regrets Ministry:
- Have a personal spiritual growth plan that includes relationship and accountability.
- Be intentional about identifying and living out priorities in both your personal and ministry life.
- Think and invest in people first – whether that’s developing a leader or playing with a kid on the floor – people matter most!
