Tag: ministry

Gift-wrapped present

Fundraising Therapy

On By StephanieIn Work & Money

For years as a fund-raising missionary, I was taught that raising support was an integral part of my ministry, that fundraising not only made it financially possible to do the ministry I loved (a means to an end), but that it was a ministry in and of itself (its own end). It allowed me to:

  • connect with people
  • share my life and my ministry with them
  • give them an opportunity to participate materially with what God was doing, and
  • help them grow into generous stewards of their resources, regardless of whether they chose my specific ministry to support or another one that better aligned with their “Kingdom values.”

It was such a beautiful vision of support-raising, and I believed it in theory. But I had a few hang-ups that got in the way of fully embracing it.

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Anonymous stranger

My Year of Anonymity

On By StephanieIn Faith

After several years of Christian ministry, I’d slowly and unintentionally gotten myself wrapped up in a giant Christian bubble. I didn’t like it—I missed refreshingly-secular conversations with people who didn’t think like me, and I wasn’t making room for that when my calendar was booked with church services, small groups, outreach trainings, and prayer meetings. I didn’t want to wipe away all Christian influences—I think that being connected to fellow believers helps ground you in your faith—I just wanted to leave behind the bubble that isolated me from people who didn’t share my faith.

And like some other changes I’ve needed in my life, I decided to go drastic for a short period of time. Swing to the other side of the pendulum, so to speak. And later, after I’d experienced both extremes, find the appropriate middle ground for me.

So I took a year to be anonymous.

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Hiking in mountains

Mountains of Decisions, part 3

On By StephanieIn Faith

Prologue from part 1 and part 2:

I am not a hiker. And though I appreciate the beauty of green and flowering things from behind the glass of a window, I’m not even really that fond of being outdoors. So I was surprised to discover that the image that came to me year after year as an analogy to describe my life, was a mountain. Complete with hiking trails.

The last time the mountain imagery came to mind I was at a major crossroads in my life instead of my ministry. Well, it had something to do with my ministry in that I was considering leaving it.

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Hiking in mountains

Mountains of Decisions, part 2

On By StephanieIn Faith

Prologue from part 1:

I am not a hiker. And though I appreciate the beauty of green and flowering things from behind the glass of a window, I’m not even really that fond of being outdoors. So I was surprised to discover that the image that came to me year after year as an analogy to describe my life, was a mountain. Complete with hiking trails.

The second time this mountain imagery came up, I had already decided to sign on full time with the ministry I’d been part of for 6 years. I’d been offered the choice to move to another city in a nearby state, or to stay at the campus I knew and loved. They asked me to pray about it, and when I did, the same mountain image emerged from my subconscious. Only this time, there were two ways up the mountain.

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Relaxing Sabbath Atmosphere

Tips for a Restful Sabbath

On By StephanieIn Faith

We all need rest from the hard work we do every day. We need to catch our breath every once in a while–a chance to drop our guard, to not be needed, and to allow ourselves to be human and receive what we need. Even for just a few moments of the day.

Nine years ago I was challenged to take more than a few minutes. For the sake of my sanity and my ministry, I set aside a whole day each week, hoping to find rest and the strength to jump back into another week with renewed energy. Many faith-filled people refer to this day as Sabbath.

Most weeks I failed. Not because I didn’t take the day, but because many of the activities I thought would recharge me, didn’t. Some actually sapped energy away and made me feel less rested than when the “day of rest” had begun. But over the years of trial and error, little by little I discovered activities that replenished my energy, that brought glimpses of emotional healing to my heart, that allowed me to slow down, that made me feel like a human again after a whole week of working like a machine.

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Hand holding up a Bible

Professional Christian

On By StephanieIn Faith

A friend teased me when I became a missionary, saying I was becoming a professional Christian. I knew my friend was joking, but the joke represented a mind frame among evangelicals that was deeply and fervently held: that pastors and missionaries and other ministers are (or ought to be) better Christians than everybody else. After all, they’re “getting paid for being a Christian.”

I don’t think it’s accurate, and I’m wondering how Christianity strayed so far from Jesus’s message that we all fall short of perfection and all need him for help.

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