Ministry is Messy

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YL Leader Survival Guide, Chapter 11

Ministry isn't always cookie cutter.

And on the bench next to the rock wall, I learned it the hard way.

I found myself on said bench at 3:30 AM, right in the middle of our camp week, talking to one of my high school friends staying in our cabin. I'll spare you the details, but the "you know what" had hit the fan for my friend, and he was in a brutally honest place of evaluating life.


"Why don't you want to follow Jesus?" was my question. Pretty standard, by the book form, right? I was doing great so far.

"You want to know why? Because Christianity just looks like it's all about what I can't do. You say it's life giving, but that doesn't look very life giving to me."

I had no idea what to say. The seconds of silence felt like minutes. I ran through every verse I'd ever read, searching frantically for any kind of answer. But none came. I prayed the shortest prayer you can pray, "Help!" But still, no answer. I was stumped. Was Christianity all about what we couldn't do? Why was I so inadequate for this situation?

It haunted me. I came back from camp with my head low, feeling like a failure. In my mind, I had surely screwed up a kid's chance to know Jesus. And on top of that, the burning question my high school friend harbored had jumped over and ignited my own heart as well. What the heck!

Have you experienced something like this? If so, you'll know you can't get it out of your head until you can find the question for yourself. And that's exactly what happened. After some major wrestling, God finally showed me that the commandments might look and even feel like constriction, but they really lead to real freedom. We were given the guidelines to the most free life possible, but Satan, the Father of Lies, makes it look backwards. I never got to explicitly say this to my friend, but what I did realize is this.

That situation was very much for my growth.

If you've had similar situations, just know you aren't alone. It really is more common than you think. I've had so many times where I either didn't know what to do or say, or I did or said the wrong thing.

And God worked it together for His good.

God carefully crafts these messy moments into our lives. Here are the reasons He's given me for doing such a thing.

1. God wanted to teach ME something. That situation was about me, and all along I thought it was about someone else. Surprise! God already promises He works everything together for His good. Is it too much of a jump to say that He enjoys using our perceived failures to bring about an unforeseen victory? This is the kind of victory that we can't take credit for. We FINALLY have to relent, and give Him all the glory for the work only He is able to do in the first place. Which brings me to my next point...

2. Our failures don't ruin God's plan as much as we think. Only when we fool ourselves into thinking it's our responsibility to save people do we start tallying up all of our failures to do so. Christians in the Middle East are rare. Has that stopped God? Of course not. He's coming to people in dreams. Our God doesn't need us, but he LOVES to use us as his hands and feet. But when we "screw up," God's not sitting there saying, "Oh no... look what you've done!! Now I can't save this person!" Does this mean we don't need to do ministry? Of course not. But when we don't have an answer to a high school friend's question, we don't walk away with someone's blood on our hands. Prayer is the most important ministry there is, because God's the one who does the heavy lifting.

3. God's power is made perfect in our weakness. It's God's good pleasure to put us in situations that are too much for us. In our weakness, His strength finally has room to work how it wants. And in our hearts, we begin to finally realize He was in complete control all along. What a load off our shoulders! So often we forget that God chooses the most unfit to do His greatest works. We forget that Moses said this, "Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue" (- Exodus 4:10). Or that Gideon said this, "Pardon me, my lord, but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family" (Judges 6:15). But God used those guys to do some of the craziest things that have ever happened throughout history. What about you?

God has a plan for the messiness. So don't fret when you feel taken advantage of, or when you've hurt someone's feelings, or when you have to set harsh boundaries with a kid. Ministry is just messy. And the rest of life is just as messy. But messy is beautiful. 

2 Corinthians 12:9-10 And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.” Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

1 Corinthians 1:27-29 "But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong; God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being[a] might boast in the presence of God."



P.S. For a special edition of the Young Life Leader Survival Guide, go to the Young Life Leader Blog's post for today! It's called, "Why Do My High School Friends Keep Partying?"