I was having a conversation with one of our team the other day as we were working out how to structure a ministry idea. These are my favourite type of conversations. We were discussing what we had done up to that point, and what we’d like to do as we move forward into 2022. As always there is always the question of resource – do we have enough time, people, money etc. to be able to do this well? But as we chatted another helpful question, in fact a better question, came up;

What should we do?

What we meant by that was what would we do if we had all the time, all the people, and all the resources?

If those things were unlimited what would we add to what we do? Would we keep going until a time we could anything? So, for example, if we had the ability to drive to every persons’ house in our community, offer them a lift to a service on a Sunday, bring them home again, visit them during the week, give them a lift to a group, feed them……………would we?

From one angle the answer is yes.

I have always thought that anything we can do to lower the barrier of what it takes to come to a service, visit a ministry etc. is so helpful. Too often our barriers are too high and it prevents people from coming to an environment where they can experience Jesus together with others. Surely we would do all that we could in order to allow more people to experience what it is to know Jesus and be the church?

But on the other hand should the answer be no?

Jesus didn’t always make following Him easy. In fact He made it pretty clear that it would cost us everything – a price that would be worth paying, but a price it was. If we never all people to any kind of sacrifice or discomfort are we truly introducing them into the life that Jesus calls us to lead? At what point have we done enough and it’s up to the individual to step in?

I imagine that different individuals and different churches will come to different conclusions within different ministries. This isn’t a one-size-fits-all debate. Ultimately at some point in all of our lives if we are choosing to follow Jesus, it has to become something that we own, step into, something we invest in, something in which we will experience ups and downs, it won’t always be easy.

But we all need help to step in.

Let the debate roll – I think this would be a helpful conversation for any church leaders to discuss as we move into this new ministry year.

Enjoy!