Tuesday, January 14, 2014

3 Lessons You Can Learn From The Megachurch

A repost from 2010...but the lessons are still current!

Have you ever wished you were serving in ministry somewhere else? Several years ago, my husband and I took our team of teachers to visit a 'megachurch'. It was amazing! As I watched hundreds of excited kids zooming down tubular slides into their 'classrooms' below, I couldn't help but covet what I saw. All I could think was, I want to be in ministry here. But God did not call me to serve in a 'megachurch'. God called me to serve in a 'minichurch.'

The next day, as I stood forlornly in our children's ministry space, looking around at the drab furnishings and out of date supplies, I realized I had a choice.

I could either forever covet what the megachurch had, or I could learn from them, and do my very best in the place to which I had been called. I chose the latter, and in doing so, learned 3 important lessons:
 

  • It's not about how many resources we have, but how resourceful we can be.

  • It's not about being big, but about being our best.

  • It's not about how many kids we bring to our programs, but how many kids we bring to Christ.

That experience served to rejuvenate our space, our teachers, and our passion for children's ministry. Today, even though I still love the energy of the megachurch, I no longer covet what they have. Instead, I try to look to them to see what I can learn. I love what Pastor Bobbie Houston of Hillsong Church in Australia said:

I actually think we have a responsibility to represent God with excellence, and that doesn't mean perfection. It just means that we give our heart and our soul and that we actually represent him well.
 
Serving with excellence is not the prerogative of the megachurch, but the priority of every church. Whether we serve in a megachurch or a minichurch does not really matter. Are we representing God with excellence? Are we giving our heart and soul to our Children's Ministry every single week?
 
Because if we are, then that's all that really matters.

2 comments:

  1. Love this! Thank you for the encouraging word. :)

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  2. Thank you! Encouraging words is my aim!

    ReplyDelete