Know why you’re here
Mark 1 v 38-45 – Jesus was being asked to heal people. But more important to him was to pray alone, and to preach to others. So he didn’t heal that day. It’s not that he never healed, but he knew that his priorities were his own relationship with his Father, and to preach throughout Galilee. So that’s where the bulk of his time went.
It's the same for us: it’s good to have a specific statement about why you’re in your ministry. It needs to be narrower that “I’m here to tell people about Jesus.”
This helps us to know whether to concentrate on our own Bible talks and studies, or helping others with theirs; on new ministries or maintaining existing ministry; on those on the periphery or those who are keenest; on taking evangelistic opportunities or training others in evangelism.
Know who you are
Psalm 127 v 1-2 – God is the one who builds, and he builds as his people labour. We mustn’t think that it all depends on us (which causes self-reliance, stress and overwork) or that God will “just do it” (which causes laziness and complacency).
Psalm 127 v 1-2 – God is the one who builds, and he builds as his people labour. We mustn’t think that it all depends on us (which causes self-reliance, stress and overwork) or that God will “just do it” (which causes laziness and complacency).
If we remember who we are and what our part is (to labour) and who God is and what His part is (to build), we’ll be able to sleep (v 2) rather than lie awake worrying!
A useful summary of what we’re about is: “I am here to use the energy God gives me, with the gifts God has given me, in the time God has given me — and then look to him to do his work.”
Know your character
How we order our days, what we need to work on in terms of managing our time, will depend to some extent on who we are:
- Perfectionist, or last minute blagger?
- Extrovert, or introvert?
- Fixated (have to finish job before doing anything else) v flighty (constantly chopping and changing)
All of these characteristics have aspects that will help your ministry and the ministry of those around you; but they all have aspects that can hinder, too. It’s worth thinking through how your character is a great help and a potential hindrance.
Some tips
- Split your day into three parts – morning, afternoon, evening. Aim to work two, rest one.
- Split day into hours – plan what you’ll do in each hour (good for perfectionists – only give a job the time you allocated it. Good for job-avoiders – stops you putting things off)
- Daily to-do list. Write down and prioritise. And write down a not-to-do list, so you don’t panic about whether you need to do more!
- Don’t carry your diary – gives you chance to pray about things, and say “no” if you need to.
- Learn to say “no”. Remember to ask why you’re here, and know who you are!
Some great ideas here - thanks. I know that some people find it helpful not to carry a diary (for the reasons given in the blog). But I never did, since I often genuinely needed it to arrange meetings that were right and good to be part of.
ReplyDeleteSo when I was a fulltime youthworker I took a different approach. I would set aside the time I was planning to keep free (one weekday evening each week for example). But I didn't leave an empty space in my diary (which meant people could look and say "Hey, you're not doing anything on Wednesday, let's meet then".
Instead I wrote in a set of initials. My diary looks like that anyway: PCC (Parochial Church Council), HG (homegroup), CCT (Christ Church Trust meeting) etc. My free evening had NMTF - no more, too full!