As a Pastor, leader or communicator, you’ve probably been there, where you wake up, hit your news feed and after a couple of scrolls through other ministries’ one-liners, you begin to feel more and more deflated about the last time you took the stage.
Initiate insecurity.
How do Pastors compete in today’s social media-driven church? What is it about the ministries that are blowing up the newsfeed? What is the X-factor that is stopping your ministry from experiencing the same results?
You’re not broken; you’re human. Called to an occupation where the scoreboard is different. The game is different.
TUNE OUT THE NOISE, TUNE INTO YOUR CALLING.
Here are three ways you can tune out the noise of popularity, tune into your gifting and turn into your own lane so that you can be effective wherever God currently has you.
1. ELIMINATE THE “US VS THEM” MENTALITY.
The original blueprint of the church was not an arena of comparison and competition. It was the layout of a hospital.
Everyone has a role, help is the priority, and egos are not permitted.
Take a moment to consider an operating room. While someone is on the table needing help, surgeons often try to one-up the other to feel better about themselves. This is what it looks like when we waste precious time scrolling through posts evaluating whether we’re “meeting the current mark.”
When it comes to other pastors, ministers and churches, It’s not “us vs them,” it’s just “all of us.”
Take the pressure off.
2. REMEMBER WHY YOU STARTED.
It wasn’t for fame and it wasn’t for fortune. It definitely wasn’t for that one girl or that one guy… or was it? I digress.
It is always good, sometimes necessary, to revisit the initial experience of being called. The way forward often starts with looking back.
Consider where you were to where you are. Who you were to who you are.
Paul states in Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Chaos does not negate the call. Seasons do not change our commission. They only challenge us in it.
3. OWN YOUR LANE.
If I were honest, bicycles don’t belong in regular traffic. They rarely match the pace of other vehicles and often are unpredictable with which space they are occupying.
However, in Triathlons and races where they are given their own track, they can reach defying speeds, coordinate with other cyclists in flock-like movement and cover a lot of ground.
There is something powerful about knowing where your strengths lie, being conscious of your boundaries and unleashing your energies.
Maybe your lane isn’t communication, but you’ve been trying to gather crowds from the pulpit. Perhaps your strength is gathering people around a table. Maybe you’ve been wearing so many hats unnaturally that you’ve lost the ability to tap into what makes your leadership unique.
Align your strengths with your efforts.
Make no mistake. God hand-picked you for where you are.
There is someone within reach of you who thrives off doing the small tasks you hate to do.
The part that hurts is knowing that the longer we pretend in areas we’re weak in, the longer we prevent someone from being able to operate in their strengths.
Church is not about competition. Take yourself off the facade of the leader board and rediscover your passion, your purpose and your God-entrusted position.
ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
Book: Turn Around God by Charlotte Gambill
Book: Resilience by Eric Greitens
Book: Mindcraft by Kelly Stickel