Paper Example on Personal Ministry Plan

The discussion board forum 2 thought the participant's great lessons about the challenges facing ministers of Gods word. The book Dangerous calling exposes many lessons regarding the life of a minister in a mission field. It is apparent from the reading that pastors face many challenges when spreading the gospel in the local churches and in the international missions grounds. The challenges facing pastors are personal and those in the environment. The cultures of the people surrounding the ministers of the Gospel are a pitfall that undermines the work of most ministers1. Often, pastors experience internal conflicts because the work of ministry is demanding. The pastors who travel the globe spreading the gospel have responsibilities in the local churches and in their families and thus it becomes challenging to balance. The work of ministry requires sacrifice and commitment. The posters in foreign lands miss their families and there is nobody to fill the gap. The purpose of this assignment is to write a ministry plan depicting how to avoid the unique challenges in the ministry.

A greater percentage of the work of ministry is a sacrifice. Pastors face rejections and negative criticism from philosophers. In the past, some of the pastors have miserable lives in their families because of their inability to balance between ministry and family life. The disintegration of the family of a minister has had a negative image of the work of ministry. A closer examination of cultures of pastors shows that most pitfalls emanate from their environment. It is disastrous when pastors expect financial gains from ministry and later fail. Some of the pastors have a wrong perception about ministry and therefore get disappointed when the actual events unfold. The workers of gospel ministers are risky because it involves visiting dangerous regions where people do not know about Christ. Some of the communities that pastors preach the gospel are primitive and are willing to defend their belief with a sword. The Christians believe that God protects their lives and therefore they do not engage in physical fights. For this reason, Christians are vulnerable deaths are physical injuries in the mission fields.

The community holds that pastors are peacemakers and therefore ask the pastors to lead reconciliation among the fighting communities. War zones are dangerous places to spread the gospel because the aggressive community may injure the missioners and reject the work of the missioners. Some time, pastors face challenges of language barriers in the mission filed and fail to deliver the message of hope to the target communities. The belief in the biblical scriptures gives courage to the missioners that later face danger in the war zones. Even though I walk through the darkest valley, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me (Psalms 23:4). The scripture gives hope to the pastors and courage not to fear anything as they travel to new places to spread the gospel of Jesus. The hope in the scripture is that God shall protect the people as they work in dangerous zones helping the needy and giving hope to the hapless. Despite the strong hope that God will protect his people, most of the pastors feels disappointed when God does not intervene instantly on their attack. As a result, most ministers lose hope, stop the ministry, and focus on other business in life. The many pastors who quit the ministry in the past is a source of discouragement to people who aspire to spread the gospel in the future.

At a personal level, I have numerous plans to endure the challenges in the ministry and avoid the ordinary pitfalls in the ministry. Scripture encourages me to surrender my life to Jesus and focus on the gains that come after the rapture of the church. Galatians 2:20 says I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. It is paramount for a pastor to allow Jesus to manifest himself in their lives. It is actually a burden for pastors to belief in their might and forgets the lord of the harvest. It is the hope in the eternal life that should motivate every believer in the ministry. For this reason, I learn to put trust and hope in the cross of Jesus to overcome the challenges that easily entangles.

It is important to remember that God has the power to provide, protect and to guide the ministers of the Gospel. In the past, familiarity in the word has killed the spirit of most pastors. The pastors have knowledge about scriptures but do not believe in the positive implications in their lives. It is easy to forget the power in the word of God and God himself when pastors dwell in the comfort zones. I am planning to ask God to teach me his ways and to give me a new message from the scriptures that I already know. The word of God is new every day for the believers that read the Bible with a desire to listen from God. However, relying on familiarity and old knowledge about the scriptures takes away the spirit of God in the midst of the believers.

It is easy for a pastor to forget the position of God in their lives when they practice mediocrity. In the scripture, God worked in extra ordinary ways on His servants. However, it is difficult to see Gods mighty work in the life of mediocre in the modern church. However, I have learned that mediocrity has a negative effect on the life of a pastor and therefore I have decided to allow the word of God to dwell in me to conquer the deceitful lies of Satan. I plan to commit most of my time in the word and in filling the needs of the ministry in the way, pleases God. The pitfalls in the ministry that are evident in the lives of pastors are a source of strengths and encouragements to focus on Jesus.

I plan to be faithful to God. Dirty secrets hinder the manifestations of God in the lives of the believers. Psalms 51; 10 Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me. The scripture shall be the source of motivation in my life that I will always seek the face of God and ask him to renew my spirit every day. Asking God to create a clean heart in me is one way to fight the tendency to hold dirty secrets in the life. It is apparent in the scriptures that God command obedience in the life of an individual because it is greater that tights and offerings. For this reason, I plan to surrender fully to the calling of God to block all the holes that allow dirty secrets into my life.

The fear of the unknown is one of the deadly diseases in the life of a believer. Gods calling gives an individual many responsibilities. It is the duty of all the believers to be willing to move out of their homes and all kinds of comfort zones to a new land to preach the gospel. However, ordinary belief will ask many questions about the uncertainties that come when one goes to a new place. Some of the questions that flock the mind of an individual include what if I die in the foreign land, and who will take care of my family? The Bible teaches the believers to say, send me Lord God I will go. Questioning the power of God is a lack of faith in God and the confidence to follow the calling. However, after realizing the common mistakes that we go through in the ministry, I decided to learn to trust and obey.

I will stop living with the peacetime mentality. In ministry, the struggles are many because there is need for resources to support the work of God in different mission grounds. As a result, the work of pastors is a war zone. It is normal to face challenges because of the limited resources to finance the work in the church. I plan to give gospel a priority and make Jesus the center of my life. In the past, the failure to resolve internal conflicts in the hearts of most pastors has resulted in the loss of motivation. The pastors ought to hold values and allegiance to the word of God dearly in their hearts. It is apparent that most pastors are in ministry because of identity, security and have hopes of a better living. It is good for pastors to embrace diligence and learn to depend and rely on God for providence and protections. Additionally, it is important for pastors to learn to balance the spiritual, social, and economic life to live a live in full. The children of the ministers of the word need food, education, and access to medical care. However, failing to embrace work and orderly living destabilize the families of the pastors. For my case, I seek to uphold the teaching from Paul where he commands the people live an organized life. In the book of Thessalonians Paul told the Christians to consider living a decent life and work hard to provide for their families.

In conclusion, the work of ministry requires commitment. In the essay, I enumerated all my plans avoid the all the pitfall in ministry. Some of the ways to avoid the pitfalls involve giving God a priority, avoiding mediocrity, and shunning from dirty secrets that suppress the spirit of God in our lives. I plan to hold a strong faith in God and to wait for his providence and protection.

Bibliography

Tripp, P. D. (2012). Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry. Crossway.