How To Know When Your Ministry Is Headed In The Wrong Direction

I thank God for technology and its wonderful use in the Kingdom community. I have a 30gb I-Pod that I have loaded up with not only political programs and music but also with some of the great radio ministries of the day including Grace To You, In-Touch, Homeward, The Urban Alternative and Enjoying Everyday Life. But one of my favorites and one that I've listened to even before there were I-Pods is Insight for Living with Chuck Swindoll. Chuck's teaching is extraordinarily biblical with practical application.

And this morning I was blessed by another message in a series on the attributes of God from 2 Chronicles 26. In that message entitled The Glory Of God, Chuck shares five things that let you know when ministry is headed in the wrong direction:

1. When greater battles are fought within than without (e.g, pride, greed, lust, conceit, etc.)
2. When more attention is paid to building our own kingdoms rather than God's kingdom.
3. When the Lord's help is no longer essential.
4. When reproof and warnings are resisted rather than respected.
   
5. When the consequences of sin no longer cause fear.
   

All five are powerful warnings for anyone in ministry and it is especially applicable to those of us in pastoral leadership. There is so much emphasis in the clergy realms today to build bigger and larger sanctuaries at a cost of millions of dollars in blood and treasure. When the Lord's favor does come upon us with growth, I hope we keep the five warnings above in mind.

It is my hope that all of us would be careful in what we do for the Lord and that God would get all the glory from our efforts be they in a megachurch or in a storefront.