In reviewing the health of our ministries, it is important that we examine our own lives.

Rooted

Blessed is the man
who walks not in the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in the way of sinners,
nor sits in the seat of scoffers;
but his delight is in the law of the Lord,
and on his law he meditates day and night.
Psalm 1:1-2

Foundational to our fitness as a TC staff member is our own spiritual health. We must maintain our own personal spiritual disciplines in order to remain viable and effective in ministry. However, we shouldn’t practice spiritual disciplines for the purpose of ministry. Rather, we practice these disciplines, first and foremost, out of a passionate heart for Christ. Spiritual disciplines are born out of the desire to know and love Him. He is the center, the core, the whole of our lives.

Paul in Philippians chapter 3 says (from The Message), “Compared to the high privilege of knowing Christ Jesus as my Master, firsthand, everything I once thought I had going for me is insignificant – dog dung. I’ve dumped it all in the trash so that I could embrace Christ and be embraced by Him. …I gave up all that inferior stuff so I could know Christ personally,…”

So how is my personal spiritual life?  it should be healthy on its own, completely apart from the ministry. Am I seeking the Lord so that I can know Him and be near Him for myself and not just seeking Him just because I have to, to be able to be a ministry for the students?

Let me give this illustration: To have a healthy marriage, both individuals need to be spiritually and emotionally healthy. You do not marry someone to try to fix or stabilize yourself. “If I was married, I wouldn’t have a problem with…__________.” (Fill in the blank with your sinful weakness.) Whatever you have a problem with before marriage you will still have a problem with in marriage. Marriage will not fix you. And so it is with ministry. Ministry is not the place to try to stabilize yourself or to stay out of fear of failure on your own. You should not be thinking that: “As long as I’m on staff at TC, I wouldn’t have a problem with…__________.”This is not healthy for you or for the students. You must first be grounded in your personal relationship with Christ. Rooted and grounded in Him, you can serve from a point of strength and not from a point of dependence on being a part of a ministry.

Growing

He is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
Psalm 1:3-4

Am I still growing? There is never a point that we arrive at maturity. (2 Peter 1:3-11)

I must remain humble and sensitive to what God is doing in my life; healing my past, purifying my heart, stretching my faith. I must cooperate and surrender to His working and direction.

I must be real. I must remain humble and admit my struggles and apologize when I sin, or mess up.

We must continue to press in and draw close to Him. (James 4:8)

Fruitful

Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches.
Those who remain in me, and I in them,
will produce much fruit.
John 15:5

When I am rooted and growing in Him the fruit becomes a natural outflow of that relationship. Fruit is not something I strive to produce. An apple tree produces apples because it has apple life flowing through it.1 John 3:9 is a powerful verse with profound implications: “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.” (See also 2 Peter 1:3-4) We have His life in us! We produce the fruit of Christ because we have have His life flowing in us.

Being rooted and growing in Christ is the key to a fruit-filled life and thus a fruitful healthy ministry.

Think about it –

2 Corinthians 13:5 to, “Examine ourselves…”