I was raised in church ministry. My mom served, my dad served, both me and my two sisters served, for years.
It is my opinion, that people who serve often get asked to do many things because they exhibit a servant's heart. Often times, on the WORK side of church unless servants can learn to say 'no' they can very quickly burn out.
Here in PNG, saying 'YES' to one ministry often means saying 'NO' to others. There really is never the risk of 'I'm not doing enough for God' here. Both Kendal and I are constantly busy doing some ministry. We have our main jobs plus many others.
So when a new opportunity arises you have to seriously consider it, pray, go to God and ask for guidance, because you can very easily end up in a position where you get burned out.
There is SO much work to be done and the workers are diminishing.
Upon arriving here from furlough we have each been confronted with multiple change requests:
-I was asked to step into a leadership position requiring at least 2 months away from my normal computer job
-My wife was asked to become a 5th grade teacher instead of preschool.
-I was asked again to be a leader in a different position
-My wife was asked to be a committee secretary (a huge amount of work).
If we chose to say 'yes' to these things, we would be effectively saying 'no' to many many things in the next 2 years (that's the length of the committment).
And so, we seriously sought God in this matter. Praying hard over it. People don't ask lightly around here, your 'NO' has to be firm, which is why I needed the confidence that God was directing my steps behind me.
After 8 days of prayer and thought, God graced us with a very clear message and we replied 'NO' to these things.
The NEXT day my world got super busy and I realized... had I said 'yes' at this point I possibly could crack. The readjustment to this place has been very time consuming because there has been so many changes and there is so much work to do.
And there has been personal things going on as well, my daughter has begun a Bible study, has a play, etc...
I mention this because I firmly believe that for the sake of longevity that people serving God must learn to say a very firm 'no' in a loving way. You need to learn to deal with the guilt of not taking on a task that God has not called you to, and the guilt of saying 'no' when you see an obvious need.
We need to also learn that when we say 'no' we need to start praying for that hole to be filled by the right person.
Putting the wrong person in a 'slot' can be as harmful as leaving that job undone.
I've seen ministry chew people up and spit them out. And ministry can be a machine. A machine with a heart that does good work, but the ugly side of it requires that people fill roles and jobs.
It may sound dreadful for a missionary to say 'Today I said no to three opportunities to serve.' But that should really be read as 'Today I said 'yes' to doing what God called me here to do, and to do it well, instead of doing it distractedly until I get exhausted and burn out.'.
We're not here to work super hard, then fall apart within a year.
We're here to work hard, work smart, and do what God called us to do, and to do it for the long term.
However, if you're unclear what God is telling you to do, then saying 'yes' to many things may help you to find your niche.
Please don't take this to mean we're not doing enough. I've listed out before all the things we are doing.
Instead this post is to inform you that there is a ton of work that gets left undone sometimes. We prioritize and focus and get the job done. I wanted to express that there is so much work, that as soon as someone returns from furlough/home assignment they are prompted with many new 'opportunities', and you need to learn the discipline of wisely accepting the ones you are capable of doing well.
It's all about maintaining a manageable level of stress and energy in your life so that you can serve over the long term with passion and skill.
On the flip side, I totally intend to arrive in heaven completely used up, beat up, and tired out. I simply don't want to burnout before that time.
