Service In Place of Relationship
“At some point in my journey, I forgot that my ministry was NOT my relationship with God.”
Over twenty years ago, I became an accidental Kidmin person. As a young wife and mother at a small church that was recently planted, I had no idea where I belonged. I went where I was needed each Sunday.
On one particular Sunday, I was placed in children’s ministry. With no experience and a class with ages ranging from 3-13 years old, I was just glad everyone left safe and uninjured. I am confident, not one kid learned anything. I am also confident they had fun, even if it was only because they got away with insanity that day.
It was on that Sunday that God clearly spoke to my heart; ‘this’ was what I was going to do with my life. Not happy, as I wanted to be a pastry chef, this message changed the course of my life in a way I could have never imagined. I dove straight into the deep end, found a job at a preschool, volunteered on Sundays, and took every opportunity I could to learn and grow in Kidmin.
I do not regret this calling for another minute. However, I look back now and see there was one big pitfall that I believe I am not the only one to ever fall into. At some point in my journey, I forgot that my ministry was NOT my relationship with God.
I am not quite sure where or when it happened, but I found myself so focused on doing that I had stopped growing closer to the one I was doing it for.
Do any of these sound like you? At one time they were all me…
I don’t need a private Bible study time, I study The Word when preparing for a lesson.
I don’t need worship, I worship with the kids.
My relationship with Jesus is founded on my service and that is how I grow closer to Him.
I am in a hurry today, so I will just pray while I am leading the kids in prayer.
It was not until the pandemic that the realization hit me like a ton of bricks. As a campus coordinator for a church that was forced to quarantine, I was not very busy during this time. A few Zoom calls with my kids, but someone else was hosting the online kid’s services and managing the social media stuff. I found myself feeling empty, questioning my calling and even my faith. Who was I without children’s ministry?
It was during that time that I had to rediscover my personal relationship with the Lord and figure out what that looked like without the band-aid that my ministry had become.
“I found myself in Him who called me, which gave me a renewed passion for my ministry.”
I started worshipping with my family, reading scripture just for me, and praying more. I learned that I was not Amber, The Kid Person but Amber, Daughter of The King. I GET to do kid’s ministry but that is not my identity. I found myself in Him who called me, which gave me a renewed passion for my ministry.
The big thing I learned was that I am not what I do. I learned that trying to find my identity in my ministry was leading to burnout, loneliness, and emptiness. I realized I was more anxious than I had to be and more tired than I was ever intended to be.
I also learned that when I limited my relationship with Him, I limited my ministry’s capacity. I could not give more than I had, and without a personal relationship with the one who gives immeasurably more than we can imagine, I didn’t have much to offer.
In an effort to prevent my priorities shifting, I have turned my excuses into reminders…
I need to be in The Word for myself, so I know the God I am teaching kids about.
I need to worship outside of my ministry, so I can be an example to the kids when I am worshipping with them.
My ministry is an overflow of my relationship with Jesus.
I have too much going on today, to miss chatting with the One who is in control of everything.
While it is definitely easy to fall into this trap of mixed up priorities, it is vital that we get our priorities in order; so that both we and our ministries can flourish.
The first week of every month on Crazy Kidmin, I plan on focusing not on ministry but on our personal relationships with The Lord. Will you join me on this adventure to maintain the relationship so we can pour that out into our ministries?