Amazing latitude

It seems to me that when you factor in the things that you cannot compromise on (doctrine, attitude, humility, thankfulness, etc.) there is an amazing amount of latitude in how I minister. Obviously I need to be results oriented (i.e. more and better disciples), and "results" can be a funny thing in and of itself. For example, I think it is not a stretch that I can define a result of ministry (especially to children) as getting them excited about ministry. Someone who is excited about the prospect of ministry is a better disciple than someone who is not. I can also define a good result of ministry to be that a child has memorized more Bible verses this year than last. That is a better disciple too. How about a child that has acknowledged Christ as their Lord and Savior? Yup, more disciples.

I find conflict when these results are out of balance. When I am always (or even greatly) on the side of evangelism, bible-memorization, or excitement-generation I am losing it and not ministering as effectively as I could be. Also, I want to build the practice and application of these results into the lives of the children I am ministering too. That's wisdom - when they live life skilfully as they apply what they have learned to real life situations.

Negotiating all of this in the day-to-day? Now that escapes me most of the time.

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