The Pastor's Pen - The Zelienople Church of the Nazarene

"A Celebration Of Ministry"
April, 2004

Ministry is our act of service to our family; work associates; fellow students; and contacts we make in our community when at the library, getting gas, groceries or any other place we come in contact with people. These areas of ministry are personal first, but then these extended contacts should become a part of the church.

Many people we come in contact with have had some rough experience with other Christians or churches. Be sensitive to this. I know of a church in Texas that was going through a split. The former pastor and a few members started a new church and stole church equipment, vans, property and funds. The church that was taken advantage of dropped in attendance from over 400 to around 70. Many people felt hurt, confused, violated, and robbed and motivation to continue was low. How would you build up trust to continue? How would you motivate? How would you provide a ministry of healing? How would you get people from the 400, and from the 70 left, to trust you and your beloved church if you were the new pastor coming in? Quite a lot to think about, is it not?

This is how I learned of the importance of helping others celebrate ministry. I wasn't the pastor. (PRAISE THE LORD!) However, I had family members who were a part of the remaining group. I learned as they shared how their church handled the situation. First, while looking for a pastor, they began to celebrate every ministry that accomplished something positive. The benefit that came from this was encouragement. These Nazarene laymen would not allow the devil to rob them of their JOY of serving Jesus Christ. It took 11 months for them to find a pastor called to walk into their difficult situation. So, for 11 months, they stayed with their plan to show the community, all of their contacts, and extended contacts they would celebrate ministry. They took a very difficult and very negative situation and turned it into a positive one. Meanwhile, they were constantly bombarded by negative community pressure and constant bad publicity from the news, the newspaper, lawsuits, court dates, people withdrawing kids from their daycare because the former pastor spreading bad rumors. They had former members who followed the pastor trying to convince others who were left to leave. Then, they got a new pastor.

This pastor became the center of their Celebration. The best way to exalt Jesus Christ to the community was for them to show the community they could trust another pastor. The call of this pastor became special to the church and was promoted to the community as the best thing that ever happened. They celebrated this event yearly. After 2 years:200 plus in attendance. Today: back over 400.

So! May I encourage you to join me in celebrating ministry in our church? Every event is to become special and we want to celebrate the importance of ministry. This develops positive, growing ministry. Celebration creates excitement and enthusiasm. Celebration gets people wondering what all the excitement is about. Let's CELEBRATE, beginning with our Annual Meeting May 2, 2004 at 6pm!

-Rev. Gene Hill, Pastor