Anyone else felt like 2024 was a year filled with challenge? You poured into volunteers, only to watch them walk away. You created new systems, just to watch them fall. You wrote the best teachings you could, only to preach them to what felt like an empty auditorium.
There is no question ministry is in a different place then it once was. Not saying it’s harder or easier. Just different. So where do we go from here? I believe, as always, the answer can be found in scripture.
Rememebr the beginning of Nehemiah? When he hears that the walls around Jerusalem had been destroyed and the people are in ruin. In some ways that is what its felt like over these past few years. Post-covid ministry has been incredibly challenging. Like Nehemiah, it feels like the structres that everything was built on have been destroyed. The way we used to do connect groups. The way we used to preach. The way we used to invite. It feels like its all crumbled.
So where do we go from here? Lets look at how Nehemiah responds in the midst of discouragement.
Nehemiah 2:5 NIV
[5] and I answered the king, “If it pleases the king and if your servant has found favor in his sight, let him send me to the city in Judah where my ancestors are buried so that I can rebuild it.”
Where did Nehemiah go when he was at his lowest? Forward. I know it isn’t sexy or deep. Sometimes it isn’t about the right idea or having the best message or even having the right volunteers. All these things are great but sometimes it’s just about moving forward. Nehemiah didn’t know what it was going to look loke when he arrived. He didn’t know who was going to help him. He didn’t even know if he was going to be successful. Regardless of all of this he just simply, moved forward.
I want to encourage you to move forward in 2025. You may not know what its going to look like, or who is going to show up, or if youll have any help. Through all of these worries and concerns, sometimes the answer is to just move forward.