MINISTERING WITHOUT APPLAUSE
How to be enthusiastic about your ministry even when others apparently aren't.
Paul Borthwick
July 1, 1990
After serving thirteen years in the youth ministry at Grace Chapel, I became minister of missions. As my youth ministry ended, I thought, Now the letters of affirmation will pour in.
The students and youth staff put on a wonderful appreciation night and gave my wife and me a generous gift. Then it was over. During the next three months, two notes poured in. I relearned the lesson that my desire for public affirmation will always exceed the supply.
If I asked people at my church, "Do you love me?" they would give me a Fiddler-on-the-Roof response: "For all these years we've tolerated your jokes, paid you a salary, approved your budgets, given you an office, watched you grow up — what do you mean, 'Do you love me?' "
I know the people at Grace Chapel love me — like a family. And like a family they don't express it as often as I would like. Like many associate staff and long-term senior pastors, I sometimes feel like a plumbing fixture — people only notice me when something goes wrong or when my service ends. If all works well, little is said.
Compared to others, my situation is actually pretty good. Colin, a colleague in ministry, is never affirmed. The senior pastor tells him that six days per week is not enough. The church leadership reminds him of their disappointment with his programs. Even the young people he works with, who apparently have caught the church's critical spirit, complain about his work.
Colin has persevered, but his self-esteem has been so whittled away that his only option now is to seek another pastoral position. Knowing himself and desiring long-term effectiveness in ministry, he understands that he must leave that church.
All of us need appreciation, some more than others. Certainly, we ...
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