If you aren’t receiving criticism and experiencing any discouragement in ministry, I am pretty sure you might be doing something wrong.
Seriously, ministry can be exhilarating one moment and devastating the next; it is filled with high highs and low lows. The highs may have a few pitfalls, but they are fairly easy to manage, but the lows can wipe us out and send us packing if we are not careful.
That is why I so appreciate the wise advice an old pastor gave me when I first entered vocational ministry. He told me to start an encouragement file. Every kind note or thoughtful letter, or basically anything encouraging goes in this file. And then every time you get a highly critical email, whenever you preach a lousy sermon, when people leave your church, when things seem stuck or you just feel discouraged, it is time to open the encouragement file.
It is amazing what those notes can do and the perspective they can add when you’re down in the ministry dumps. I now have an electronic encouragement folder where I keep emails from people that inspire/encourage me as well as a physical folder.
And I can tell you, when I have felt totally defeated and deflated, God has used the contents in these folders to help me keep pressing on even when I don’t feel like it.
So my encouragement to you – start your own encouragement folder(s) today!
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thank you for this post. i have delayed my own encouragement folder for time to time. this remind me again to take action immediately!
I pray you get some fresh new material to start filling it with very soon!
I took this advice from Bill when he first hired me as his assistant. I still use it to this day (as needed). I’ve also passed this advice on to others who are getting started in ministry, knowing that there will be those days where some encouragement will be necessary.
Glad you still use that, Sarge!