We Need You to Stick
How can you prepare yourself for really hard times?
It’s that simple. We need you to stick.
If you stop short, give up, or burn out, the Kingdom is worse because of it.
Have you considered that you need to keep going?
Have you considered what you need to keep going?
Can you endure the race when it’s a slog through a mud pit?
(That’s where I want to focus the first series of On Pioneering posts: How do we keep going? What skills, traits, and efforts do we need to keep at the task God has called us to? I’ll use the label ‘How to Stick’ if you want to find the whole series.)
At the end of the book, Pioneering Movements, Steve Addison offers a brutal list of possibilities that would cause pioneers to quit. Here are a few of my (least) favorite:
My financial support base is cut by 50 percent.
I am diagnosed with a serious degenerative disease.
My sending agency collapses.
My supervisors and I strongly disagree on strategy.
The first believer in my people group is martyred.
You could read that list and think: “These are the things I need to muscle through.”
Or you could ask yourself an important question: How can I prepare myself for really hard times? What can I do now, for myself, for my family, to make sure I can sustain this pioneering work as long as God calls me to it?
The alternative is winging it and hoping for the best. Like me in my early 20s, when I joined a 5k race the day it was run. Because I was in my 20s I finished, but I sure didn’t come close to first.
You’re not meant to live alone on an island. You need fellowship, encouragement, and resources. There will be times you need a break or maybe even an intervention. And while friends and organizations can hopefully provide some of these things, you should think critically about them for yourself.
God is building His Kingdom. He wants you to be part of that journey. And while I don’t know your individual calling, I’m pretty sure he wants you to stick with it for the long haul.
We’ll dive into a lot of ideas that fit under this category, but how about you get us started? What do you do to stay strengthened and encouraged in the work?
I am seeking to grow in vulnerability in friendships, especially with those closest to me, so others can show me my blindspots, cover my weaknesses, and keep me in the fight when I'm about to through in the towel.
I can think of few things as important as community when it comes to gaining strength for the hard times.
There was a very dry time in church ministry as a lay person. I talked in length to my dad about it. I will forever hear him say, "Keep doing what God has called you to do, and He will take care of the rest." So in order to keep doing what God has called me to do, I have to know for certain what this is----stay in His Word, listen to Him. And then, use my resources, always His Word, find a mentor, lean on them, have prayer partners, find my tribe and stick with them too!!
(Thanks for being part of my tribe Pheaney!)