Do Encouragers Hurt?

Can support structures break? Do ministers need ministry? Do prophets also need a word? Do supporters need to be supported?

All this is a pointer to one great need we have among ministers, key among them being ministers whose ministry is vital yet mostly concealed from the public eye.

It is all easy to remember the pastor in our prayers and support. It is not hard to forget the evangelist or missionary as we are getting regular updates from them. The prophet is very visible when he is delivering the latest ‘word’. What happens when he is waiting for another one?

Whoever remembers the pillars of a house when the house is standing, especially if the builder has carefully concealed them? Does anyone looking to buy or rent a storey house ask where the pillars are? You see at that point the plaster and paint are more important. He is not being petty; he just assumes the building was put up properly.

Ever seen a skyscraper being put up? The foundation takes some time. Then the building proper does not seem to take as much time. The finishing takes a lot more time, sometimes even than the building itself.

Does this also talk about ministry and ministers? You see the finish is the selling point of a building. A building may be as stable as Noah’s ark yet fail to get tenants if the finishing is shoddy. Most of these buildings falling on the tenants are great looking outwardly, yet contain rot in the structure itself.

What am I talking about? Some ministries are very lonely and easily forgotten just as the pillars in a building. Some, like the paint are always visible and at times more ministered to than minister. Some, like King Saul can be rejected by God yet continue to minister ‘effectively’ for generations after the rejection. To some even prayer is a simple publicity stunt.

Others must pray or they will perish. They simply do not have any cosmetic aspect to their ministry. They will have to listen to God or listen to God.

Do we realize that unless for Ahab who was looking for Elijah the prophet was completely forgotten in Israel for the 3 ½ years he was out of active ministry? And even the king was looking for him to kill him! No wonder he became depressed after it all!

Barnabas went to Europe to look for Paul when the church leadership had rejected him. He discipled him and mentored him into the apostolic ministry. Yet what happens when he seeks to do the same for John Mark? Paul simply drops him and he disappears from the picture. We of course see Paul later acknowledging his ministry in a veiled way.

Did Barnabas continue in ministry? The book of Mark is the evidence of such. And I am sure that he continued even after growing Mark to maturity. But the church does not know him because his ministry was down there where there was no fanfare. Many assume that he left Paul as a backslider because Paul continues in the limelight while he disappeared. But nothing can be farther from the truth.

Whoever thinks of prayer warriors unless they have a pressing prayer need? Whoever thinks of an encourager when they are in high spirits? Whoever thinks about intercessors when they are in no need of the intercession? Whoever thinks about counselors unless they are confused? Whoever feels the need for builders when they are in nothing to build?

What happens to these ministers in their off season? Who prays for them when they are invisible? Who supports them when they are outside the limelight? Who deals with them in their down times? Who gives them focus when they are underground?

Elijah is a hero when he fells 850 false prophets. Then he simply disappears and is so low that he prays to die. One reason for that is that he had no other person to give him perspective and especially company. And no wonder God ordered him to bring Elisha into his team and we do not see any depression again. His high times were very fine as he mostly had crowds irrespective of whether they feted him or sought to slay him. They were company all the same. Between assignments not only are there no crowds. There is no company at all.

We see Jesus also struggling with the same at His greatest hour of need. Even His disciples are unable to keep awake with Him even for an hour. David had such seasons as we read in many psalms.

What is the point of all this? I am sure you are wondering.

First, it is important to realize that there are ministers out there whose ministry is so potent that they hold the society together. Elijah was told as such. There were 7000 invisible worshippers in Israel, among them one right in the palace. There were even prophets among them, only that that may not have been their season or their assignments were elsewhere.

Whole countries are sustained by a single intercessor who may be unknown even to their family and of course acknowledged by none but God who depends on their prayers to avert disaster. We may acknowledge the many titled prophets and other professional ministers who as per Matthew 7: 21 -23 may be paving their road to hell.

My mother is one such though I know I have several other similar partners. I don’t know about much else but I know she prays for her children and the results prove it. Raising 8 children single handedly in poverty and having all of them involved in ministry, most vocationally (some would say full time) is no small fete. And being the second last I know about her prayer effort. She never went to school but she touches God where it matters.

That is one invisible pillar to the Gituma you see and know, yet I also know that my ministry is mostly invisible.

May we seek to support such pillars in whichever way God shows. May we appreciate the strength they have that we can lean on without their asking for affirmation or reward. May we seek to alleviate their pain as they do work so pivotal yet unappreciated and unacknowledged by most. May we stand for them when the ‘visible’ ministers aim innocent jibes at them for their lack of spirituality. May we appreciate them and pray for them so that they may remain focused on the ministry we may not understand.

I want us to acknowledge those invisible pillars in our lives and the lives of our fellowships. It will range from that gateman whose smile gives you the right attitude as you get in somewhere to that tea girl whose tea tastes heavenly. It may be that person sitting next to you in church who opens your Bible to the passage being read because you do not even know that the book is in the Bible. It may be the one who pesters you with questions about the Bible that drive you to want to know the Bible more to answer their questions. We should then start thanking God for them and realize that they may contribute more to our stability than that two hour high we get on the service and especially the thirty or so minutes of inspiration from the sermon.

Second, as ministers we need to prize the off season ministry as it is where we get our bearings. I thank God that He has taken me through various seasons of ministry and so am speaking from some sort of experience. There was a time that I got opportunities to preach anywhere I went. I remember times going places nobody knew me yet would be called from behind the church to preach and that several times. Then God got me from the pulpit to small group then personal ministry and eventually the writing ministry. I am presently with a combination of all of them.

We should not think we are not ministering when we are in our ‘off’ seasons and so should not think we are not as useful. It is God’s purpose that we are fruitful, but not spilling fruit endlessly. We produce our fruit in season (Psalm 1: 3). There is the season to prepare the fruit, nurture the fruit and finally produce the fruit. Being perpetually on the final stage is living a delusion. Seeking to create a situation where I am continually pouring forth fruit is unsustainable. Worse still it will kill me.

I think it might explain how these senior ministers find themselves in hell (Matthew 7: 21 – 23). They may have forced fruitfulness beyond its season. This of course means they will be forcing fruit to be produced which in other words is operating in the flesh.

There are pastors whose leave is an opening for ministry in other places. Others treat a sabbatical as an abomination. Why? They can’t risk getting off their ‘productivity’ for anything. This may be because they are insecure as they know they stopped operating in the spirit a long time ago. They therefore fear that going off may give others more spiritual an opportunity to get into his position. Worse still the congregation may recognize the fleshy fruitfulness and refuse them back into the pastorate once they start feeding from fresh pastures.

Let us as ministers value time to refresh. Let us appreciate times when God withdraws us from public ministry. Let us enjoy the desert seasons as it is the place we may get to have the clearest glimpse of the King we serve.