A different world

I have been thinking for a while about how different life is when you are not in the ministry. Let me rephrase that - I believe that each of us who have Christ in our lives is or ought to be "in the ministry" - no matter where we are, not matter what we are doing our first assignment/priority is to help people find and follow Jesus Christ. The differences I am experiencing and the things I am learning are more accurately concerning not being on staff at a church.

When you are not on staff at a church:

1. Life can be very lonely. Your position no longer comes with automatic relationships where there is a strong common bond, and a team to do life with.

2. You don't have to take work home with you, or even think about it when you are not there... I imagine that will eventually be a nice thing, but right now it's just weird.

3. No matter your level of self-confidence, you can experience a great deal of insecurity trying to jump in to an established church community.

4. Even if you are extremely outgoing you need people reach out to you.

5. The distance between Sundays is excruciatingly long. Before, the weekend was constantly sneaking up on me - now today's service can not come soon enough.

6. Opportunities to connect with others throughout the week are not a burden or "just one more thing for them to cram onto their calendars" - When church is the only place you are connecting in community, these opportunities are vital.

7. It is much more difficult to feel like you have a significant place in the Kingdom of God.

8. It is refreshing to be Christ to others when it simply comes out of who you are, rather than from your job description... not that that is the only motivation when you are on staff at a church - but when you aren't, and that is not immediately expected of you - there is something neat about it coming solely out of who you are and your personal relationship with Jesus.

9. You could potentially go from being "hugged" at least a hundred times a week to not being hugged once in a month.

10. You can go from interacting with hundreds if not thousands of people a week to only interacting with a small group of people over the course of a few weeks.

11. You actually have to/get to find a church - one doesn't automatically come with your job.

12. There are no automatic assumptions about your faith simply based on your job title... it all has to be demonstrated.

I am sure this list will continue to grow...