The Three Postures of Personal Renewal for Ministry Leaders
When the gravitational pull of institutionalism is strong within our ministry, what should we do? What steps should we take if our ministry already seems like a machine grinding slowly to a halt?
The book of Judges offers some helpful insights. The book is organized around cycles of decline and renewal in Israel. First, God’s people forsake him (2:11–13). Then God disciplines them through foreign oppression (vv. 14–15). Third, God is moved to compassion as the people cry out to him in distress (v. 18). Finally, God answers their prayer by raising up a judge to deliver them (2:16). The book of Judges is man --> movement --> monument, rinse and repeat.
The instruments of God’s renewal are individual leaders.
Renewal doesn’t begin with a church or network; it begins with bold strokes of leadership that push the group from ingrown to outward. If you’re a leader, you must believe that renewal is first about you. It begins with three personal postures: looking back, looking up, looking out. Let’s unpack each one.
Posture 1: Looking Back
Looking back means remembering the gospel.
When we look back, we’re acknowledging that the power to persevere in ministry does not come from within ourselves but from the work that Christ has done outside of us in his death and resurrection. The primal power that converted is the same power that renews and changes us—the gospel of Jesus Christ.
A gospel movement must not leave his good news behind. We must go back to it again and again. In the New Testament, churches flourished because the dynamic power of the gospel was at work transforming individuals. Indeed, says Paul, “in the whole world it is bearing fruit and increasing” (Col. 1:6).
You see, the gospel is not a stagnant body of information but an uncontainable message that grows and produces fruit in those who embrace and apply it. In Romans 1:16, Paul calls it “the power of God for salvation.” In other words, the message of the gospel empowers the transformation it calls for—in both believers and unbelievers.
Thank God for the gospel. Swap stories about the impact of the gospel. Renewal comes when the gospel is recovered, treasured, and embraced.
Posture 2: Looking Up
Looking up means prayer.
When you remember the good news, it sends you in a clear direction—to your knees! Prayer is our declaration of dependence on God to do the work of God. It’s an admission that renewal springs from Christ’s gospel work within us and not something we can manufacture on our own.
Prayer does not return us to a leadership skill or organizational expertise. Rather, it returns us to the power and presence of Christ himself. Jesus is the source of our renewal. It springs from waiting on him. “They who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength” (Is. 40:31).
Prayer acknowledges this reality, and it puts us in the posture of Mary rather than in the posture of Martha. It keeps us sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to him instead of merely expending energy to create the illusion of progress. Looking up reminds us that renewal is not a ministry device we wield or a transactional arrangement we negotiate, but instead renewal is rooted in a relationship with our Savior. Renewal is experienced in spending time with him and hearing his voice.
Posture 3: Looking Out
Looking out is the final personal posture, aimed at both the heart and mind.
When we look up to God, we discover that he is sending us out to others. His activity does not terminate with us. No, in Great Commission fashion, our missionary God sends us out to multiply disciples. And when we’re looking out to others, the benefits are bountiful. We’re connected to folks who think differently, even innovatively, about the churches and partnerships we are building. Looking out is also a way to walk in the footsteps of the Savior.
After all, tax collectors, prostitutes, and fishermen were not the cultural icons of the first century. But Jesus was a friend of those sinners (Matt. 11:19; Luke 7:34). In the incarnation, the Son not only moved away from the glories of heaven to take on human flesh, but he also moved to the edges of society. Jesus associated with the marginal. He listened to them. He loved them. Jesus made them feel welcome in his presence. The gospel became real because it was embodied by someone who brought outsiders into his life.
You see, the roles we occupy in the Christian ministry too easily keep us in a bubble. Unintentionally, we become insulated, living in an echo chamber of affirmation with others who think just like us. If you have been a Christian leader for a while, you know the tendency to spend more time with other leaders, or with mature believers, or just with people who mitigate their perspectives because they derive some gain from our approval. It’s good to “equip the saints for the work of ministry” (Eph. 4:12), but if we’re not also doing “the work of an evangelist” (2 Tim. 4:5), our perspective on people and how they think will become distorted.
Bubbles bend reality. But out on the edge—away from the bubble—we are forced to engage with unfiltered ideas and opinions. People on the margins think outside of our church’s culture and discipleship systems. Their ideas get us thinking differently about our leadership and our partnerships. It may feel counterintuitive, but God meets us out there on the edge. The margins are where our assumptions are challenged and our conventions reevaluated.
These three personal postures—looking back, looking up, and looking out—prepare our hearts to reproduce renewal work in others. It positions us to make the kind of bold choices that are necessary to move back from fossilizing to a dynamic and renewed work of God.
This is an excerpt from Stronger Together: Seven Partnership Virtues and the Vices that Subvert Them by Dave Harvey (Zondervan, 2023). Used with permission.
Dave Harvey serves as the president of Great Commission Collective, a church planting ministry in the US, Canada and abroad. In his 33 years of ministry, Dave was president of Sojourn Network, oversaw church planting, church care; international outreach for Sovereign Grace Churches, was a lead pastor for 19 years, and pastored for a total of 33 years. He is also the founder of AmICalled.com. Dave presently serves on the board for the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation (CCEF) and has traveled nationally and internationally doing conferences where he teaches Christians, trains pastors and church planters, and conducts marriage events. He’s the author of When Sinners Say I Do, Am I Called?, Rescuing Ambition, Letting Go, and I STILL DO! Married for 37 years, Dave and Kimm have four kids, four grandkids and lives in southwest Florida.