All Christians

We have put out several articles talking about the coronavirus, including ways Christians can self-care during this pandemic and a series on what pastors should look out for with concerns of domestic violence and substance misuse going unnoticed during this pandemic.

But many churches have begun to open back up and the question is, what are the risks of going back to church?

Grace for the Afflicted by Dr. Matthew Stanford is a book written to help educate a Christian on mental illness. It assumes the person has a fairly affluent background in Christianity and is interested in how mental illness is incorporated. The purpose is to educate others and explore some of the fundamental conversations happening around faith and mental health. This is something we agree with as we have released our own mental health educational resource that would help your church.

This is chapter thirteen of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

You’ve tried. You’ve failed.

You’ve tried again. Harder this time. More thoughtful. More effortful. This time it means more. You failed again.

People are encouraging you on, but it doesn’t seem to be as powerful this time. At least to you. It feels different. You want it to work. Your pride is wrapped up in this. So is nearly a month, year, or five years. It isn’t like it was a complete failure. You were able to impact people, earn a living for a bit, and started to fulfill the dream.

It doesn’t seem sustainable. Maybe you can’t raise the funds or do not have the time to continue being successful. There is too much manpower that is not possible right now or the politics of doing your dream ministry is so rough.

I want to suggest something you might not like: Quit.

Why You Should Consider Quitting

Remember on Day 2 we talked about the costs that would arise if we decided to make a change and start to tackle this crazy idea? There is another cost that we need to also consider which is important to the idea of quitting. It’s called opportunity cost.

Opportunity cost is a business word every business major will learn, so bear with me as I bring this term into our ministry mindset. Here is the undergraduate level definition of opportunity cost:

Opportunity Cost: A benefit, profit, or value of something that must be given up to acquire or achieve something else. Since every resource (land, money, time, etc.) can be put to alternative uses, every action, choice, or decision has an associated opportunity cost.

Opportunity costs are fundamental costs in economics, and are used in computing cost benefit analysis of a project. Such costs, however, are not recorded in the account books but are recognized in decision making by computing the cash outlays and their resulting profit or loss.

In essence, if you keep doing this ministry now, you may completely miss out on something God has for you in the future. Is it worth attempting to rescue a ministry whose mission you know is possibly unattainable? Can you keep going at this pace?

Do not be tied down to the time you have already put into this. That time is gone and done. We can only look at now and forward. Of course, this also means we must put our pride behind us too. This whole “die to ourselves daily” thing we signed up when we said yes to Jesus gets really personal when we look at how we need to keep moving forward.

We may have to say “I’m done.”

And that’s okay.

What is your prayer to God when you think about being done? And if you need to talk to me about this further, do not hesitate to shoot me an email at [email protected] and we can chat.

This is chapter twelve of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

This phrase may be the five most sour words I could possibly hear with motivation. “I don’t have enough time” is an acknowledgment of defeat. It is saying, it’s out of my control, there is nothing that I possibly can do. I mean, I want to, but it’s not my fault I can’t.

I call foul here.

We have previously talked about the opioid crisis and even taken this conversation to pastors to keep an eye out for substance misuse because they may be the one person to lead someone to healing through the Church and counseling.

I believe that people need to be educated to better serve (we already shared education to youth pastors about marijuana as well as vaping) and so the video below is an excellent video on opioid addiction, the opioid epidemic, and possible treatment. It’s thick with clinical terms so this is just a beginning point to understand, but it is literally a video I plan to show for clients I have who struggle with an opioid use disorder.

We are continuing our series for things pastors need to be educated on with awareness as we go through this time of coronavirus. We full expect as we move out of shelter-in-place that several areas of life may be impacted. We previously talked about hidden abuse with child abuse or domestic violence.

The next topic of substance misuse is when people use substances outside of their original intended use or causes significant problems to their lives, whether legally, financially, socially, medically, or psychological/emotionally. There is no shame in admitting that you need treatment for drug use; doing so can be life-saving. When a full-blown substance-use disorder (SUD) develops, it can be extremely difficult to stop using drugs without professional treatment.

This is chapter eleven of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

Accomplishing something great is not so easy when you do not actually know what the final results look like. Further, long term projects, like creating a mental health team over a year or building a church tech ministry from scratch for your mobile church can feel overwhelming to say the least.

Throughout the United States, we see racism protests and debates at the forefront of nearly every part of the country. Within mental health, we have already talked about how black communities are not receiving the full of services, whether because they don’t feel comfortable with the counselor or the black community has stigmatized mental health. Within the Church, through centuries of evangelism, we know that understanding a community’s culture is the best way of sharing the love of Jesus.

Joni Eareckson Tada has a unique story to tell that helps the listener immediately address their own self and become introspective. Their latest video on Joni and Friends talks about sorrow and how it connects us to Jesus, even in our weakness with pain and fear.

This is chapter ten of the Quit Giving Up ebook. You can get the whole thing in our shop now!

One of the biggest barriers to motivation is the stuff outside of our control. Whether it is our past or future, we do not have control over these points in our lives. The only time we can change is right now. Unfortunately, when we are stuck and do not have the motivation to continue, the present is typically the one point in time we are not focused on.

Our past can haunt us. Remember how many times you failed? Remember the worry you struggled with of being able to balance work and home life? It was so overwhelming. And you want to do that again? Our future can paralyze us. Will this be a success? Can I actually do this for a living? What if I’m not good enough? Will I ever be good enough?

Be More Present

We can certainly learn from our past and plan for the future, but it’s a fine line between planning and predicting it. Honestly, the only power you have to make any change is right here, right now. That’s exactly how God would want it.

Then Jesus said to his disciples: “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat; or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothes. Consider the ravens: They do not sow or reap, they have no storeroom or barn; yet God feeds them. And how much more valuable you are than birds! Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to your life? Since you cannot do this very little thing, why do you worry about the rest?

“Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today, and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not set your heart on what you will eat or drink; do not worry about it. For the pagan world runs after all such things, and your Father knows that you need them. But seek his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well.

“Do not be afraid, little flock, for your Father has been pleased to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions and give to the poor. Provide purses for yourselves that will not wear out, a treasure in heaven that will never fail, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

Luke 12:22-34 (NIV)

It is in this passage we see where we must focus on what is present. Imagine being so stuck in your ministry that you miss the joyful text from your spouse, the milestone of a coworker, or the story of how your ministry deeply and everlastingly touched the life of someone. The angels in heaven are singing, yet you are here worrying about replying to all of your emails before the end of the day.

What one small moment can you hold on to today? Why is it important to remember?