After I finished ministering one day, a young man met me and said, “Sir, I love your performance.” Sincerely, I was sad hearing this remark. I thought I had lost the anointing. I was however encouraged when God told me that the young man had a wrong mindset about ministry. Incidentally that young man is in ministry today, “performing”.
Friend, Ministry is not Performance. It is an outflow of life. It is representing God on the earth. The writer of Hebrews captured it well when he said, “For every high priest is taken from among the people and appointed to represent them before God, to offer both gifts and sacrifices for sins” (Hebrews 5:4).
Ministry is representation; you stand with God for people and you stand for God with people. Whoever does not have a stand with God cannot stand for God. You don’t have the right to speak to people on behalf of God unless you have first spoken to God on behalf of people. There is a difference between sent ones and went ones.
“…And how shall they preach, except they are sent” (Romans 10:15)? When God sends you, you are in ministry; when you send yourself, you are in performance (Judges 6:14, Isaiah 6:8). When you are more conscious of your delivery than your Sender, you are in performance; but when you see yourself as ministering to an audience of One (God), you are in ministry.
It is rather unfortunate that ministry has been bastardized today. We now value oratory and erudition more than delivery of life. We now get attracted to glamour that comes by branding than the glory that comes by the Spirit. We now judge people by the excellency of their delivery than the outflow of life (1 Corinthians 2:1-5). We now value the synthetic above the authentic.
It does not matter the generation or age, God’s standards remain the same. The method may be different but the message and standards stand sure (2 Timothy 2:19-21). We need to go back to the basics of ministry. We need to bring back the Spirit into our polished language and glamorous packaging. We need to see to it that we represent God accurately wherever we find ourselves. Ministry is not performance.
© ‘Demola Awoyele
Lead Pastor,
Destiny Impact Church
Akure, Nigeria