"We know you're very busy"

Those words used to go through me because they clash with a fundamental belief I have about Christian ministry, that it's about people, being accessible and giving people the time they need (of course, not necessarily the time they want!)

Mind you, I was very busy. I remember going to a meeting where a certain degree of preparation to speak was being advocated. I timidly lifted my hand and said that most weeks I had five major teaching and preaching events to do and one minor one, and could they please advise me on how to spend that amount of preparation on each one...

For me the challenge became how to maintain a worthwhile, sound and serious teaching and preaching ministry and spending quite a lot of time staffing our Christian bookshop, while devoting appropriate time to the people who needed it and not appearing busy.

I think the biggest thing for me was to try to eliminate "headless chicken mode" and be calm.
It was a lot about trust in God, that he would enable me to do what he wanted me to do.

We live in a culture where "being very busy" is seen as being of value in itself. Doesn't matter what you achieve, or whether you achieve anything at all, as long as you're very busy ! It's an ethic that belongs to the world of machines, technology, tools and tricks. So appearing very busy is important, and trying to not appear very busy can be seen as counter-productive. What if people think you're lazy or a time-waster !

However, when you work with people (or with animals for that matter !) "being very busy" isn't the point. The point is investing in people the time that they need, taking time, not rushing on.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

A bit about music exams in UK and France

The Kitchen