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Blue Sky thinking

You must have heard the phrase. It’s what we do when we sweep away all the constraints we have and think in an expansive way without worrying about the minutiae of detail.

It makes you wonder what your ministry would be like if you swept away all the history, traditions and practices of your church and started with a blank piece of paper. What would you do differently — what would you stop doing (Christians are notorious for doing things because they did them last year) if you were given a free hand?

Lost the plot?

Realists, at this point, are probably saying this writer has lost the plot and it’s time he woke up from his dream. But, at the start of a new year, it is very easy to do things simply because you did them last year. You fill up your diary for 2007 by copying the dates from 2006 and putting them in the same slots. Phrases like ‘That’s just what we do around here’ seem to surface. But, in your future planning, it sometimes helps to forget about what has gone before and deal with your situation as if it were brand new. After all, when the wandering Israelites reached the promised land, many new ways of living had to be sorted out.

If you give yourself a degree of freedom, what kind of questions would you ask? Here are some I might ask on a blue sky day.

What’s at the heart of my ministry?

It’s so easy to drift into things that you do on repeat mode. Are all my activities geared to the discipling of young people and reaching those who know nothing of Christ? Has the Bible drifted off the agenda (a growing trend in parts of evangelicalism)? My priority needs to be the growth of the sheep God has given me, and finding sheep outside the fold who can hear about Christ. Could I stop doing something to give me more time for this?

Could someone else do what I do?

If your primary gift is ministry to young people, could someone else help you with all the maintenance tasks? So often you find teachers in youth meetings have done all the work in setting up the meeting, getting the food sorted out, etc. Just because you have a full time worker she/he does not have to do all the menial tasks. I met someone recently who had been appointed to his own church as youth minister who was now doing less teaching than he was as a volunteer because the expectation was that he now did all the maintenance.

Do I have to do the same thing again?

I often meet youth workers who have lost their first flush of enthusiasm. They have got into routine mode and passion has dwindled. I have always found motivation in youth ministry if I have been prepared to ask the question: ‘Why am I doing this?’ It may not be easy to do radical change but even slight changes can make this year feel different from last year and help you to be more motivated.

These are just three questions — there could be many more. Of course we have to be aware of the history and traditions of our churches. But, if we are to move on, a little thinking in the blue sky can give us a fresh start. It is not impossible to weave the two things together.

Dave Fenton

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