Originally released February 25, 2014 – Download PDF:  Ministry by Wandering Around.02.25.14

I had the opportunity to talk with an elder of a church recently.  As he began to articulate the problems he was facing, the title for this article popped into my mind.  It seemed to label the core issue that I’ve seen before.  It sounds similar to a concept that was popularized by a management book some years ago, but with a twist.  Similar to that flawed corporate management concept, ministry by wandering around is doomed to failure.

This committed and diligent elder is one of the emerging leaders the Holy Spirit is preparing.  He’s hungry for the Spirit and he’s hungry to see the Lord move.  The Lord called him to support the pastor and the small church he is a part of.  The church has seen better days during its history.  Now, with attendance dwindling, the congregation is struggling to maintain a building designed for a once thriving community of hundreds of believers.

He described the issue.  He was recommending times for prayer, discussing commitment with other leaders and then asked himself a question, “Why isn’t [the pastor] saying what I’m saying?  Why isn’t he, well, providing any sort of….leadership?  Why isn’t he leading?”  The proverbial light had been turned on in his head and he was seeing clearly.

From a Biblical perspective, true leaders follow The Leader, the Holy Spirit.  They don’t make up the rules, choose their own path, tell people whatever they think people want to hear, hype things up, manipulate, preach out of books, etc.  True leaders, those called by the Spirit, know that they must hear what the Spirit is saying to the Church.  Just as Jesus modeled, they teach what they hear the Father saying and they do what they see Him doing (Jn 3:11; 5:17-20, 30).  True shepherds of the flock of Jesus Christ, don’t make up their own vision.  They seek after the Lord and receive His vision.  In fact, they have chosen to die to their vision and their passions.  They have chosen to pick up their cross to follow Jesus and the Holy Spirit whom He sent.  If they are passionate about anything it is about following Him.

The Holy Spirit’s leaders walk by faith (2 Cor 5:7), but they must both hear what He is saying and see what He is doing in order to fulfill the function of their office.  To walk by faith and not by sight doesn’t mean we are called to be blind what the Spirit is doing.  Pastors and Church leaders can’t make things up, or simply come up with good ideas; they must hear from the Holy Spirit who is speaking (He 12:25-26).  They are called to do the Lord’s will.  How can they do that, how can any of us do that, without hearing what He is saying or seeing what He is doing?  Paul discovered this truth for his ministry when he received the vision from the Holy Spirit to go to Macedonia (Ac 16:9-10).  Before that, the Holy Spirit was preventing him from entering Asia.  Paul had to follow The Leader.

What is truly astounding is that Jesus taught that the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak on His own initiative (Jn 16:13).  What was true for Jesus during His earthly ministry, which we have already discussed, IS true for the Holy Spirit today!

Ministry by wandering around, a strategy that is essentially, “I’m makin’ stuff up on my own”, is deadly for any pastor, church leader and their followers.  Without hearing the voice of the Spirit and seeing what He is doing, Moses and his two million followers would never have made it to the promise land.  Instead of the epic portrayed in the Bible, all we would have would be a short story.  The children of Israel would still be in Egypt if Moses hadn’t encountered the Lord, clearly heard His voice, obeyed and followed His commands.  What was true for Moses is true for pastors today.  If a leader misses this point, he and his followers will be wandering around destined for a long journey headed to the destination called nowhere.  The entire group will be 180 degrees out of phase with what Jesus is doing, completely irrelevant to Heaven’s mission.

Moses testifies of the following:

Deuteronomy 2:2–7 (NASB95) — 2 “And the Lord spoke to me, saying, 3 ‘You have circled this mountain long enough. Now turn north, 4 and command the people, saying, “You will pass through the territory of your brothers the sons of Esau who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful; 5 do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, even as little as a footstep because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. 6 “You shall buy food from them with money so that you may eat, and you shall also purchase water from them with money so that you may drink. 7 “For the Lord your God has blessed you in all that you have done; He has known your wanderings through this great wilderness. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you; you have not lacked a thing.” ’

For someone reading these pages, the Holy Spirit is repeating His words, “You have circled this mountain long enough.”  We should note the precision of the instructions the Spirit gave to Moses.  The Lord gives very precise commands.  The Lord is the God of precision.  All of nature proclaims this truth.

I can admit the fact that there are natural leaders who are able to lead from a worldly point of view.  They may have natural leadership ability with a large collection of leadership books, but that is nothing compared to a leader that has been supernaturally anointed by the Holy Spirit to do supernatural ministry.  It’s night and day.  It’s the difference between King Saul and David.  The Lord has very little patience with the Saul leadership strategy, “I do whatever I think is right” type of style.  Very little angers the Lord more than a leader who attempts to lead without Him, choosing instead to minister by wandering around.

Leaders are called to be distributors of fresh Bread and Water.  Jesus is the Bread of Life (Jn 6:35, 41).  He is the Living Water (Je 2:13; Jn 4:10).  If pastors aren’t distributors of Jesus, what are they distributing?  In order to feed the masses who are starving for the Bread of Life, a pastor must receive from the Holy Spirit.  Let’s be more specific…he must receive revelation as to what the Spirit is doing and saying, and minister that to his congregation.  Anything else is just ministry by wandering around.  How many people want to sign up for wandering around in the desert for any extended amount of time without food or water?  Not the flock of Jesus Christ!

While writing this article I am reminded of a pastor who shared a dream of leading people around in a circle, inviting people to join in, dancing and essentially “hyping” everybody up, week after week.  This isn’t an example of ministry.  This is ministry by wandering around.  Sadly, many pastors believe this is what they are called to do.  This particular pastor was wandering around in rebellion and didn’t even know it.  The Spirit was speaking, but the pastor had no idea what He was saying.

Couple the lousy leadership style of ministry by wandering around together with refusing to allow the Holy Spirit to flow into a church and minister to His flock, and you have a set up for disaster.  In simple terms, you have a pastor who has become a renegade and is actively engaged in a war with Heaven.  Strong words, but it’s the Gospel truth.

In the particular case of this pastor, he can’t give what he doesn’t have.  If he isn’t leading, he has lost his way.  Having lost the power of the Spirit, or rather having denied His power, he’s been coasting for quite some time.  It’s the equivalent of driving along and having the engine and the transmission (i.e. the powertrain) drop out from beneath his car, assuming he had one to begin with.  He has lost the powertrain to his vehicle of ministry.  To make matters worse, he doesn’t know it yet.  Somehow along the way, he lost track of the leadership of the Holy Spirit who is THE powertrain.  He’s been trying to ‘make things happen’ on his own, driving the ‘ministry’ around without power.  He believes he is fulfilling his duties as a pastor, which really is tragic when you think about it.

When you take on a strategy of coasting in the ministry, rest assured your ministry has, and/or will ultimately, come to an end.  If this isn’t bad enough, all of this pastor’s peers are coasting too.  Either that, or they have installed the Fred Flintstone powertrain to their ministry vehicle, which we know only works in cartoons.  Let’s just say that for close to 15 years his strategy hasn’t been working very well.  The truth is that neither of these strategies work.  They are the ministry of wandering around.  The wide-scale problem in the Church is that people are writing leadership books that promote the idea that you can minister without a powertrain.  It’s hard to believe isn’t it?

Leadership is a paradox.  It requires that we follow and simply distribute what we receive from the Holy Spirit, who proceeds from the Father.  Jesus was very clear when He told His disciples, “You can do nothing without Me” (Jn 15:5).  All of us need to realize there is a period at the end of that sentence IF we are going to cross over into all the Lord has for us.  We aren’t going anywhere without Him because we can’t go anywhere without Him.  We must be connected to The True Vine, Jesus Christ (Jn 15:1).  Jesus is the only place where a leader will find rest and provision for His sheep, as well as fruitfulness and peace for his soul.

Mark Biteler