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To fulfill a ministry, a person also needs to grow their ministry, for starting a ministry is not the same as growing a ministry or bringing a ministry to a place of fulfillment.

Aim Your Ministry

To grow your ministry, you need to have a vision for what God wants to accomplish in that ministry. One you know where you are going, look at where you are at; then take the ministry from where it is to where it needs to be. Aim your ministry like an arrow – know where you are going and everything that you do should be done with the intention of arriving at your target.

To illustrate, think of a parent raising a child. When a couple has a baby, they have hopes for that baby to eventually become an adult, an adult that is reaching their potential and fulfilling their purpose. Along the way, the parents will use wisdom and love to raise that child to become a happy and fulfilled person.

Nurture Your Ministry

Like a parent raises a child, a parent will nurture, lovingly watch over and care for, their child. In the same way, we must nurture the ministry we are called to. The ministry needs our attentive care. We need to be watchful to meet the needs of a growing ministry so that it will be healthy and strong to fulfill it’s purpose. If your ministry ever takes a hit, you need to care for it until you see that it is healed. If your ministry is in danger, you need to take necessary means to protect it. If your ministry needs to be refreshed, do what you need to do to get recharged. Growth is a result of something that is loved and cared for.

Training in Your Ministry

Like a parent raises a child, a parent will see that their child gets the proper education and training that is required for the child to reach their potential. In a ministry, we should always be learning and growing, and so should the people who are included in our ministry. Not only do we impart the instruction and the skills, but we also want to impart our values. We want people to have the heart that we have for the ministry. There are also times if something in the ministry is getting off track that we bring it back in line. If we fail to confront or correct error, we may not fulfill our ministry. There are times if something or someone refuses correction that you may need to remove it for the sake of the ministry.

Develop Your Ministry

As a ministry grows, it will need to develop to accommodate the changes of growth. You may to add leaders, change procedures, update equipment, add a building, change your style of music, or whatever necessary to grow your ministry.

Ministry is for everyone, whether you are called to a leadership or a subordinate role, because we are all called to serve in God’s kingdom. It’s one thing to know how the Lord is calling you to serve Him, and it is another to accomplish the work He has called you to. To fulfill our ministry we must know it, prepare for it, do it, stay true to it, guard it, refresh it and grow it.

Colossians 4:17 “…take heed to the ministry which you have received in the Lord, that you may fulfill it.”

If we want to fulfill our ministry, then we and our ministry are going to need to stay refreshed. Acts 3:19 mentions times of refreshing that follow our surrender to the Lord. Those times of refreshing from the Spirit of God come continually as we consistently position ourselves in His presence.

Another verse in Ephesians 5:18 says that we are to be filled with the Spirit. This verse is not describing a single experience, but a repeated and continual filling of the Holy Spirit, a filling that keeps us refreshed and full of the energy and anointing that we need to fulfill our ministry.

If we don’t stay refreshed, we’ll get spiritually and physically tired and worn. Similar to the way we frequently require food for our body to have vitality, we need the continual substance of the Holy Spirit to maintain vitality. God knows that we need His life to sustain us and His power to energize us, and He has made His Spirit available to us.

God knows that we get weary as we serve Him. He knows that we need to be refueled. When we fast in prayer, that lack of strength that we feel physically is what we are like without the sufficiency of His Spirit. God doesn’t want us to get worn down as we continually pour out and minister to others. God wants us to complete the work He has called us to do, not to quit midstream. God wants us to fulfill our ministry!  Galatians 6:9 “And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart.”

Not only ourselves, but our ministries need to stay full of the life of God with an anointing that flows into every area of service. In John 15 Jesus tells us that if a branch stops producing, it is pruned off. If our ministry isn’t producing like it should, it may need to be pruned, something needs to be changed. God wants our ministries to adapt to the move of His Spirit and to stay fresh and current. We don’t want to become stagnant; trying to live on something that has became stale and ineffective.

Instead, to fulfill our ministry, we must determine that we will continually refresh ourselves, and we must continually refresh our ministries. To fulfill our ministry, to finish strong, we need to live in the power of His Spirit, consistently yielding ourselves to the Lord for the anointing we need for each day. When we do, we will have all that we need to achieve what God has called us to do. It isn’t by our own might or power, but it is by His Spirit (Zechariah 4:6).

a.  Guarding ourselves

If we want to fulfill our ministry, we need to guard our ministry. To guard our ministry, we need to first guard ourselves in spirit, soul, and body. As leaders, we also must put a guard on the issues that surround us in our relationships, our finances, and in our community.

Proverbs 4:23  “Keep and guard your heart with all vigilance and above all that you guard, for out of it flow the springs of life.” (Amplified)

If a minister allows their heart to be overcome by discouragement, hurt, exhaustion, or stress, then their life and their ministry has been put in the danger zone. In order for the minister to protect himself or herself, they need to use wisdom and set some healthy boundaries for themselves. They also need to make sure that they protect their time with God so that He has the opportunity to continually refresh and restore.

Setting up healthy boundaries for ministry is not the same as building walls of defense. We don’t want to take our guard to an extreme to where we distance ourselves from the people we work with, nor do we want to become callous so we stop caring for the people we are called to. 

We also know that we need to guard ourselves against sin. It is wise to have two or three overseers that you are transparent with and make yourself accountable to on a consistent and frequent basis.  Overseers will be able to give you support when you are tempted, warn you of a possible threat, and counsel you when you need advice.

A wise person will recognize that they are subject to making mistakes and take the precautions to guard their own heart, their personal business, their relationships, and their reputation for the sake of the ministry.

b.  Guarding our operations

To guard our ministry we also need to guard our ministry from misconduct. We should assure that we are complying with our federal and local governments, handling the finances with accountability and counsel, and screening volunteers for our youth ministries, to name just a few.

c.  Guarding our gathering

To guard our ministry, we also need to protect ourselves from false doctrine and misrepresentations of the Spirit. We sometimes need to guard the ministry from those who are divisive, rebellious, or offended – realizing that people are not our enemy, but Satan is. As we lean on the Lord for His discernment and strength each day, we can be confident that He will uphold us and cause us to have longevity in the ministry that He has called us to.

To fulfill the ministry that God has called each of us to, we have to stay true to our calling. We each need to go directly to God to shape us into what He envisions for us to become. No one else is designed to be exactly like who we are. Only our Creator knows what is in His mind concerning who we are to be and what we are to do. He is like an expert potter, and we are the vessel He is forming for His pleasure and for His use. As the Lord shows us more about ourselves, we need to stay focused on the ministry He is calling us to, so that we will fulfill it.

Stay focused

In Luke 10:38-42 Jesus tells Martha that she is worried and troubled about many things. The Greek word Jesus used to describe Martha is “merimnao,” meaning to be divided into parts, or to be distracted. Along with God empowering you to say “yes” to Him is also the permission to say “no” to anything that pulls us in a direction different to what God is calling us to do. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t be willing to serve or help in areas where there is need. What I am saying is that you have one life to live, and with the life you have been given, be sure that you fulfill your calling. If we are going to finish our race, we have to stay on track. Even if we have gotten off track, He is able to restore us and continue to use us from the point that we choose to give our lives back to Him.

Be true to yourself

One way we can get distracted is by getting our eyes off of our Creator and comparing ourselves to another person or ministry. We have to recognize that God’s call on our life is different from anyone else’s. We can celebrate another person’s ministry as being part of the body of Christ, but our uniqueness will only come out as we focus on our Maker. We can learn from one another, but our individual identity must come directly from our Father in Heaven.  Once we know, we must determine to stay true to who we are what we are to do in the way that He leads us to do it.

Be part of something bigger than yourself

Being true to your calling doesn’t mean that you become isolated from everyone else. As part of the body of Christ, the ministry that God gives us should work together with others – as individuals, as churches, and as ministries. Find your place in the family of God, and work together to win the world for God.

Keep a gracious heart

When we are secure in who we are and in who God is for us, we can freely support one another. We won’t need to tear another ministry down in order to build our ministry up. Instead, we’ll have a gracious heart, a heart that supports  and generously gives to other ministers and ministries. We’ll celebrate their accomplishments and speak positively of one another. We won’t be threatened by one another, but instead trust God with what He has committed to us.

Philippians 3:14 “…I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.” Our focus is to be on the Lord and the calling He has put before us. The fruit of our ministry is the reward that we’re aiming for as we work together to build His kingdom. 

Colossians 3:23 “Whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.”

 If we want to fulfill our ministry, we need to apply ourselves to do the work of the ministry. That means we need to put forth effort, effort toward both spiritual and natural matters that pertain to the ministry that we’ve been called to. The work that we do should be done diligently, with our whole heart, giving God our best.

Spiritual Matters

II Timothy 2:15 “Be diligent to present yourself approved to God, a worker who does not need to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth.”

Ministry has a spiritual side. To fulfill our ministry, we need to pick up the spiritual responsibility of taking our place of authority as a representative of Christ in the earth. Spiritual matters are spiritually discerned, so if a minister is naturally minded, he or she may miss the spiritual business that needs attention and fall short of completing their ministry. If a minister is aware of the spiritual side of their ministry, but is lethargic with spiritual tasks, they will be ashamed before God for failing short of completing their assignment. To fulfill our ministry, we need to be attentive to our spiritual responsibilities and be tenacious to accomplish what needs to be done in the spirit.

Natural Matters

Ministry also has a natural side. If a person thinks that ministry is only spiritual, he or she will be found negligent with the practical work that is required for successfully completely the ministry that they have been called to. While we live in the earth, there are earthly responsibilities that require our attention and effort. When our heart is to complete our assignment in ministry, we will be persistent, relentless, and laborious to get the job done. When our motivation is love for God and love for people, we will work hard to complete both natural and spiritual tasks so that we give God what He desires and see Him glorified with our life.

God wants us to follow His guidance in all that we do. He doesn’t want us to be lazy with the ministry He has entrusted us with; but He also doesn’t want us to go to the other extreme where we work so hard that we damage our health or our family. God cares about us, the minister, as much as He cares about the people we are called to minister to. When our focus is on the Lord, He will lead us in ministry and add people around us that can help us to fulfill the ministry that He has called us to.