If you are a runner, you know there is a big difference between running on a treadmill and running outdoors. Early in my training for a half-marathon, I utilized a treadmill to avoid the cold weather outside. However, I found myself trying to keep myself occupied with movies, music, and occasionally math (I was desperate) in order to keep myself on the treadmill rather than learning to enjoy the journey.

Ministry can become a lot like a treadmill. Each week we go through the same routine of lesson preparation, covering the checklist of volunteers and supplies, setting out the chairs, preparing the media and worship … the list goes on. On Sundays you’ll arrive early, greet families, handle a few minor emergencies, deliver the message, clean up and thank a few volunteers who hung around to help.

We must be taking our churches on a spiritual journey with measurable progress.

Like a treadmill where you exert a lot of energy but don’t make much progress, our ministry can be in a dangerous place when we exert a lot of energy but are not actually making progress — instead we are keeping ourselves occupied in order to keep up.

Healthy ministry leaders who get off the treadmill of ministry and know they are moving forward have a few things in common:

• Ministry opportunity perspective. Leaders who are moving forward know the importance of allowing families to connect with the Holy Spirit at church and at home. This is the ultimate connection. If you find yourself staying “occupied,” it could be there is too much focus on your performance rather than on the presence of the Holy Spirit.
• Recognition of their limit. Every leader sets his or her own limitations on ministry impact. Every one of us can either be satisfied with our own limit, or we can determine to raise it and move to another level. Rather than trying to find something new to occupy you on the treadmill, find an area where you can raise the limit.
• Journey together. Even running in nature can get boring. But when you run with a friend, both the outdoors and the treadmill are a whole new experience. As you are shaping your ministry perspective and raising your leadership limit, be sure to invite others along with you.
• Set milestones and benchmarks. When I run, I like to check my performance at least at every mile. That helps me see how long it will take to get to my destination and compare whether I’m improving or not. Consider setting monthly or quarterly milestones in your ministry and then creating a plan for how you can get there. This could be related to volunteer training, empowering leaders who serve with you, communication with congregants, or a skill you need when teaching. The important thing is to write your own list and tackle each goal one at a time.

Ministry is far too important to find things to occupy our time so that we can stay on the ministry treadmill. We must be taking our churches on a spiritual journey with measurable progress.