Gospel Forgetfulness

My guess about you and I is that we didn’t enter ministry for the money, for fame, or for power. We entered into ministry because of a strong sense of calling from God and a desire to make a difference. We long to see people come to know Jesus and see them grow in their faith. We long to see our churches healthy, growing, and living on mission in our communities.

Let’s face it, we often long for someone to legitimize our work. We pour out our hearts and souls into what we do and yet we rarely feel like we can celebrate “mission accomplished”. We finish preaching only to feel a brief sense of relief until we start thinking about next Sunday’s sermon. We get off the phone with one person going through a crisis, only to see an email about someone else’s struggles. On top of this all is the reality that we always disappoint someone. Our sermon was too long or too short. Our counsel is too harsh or too gracious. I am sure you could keep adding to this.

What often haunts us as pastors and church leaders is the desire to feel like our work is successful. This desire, as innocent as it seems, can lead us to a dangerous place of gospel forgetfulness. Are you suffering from this? Some symptoms of gospel forgetfulness can be despair, anxiousness, fear, a deep desire for approval, and burnout.

We need to not just remember the gospel but preach the gospel to ourselves week in and week out. The gospel comes to us and tells us that our success in ministry isn’t founded in what we do, in the size of our church, or how great our last sermon was. Our success has been purchased by Jesus on the cross as he proclaimed it is finished. Because Jesus’ mission is accomplished, we are free to serve, knowing that God’s declaration over us is,

“This is my son, this is my daughter, in whom I am well pleased.”

As we embrace and minister out of the gospel, we are freed from the slavery of success, knowing our value isn’t in what we do or how well we do it but in whose we are. As Paul reminds us, nothing can separate us from the love of God. That nothing includes sermons that fall flat, church members who might not like us, and feelings of not being enough. As we head into the fall, my prayer for you is that you will not forget the gospel.

Luke Etelamaki,
SKMB Church Multiplication Team (CMT)

Leaders Collective

The Leaders Collective Planning Team is anticipating another great year of learning together in community, with some fantastic leaders from across Saskatchewan contributing their gifts and passions to the weekend intensives and workshop days.

Leaders Collective works towards building into the young leaders who are serving within their local church. The 6-month program offers two weekend intensives and two workshop days, filled with teaching times that focus on equipping young people to feel confident in taking on leadership roles. The program is also intentional in leaning into who we are as individuals, the values that we hold, and how that plays a crucial part in leadership. An additional key element of the program is mentorship. Each participant is partnered with a mentor – typically from within their local church – to come alongside the participant and help them process what they have been learning, and simply invite one another into each other’s lives.

Leaders Collective is an opportunity for churches to invest in the young people within their congregations. The program leans heavily on leaders and pastors taking initiative in identifying and affirming the gifts of the young people within their congregations, and pointing them towards Leaders Collective as a valuable experience in their leadership and spiritual development.

Applications are still open for the 2023-2024 cohort. The early-bird deadline is August 31, 2023 and the final application deadline is September 30, 2023. If you have questions or would like more information about Leaders Collective, you can check out our website: https://skmb.ca/leaders-collective/ or email our team: . Click Here to watch a short video.