the Monday Morning Debrief: Taking a Risk

Last weekend, an Australian took one of the biggest risks I have every heard of – jumping from 24 miles above the earth (that’s 128,100 feet!) and safely parachuting to earth. In the process, he set numerous records from his death-defying stunt.  But he isn’t the only person to risk their own life at something.  The PostGame over on Yahoo! recounted the 10 most death-defying stunts ever.  Looking at all these stunts, they are all pretty amazing.

So how does these stunts apply to ministry?

With every stunt comes risk, most notably risking their own lives.  Hopefully the ministry risks you encounter are not life or death, but the reality is in ministry you will/should encounter risks.  You’ll risk a relationship with a student or leader by saying a hard or challenging word. You’ll risk your reputation by doing a questionable game, skit or event.  Maybe you’ll risk asking someone to be a leader who may have never served in ministry before.

The reality is risk taking has always been apart of ministry.  When Moses went back to Egypt to free the Israelites.  How about the time when Daniel continued to pray to God in public view when there was a law against it.  That was a risk.  What about all the 1st Christians meeting in secret locations having meetings and worship services?  Most important, what about the risk God took in sending his son, Jesus Christ, down to earth?

Risks happened all the time in the Bible times and still happen today.  And the reality is, we, too, have to take risks because teenagers lives are on the line.  If we didn’t take risks then we’d just be apart of Average Joe Ministry where nothing new, fresh or surprising would greet our students and nothing exciting would be happening either.  That usually equates to little student interest or involvement.  If students aren’t attracted to our program, then we are missing opportunities to reach them for Christ.

So the question is NOT are you risking something in your ministry.  Rather it is, WHAT risk are you taking today?  TAKE A MINUTE and process some risks that you can be taking and start branching out.  Offer them up to the Lord and trust Him to guide you through them and start reaping the benefits of what stepping out in faith (taking a risk) has to offer.

Thoughts? Comments?  EXPERIENCES with Risk?  Share your thoughts below so we can all benefit.