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Christmas and the Permission to Lead Slowly
Ministry transformation doesn't happen on your timeline—and that's by God's design.
Jeff Peabody's most recent reflection on the Incarnation reveals a sobering truth: Jesus spent over 30 years in process before his public ministry began. The angel announced salvation to the shepherds, but what they saw was an ordinary infant who needed time to grow up. Jesus endured teething, potty training, and puberty. He learned to walk and talk. He experienced sleepless nights and calloused hands. This wasn't a detour but rather the plan itself. The Incarnation puts God's seal of approval on slow, faithful growth.
Many pastors share Peabody's struggle with impatience, believing that "being in process inherently falls short of God's will." We rush people through grief, grow uncomfortable when forgiveness takes time, and push for instant transformation without incubation periods. This impatience bleeds into how we lead our churches. We measure ourselves against megachurch growth models, feel discouraged when attendance doesn't spike after a new initiative, and wonder if our slow progress means we're failing God's calling.
The pressure you feel to produce quick results isn't from God. Your congregation's spiritual maturity, your community impact, and your church's health all follow developmental timelines you can't shortcut. God's full blessing rests on process as well as completion. The becoming is as much part of his plan as the ending.
Three ways to embrace God's timeline in your ministry:
Give yourself grace for incremental progress. That small group you launched six months ago that's still finding its rhythm? That family you've been discipling that takes two steps forward and one step back? That outreach strategy that's showing modest results instead of explosive growth? These are the evidence of faithful cultivation.
Reframe your church's growth narrative. This Sunday, share a story about slow transformation instead of quick conversion. Highlight the member who's been serving faithfully in children's ministry for five years or the couple whose marriage healing took two years of counseling and prayer. Help your congregation see that God's work often happens in ways we can't measure.
Trust God's hidden work in your community. The shepherds probably never saw Jesus again after that first Christmas. Most of his life was hidden from them, but that didn't change the fact that he was growing, healing, teaching, dying, and rising.God is working even when you can't see it. Your job is to remain faithful to the process, not to manufacture the outcomes.
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Ministry Intel
Advent Offers Permission to Choose Presence Over Productivity | Christianity Today
Lanier Ivester reminds church leaders that Advent was designed as "a little Lent" for the wounded and waiting. The season creates space where God's present love meets our unfulfilled longings, offering permission to choose presence over productivity and quality over quantity. Many pastors feel this same tension in their ministries: the pressure to produce programs, fill calendars, and manufacture energy they don't have.
This week: Instead of adding another end-of-year event, consider what nonessential you could remove to help your people experience "a place of sufficiency and peace." Your church doesn't need more activity—it needs room to receive Christ.
God-With-Us Means He Knows Your Struggles | Great Commission Discipleship
Tim Shorey reflects on what Emmanuel truly means for suffering pastors. Jesus became a "Man of Sorrows acquainted with grief" who has experienced hunger, betrayal, loneliness, and feeling forsaken by the Father. This Christmas truth transforms how we minister; we serve a Savior who sympathizes because he has suffered.
Consider: When you feel exhausted, misunderstood, or isolated in ministry, remember that Jesus has been there too. He entered our world of pain to share in the pain and deliver from it.
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