I was on an international flight flipping through business magazine when I saw an ad that caught my attention. It was a plain white page with a golden egg at the bottom and a single caption that read, “What you really need is the goose.” It was a great ad.
In ministry, are we focusing on getting golden eggs or on cultivating geese? We need to focus not just on our ministry production and output, but on how to increase our ministry capacity. One of the most obvious examples of that is apprenticing, of course. Each person doing ministry also apprentices someone else who is learning how to do that ministry. In this way, we are engaging in each cycle of ministry not only for its own end, but with a view toward increasing the ministry base to expand and grow.
Think about your ministry. Are you focusing on getting golden eggs or on cultivating geese?
I like the imagery Bob and when I am coaching missional leaders, in their desire to “get going”, I like to challenge them to expand their vision. Oftentimes they do not begin with the end in mind and their vision is too small – they envision a ministry vs. a movement. A question I’ve used to help leaders think deeply is: “How can you increase your production capacity in this situation?