So what’s it like when you finally figure out what God has called you to and it’s a ministry and you then start the process of birthing it?
Not only have I experienced the birthing process myself in setting up my own business, I am now going through it with two new ministries. I am also a destiny coach, so I am privileged to walk this journey alongside others day by day.
A birthing process is not an easy one, we all know that right? What kind of things can we expect? How do we journey well?
Here are some observations which I felt would help many of you wherever you are at, whether you are at the beginning stages of conceiving the ideas or ‘pregnancy’ so to speak, or whether the baby has been born and maybe you feel like a complete novice when it comes to knowing how to take care of the new wonderful creation.
Conception and Pregnancy
During this stage when I’m coaching people, a lot of the work we are doing is preparation. There are practical preparations but also a lot of envisioning. The baby has not been born but at this stage you can have dreams about it and make preparations in anticipation of it being born. Its normal to think of names and building a infrastructure for it. Sometimes I get clients to go away and think up names and envision what the ministry will look like to the outside world. Who will it be for? How will people know about it? How will people engage with it? What skills do you need to learn in order to lead it?
Birthing
So this stage can be more painful and messy than people expect. The carefully laid plans and vision often looks different in reality. For a recent organisation that I am involved in setting up, we received a quotation for branding. It was difficult to answer some of the questions, because you don’t always know exactly what it going to look like or what the ‘baby’s’ needs are going to be. You don’t know what the organisation is going to grow up looking like exactly or what function it will fulfill. So take courage its ok to change and refine things as you go further into birthing your vision. Some people I have noticed expect to have everything planned, for there to be no chaos, for every detail to be in place. Nice idea! But let’s be realistic here!
Identity
There is a difference between having your initial vision and ideas to what the ministry actually in reality ends up looking like. Something I have realized is that from the process of conceiving the idea to actual birthing it, a lot changes. It’s not that the initial vision or idea is wrong but the fullness of the identity of the ministry starts to become clearer as it grows from embryonic to a baby then a child status. My vision from 7 years ago still stands but the way that it is playing out is different to how I imagined. The Lord has a habit of fulfilling our dreams that way. It’s so different sometimes that you have to really decipher that what is manifesting is actually the very thing you had a vision for some years previous. Why is it so important to know this? It’s important because knowing this allows you to be flexible and adaptable and to be in learning mode instead of beating yourself up or others in the messy birthing process.
Characteristics you need in the birthing process.
Tenacity, endurance and focus!
Rome was not indeed built in a day. I have seen that one of the biggest potential points of failure is people simply giving up. By the time I end up coaching some people many times we are in the second try on something. They come and get coaching second time round to help ensure success. When the going gets tough, we can’t give up. Christians many times give up because they interpret difficulty as a sign that God was not behind their vision. Many times this is not the case. Imagine a mother feeling this when things get difficult in her pregnancy and birthing. Imagine Jesus feeling this during his assignment of being crucified.
I’m not going to lie to you, some weeks birthing and running a ministry can feel so overwhelming you want to give up more than anything. It’s ok to feel this, but staying strong, enduring, following through anyway is what is required. Focus on the joy set before you, just a Jesus did when it got hard. Birthing a ministry, living out your greater life purpose, living an extraordinary life is not for wimps, but as it says in the Bible, we run the race to win.
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us,
The race is a marathon not a sprint. For a marathon you train, you pace yourself, you ensure you have sustenance, you practice endurance and you run through the pain barriers. This is what it’s like birthing a ministry, planting a church, birthing your dreams and the vision that you have on your heart.
Without the birthing process you would never have the wonderful blessing of a new baby, a new and fruitful way of impacting the world greatly!