Avoiding the Pitfall of Comparison in Ministry
Do you sometimes find yourself measuring your ministry against another? Do you look at the size of your church, the energy of your youth group, the reach of your counseling practice, or the financial backing of your nonprofit and hold it up against the performance of a similar ministry in your town or in your network? Do you find yourself feeling like you can’t keep up with the momentum of your missionary coworkers or the growth of your friend’s discipleship group?
Whether you are a senior pastor, small group leader, campus minister, director of a counseling ministry, or a one-on-one mentor, you will face the temptation to analyze and contrast your work with someone else’s. Given the interconnected digital and social media age we are in, this pull is infinitely stronger. Your inbox and news feed can bombard you with exciting ministry innovations, building campaigns, statistics of people coming to faith, and more, but it can leave you feeling a bit behind the curve and wondering if something is wrong with the pace of your work.
Comparison will either discourage you and make you feel inferior and insignificant, or it will inflate you with pride if that measuring stick puts you on top. In your quest to avoid the comparison trap, consider the following ways it can quickly choke your health and the wellbeing of those you serve.
Comparison Steals Joy
The people you serve and the work God is doing around you is a gift. Detour too long in the quagmire of comparison, and you will be drained of your ability to simply savor and celebrate God’s faithfulness as you see the things he is doing in your sphere. Perhaps someone has shared with you how last Sunday’s sermon touched his heart. Or a college student you’ve discipled has just led her roommate to faith in Christ. Maybe your small group has decided on a ministry they want to invest time in. If your attention is pulled toward the flashy or seemingly monumental things others are experiencing in their ministries, you will miss the robust joy and satisfaction of watching the kingdom of God advance in your own circle.
Comparison Stifles Growth
Most often, the moments of victory in ministry look just like the experiences mentioned above—small and incremental steps of progress. If you are inordinately preoccupied with how another ministry is doing or the big leaps forward they are making, you could miss the opportunities to press in to the moments of growth happening around you and encourage the momentum to build. Did your counselee just reach a milestone in her recovery journey? Be sure to celebrate and to give concrete next steps forward. Did you just pass your latest language exam in your new country? Be excited about your achievement and use it as an encouragement to go talk to that bakery shop owner again. Did a teen from your youth group begin an afterschool prayer group? Be on hand to cheer his boldness in leadership and to support his progress. Staying focused on the process of growth around you will keep your energy plugged into the work happening around you rather than draining it by feeling like you need to be several paces ahead.
Comparison Blurs Vision
You have been put in a specific place to use your gifts and proclaim Christ. God has a particular work he wants to do in and through you, and your calling is unique from others’. Comparing your effectiveness, reach, and longevity of ministry with another will serve as a blinding diversion from the goals God has for you, both in your personal discipleship and in your public ministry life. A fixation on the success and progress of a ministry similar to yours could keep you from staying on track with the vision God has given you and your team. You may begin to question the legitimacy of what you’re doing and fail to keep sight of the distinct ways he wants you to serve those around you. The beauty of God’s work throughout the global church is that he is going to use a wide variety of methods and means to make himself known and to transform lives. Your role in that larger work may be completely different from those you are tempted to compare yourself to, and you could miss the way forward if you keep scanning other fields of harvest.
Remembering Who You Serve
Above every other calling in your life, Jesus wants you to run after him and to daily grow deeper in your understanding of his love. Any ministry work you do needs to be an overflow from this starting place. If your ministry becomes a platform for applause or recognition, you’ve lost sight of the main point. Let the words of Colossians 3:23–24 refresh your heart and renew your perspective as you move forward:
“Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.”