I have to admit that in the 4 years I have been writing this blog, that my motivation for writing has more often been out of a sense of frustration than joy. I am currently attending my third church during that period, and during that time I feel that I have mostly been held back from participating fully in church ministry.

It is not that I didn’t try to get involved. It is not that I didn’t want to get involved. It is simply that either scheduling, or opportunities or just “stuff” got in the way. My wife and I were not on the same page at the same time – when I wanted to go ahead, she was cautious and vice versa. It got to the point, where we both were questioning whether we would ever be in a church ministry role again.

When we changed churches this time last year, it was (we told ourselves) find a place where a young man who was living with us could find community. But in reality that was an excuse. We had been a year or so frustrated at our old church that we could not get more involved, and we were happy to move on. Because we want to serve the Lord.

Its not that we need church to serve. We have served God in different ways especially providing hospitality to young people who need a safe “family substitute” who God has put in our way, or providing hospitality to missionaries raising funds who need a place to stay.

But frankly these have been one off’s, things which we didn’t seek, they just happened. God put it there and we did what we thought He wanted. We never knew if we were doing it for the right reasons, or if we were being stupid. We just did it, and considered it ministry, because it was the only thing we had going.

This past spring we felt lead to volunteer with the college age ministry at our current church. While it seemed like it might go, it didn’t happen fast. We joined a small group and that also didn’t seem like it was going fast. Frankly we were feeling like maybe God was going to say no again. All summer we waited patiently (or frustratedly) for the pastor in charge of the college ministry to engage, and we wondered whether “there was something wrong with us”. We wondered if someone had said something about us or our recent lack of church longevity that made him question our motivation.

We didn’t know what God was doing. (we never really do).

Then this last week, I ran into pastor in the Starbucks on my way to work, and we connected and met, and it looks like its going to go forward. I am a little anxious, as we haven’t been “in ministry” for almost 5 years now (8 for me), so we need some prayer.

And all of a sudden, we are going to host a new small group in our home. This was an answer to prayer, as we hadn’t yet deeply connected with our current group. So sometimes, it is just that all of a sudden, God Moves.

Please pray for us, that this is what we hope – exactly where God wants us to serve, and that we can experience the joy of ministering side by side again.

As this ministry moves forward, I will try to be diligent and share my learnings here – because sharing is what God wants us all to do.