How many of us have felt the pressure to be ‘fruitful’ in ministry and have heard that voice inside our heads that we must be working harder, doing more or making it happen? And what is that ‘it’? Growing numbers of converts? Regularly holding a flourishing Bible study group? Seeing people in double or triple figures being baptised? Too often, a fruitful ministry is measured in numbers/statistics rather than in the way in which it is characterized by those who embody the fruit of the Spirit in their lives.

During the first lockdown, when all activity outside the home was suspended and therefore ministry opportunities severely limited, a local Mahabba group decided to spend a month focusing on abiding prayer rather than on intercessory or petitionary prayer – which is our usual wont. This gave us the opportunity to hear God speak to us about compassion; about the value of 'small things' ; but also that although at times God asks us to be willing to do things that may seem ‘a step too far‘, abiding means that all our efforts are offered in trust and from a place of rest.

We have been asked to share the good news. It is God who is Lord of the harvest, we are simply the labourers. Some would hint at or suggest there is a dichotomy between faithfulness and fruitfulness in mission. Faithfulness is NOT doing what doesn’t work over and over again, rather, it is faithfully responding to the Holy Spirit’s prompting, confident that Jesus’ presence goes with us and looking with joyful expectation and anticipation of what Almighty God will do with what we have offered in obedience to Him. Thus faithfulness becomes a sign of fruitfulness in the life of the believer whose efforts in ministry will be infused with the character of Christ Himself.

Miriam Williams Oct 2022