10 Habits for Ministry Realignment
Ministry shapes culture—and habits form that culture. In too many ministries, well-intended actions unintentionally deform the soul of the work, steering efforts away from God’s character. Here are 10 common destructive habits, with healthier alternatives that realign ministry toward spiritual depth and God’s purposes.
1. Scarcity vs. Abundance
Harmful Habit: Acting from a posture of scarcity—believing ministry resources, staff, or funding are always limited.
Better Practice: Cultivate an abundance mindset, trusting that God's provision overflows for mission, people, and vision. When we fear there’s "not enough," we whisper that God has not provided.
2. Selling Testimonials vs. Sharing Stories
Harmful Habit: Using polished stories to promote the ministry or fundraise.
Better Practice: Let authentic testimonies run free—stories of real joys and struggles—as Spirit-led ways to encourage, not market. Avoid manipulation and rely on genuine transformation by the Spirit.
3. Human Strength vs. Prayer
Harmful Habit: Leaning too heavily on your own effort for results.
Better Practice: Prioritize before plans. Dependence on God—not our skills—should undergird ministry work, decisions, and outcomes.
4. Overworking vs. Rest
Harmful Habit: Pressuring staff and volunteers to overwork.
Better Practice: Build in rhythms of rest—honor sabbath, vacations, and sabbaticals. Recognize human limits and foster sustainable ministry.
5. Over-Scheduling vs. Presence
Harmful Habit: Overfilling calendars with your ministry programming activities.
Better Practice: Leave space for people to be with their families and neighbors. This avoids compartmentalizing our gospel ministry to our paid job.
6. Individualism vs. Community
Harmful Habit: Policies that reinforce individualism for your ministry team members.
Better Practice: Create systems that value communal good—teamwork, shared resources, and collective flourishing.
7. Underpaying vs. Generosity
Harmful Habit: Offering low wages to church or ministry staff.
Better Practice: Embrace generosity in compensation, paying fairly based on geography and need, and supporting pay equity internally.
8. Enemy-Making vs. Shepherding
Harmful Habit: Viewing dissenters as enemies.
Better Practice: Adopt the heart of a shepherd—tending to hurt or frustrated members, offering care, not conflict.
9. Over-Professionalizing vs. Spirit-Led Ministry
Harmful Habit: Relying solely on professional systems, techniques, and metrics.
Better Practice: Maintain a Spirit-led approach—balance professionalism with openness to where God is moving.
10. Business-Economics vs. Kingdom Currency
Harmful Habit: Operating under secular business norms—growth, metrics, competition.
Better Practice: Use kingdom values—prioritize the meek, the weak, and marginalized as those you can learn from, not benchmarks of success.
Why These Habits Matter
These 10 habits quietly shape ministry culture. They may feel efficient and necessary. But each can chop away at the soul of ministry and our dependence on God.
By replacing them with healthier habits—rest, prayer, generosity, community, and kingdom-centered values—leaders can reshape ministry toward enduring spiritual vitality. These aren't just best practices; they’re spiritual formation mindsets that promote trust in God, formation of character, and fruitfulness beyond outputs.
At All Gen Movement, we believe re-aligning church and ministry culture isn’t optional—it’s essential. These are the practices we want to share and model for the upcoming generations and the fruit of these practices is the type of inheritance we want to give to them.
Reflection
Which habits in your ministry culture are more harmful than helpful?
What intentional steps can you take today to foster rest, generosity, prayer, and community?
How might relying on “kingdom currency” reshape your priorities?
Adapted from Lisa Haller Liou's original post on “Woman on the Front Line,” July 3, 2024