The Ministry Lifecycle
John 3:22-36
Rev. Dr. Michael H. Koplitz
John 3:22 After these things Jesus and His disciples came into the land of Judea, and there He was spending time with them and baptizing. 23 John also was baptizing in Aenon near Salim, because there was much water there; and people were coming and were being baptized — 24 for John had not yet been thrown into prison.
John 3:25 Therefore there arose a discussion on the part of John’s disciples with a Jew about purification. 26 And they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, He who was with you beyond the Jordan, to whom you have testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him.” 27 John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given him from heaven. 28 “You yourselves are my witnesses that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent ahead of Him.’ 29 “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. So this joy of mine has been made full. 30 “He must increase, but I must decrease.
John 3:31 “He who comes from above is above all, he who is of the earth is from the earth and speaks of the earth. He who comes from heaven is above all. 32 “What He has seen and heard, of that He testifies; and no one receives His testimony. 33 “He who has received His testimony has set his seal to this, that God is true. 34 “For He whom God has sent speaks the words of God; for He gives the Spirit without measure. 35 “The Father loves the Son and has given all things into His hand. 36 “He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not 1obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John the Baptist’s ministry work was winding down as Yeshua’s work gained steam. John accepted that this was what the LORD had planned. John was the spokesman who was to introduce Yeshua to the world. Once that was done John’s work was no longer necessary, and he slowed down. He wanted people to follow Yeshua as the Messiah and not him. This event demonstrates the need at times for a ministry to end. Many times something new will evolve from the old ministry, sometimes not. John knew his time was over. He closed down his ministry. Unfortunately, he received help from Herod Antipas. If Herod did not kill John, he would have faded into history. He knew that was the way of the LORD.
I think this passage tells us about a ministry lifecycle. When a church does new ministries or work, there should be a good reason for doing it. Usually, there is. During the lifecycle of that ministry, does the church ever look at whether that ministry needs to continue or stop or be revamped. A lot of times, the problem that a ministry is solving eventually solves it. In my years with the church, I have seen that people like the ministry running whether it’s doing any good or not.
In the year 1999, I had the opportunity to go to Redbird Mission, located in Kentucky. It was established years ago because the people of the Redbird area were impoverished. They needed help restoring their homes. They needed help putting on new roofs. These people did not have the money to do these things. This ministry became huge with youth groups of the United Methodist churches. These churches would collect money and materials for the different projects. They would then take the youth group down to Redbird for a one week mission adventure.
The church would give the Redbird mission enough money to feed the group and to house them for that week. In turn, the Redbird administration would find a job for them to do. When the mission got started, there were plenty of people who needed help in the area. However, by 1999, the need was not there anymore. I was talking to a young lady who was the daughter of the person running the mission, who told me that they did not have any jobs for the kids to do for people who were in need. So instead, they opened up the ministry to anyone who wanted anything done.
The youth group I was in charge of was assigned to paint a house for an older woman. What I found interesting was the house was about 30 feet from the street but behind the house was a second newer house. So I asked the lady living in the front house who was living behind her. She told me that it was her son and daughter-in-law. I also noticed that she was wearing very new and semi-expensive clothing. The house had all kinds of knickknacks and other things that you would expect to find in a house where the owner had some wealth.
Later that day I talked to the daughter of the person running the mission and asked her why we were painting the house for a person who obviously could afford to hire someone. So again, she told me they did not have enough jobs for all the United Methodist Church youth groups that wanted to come to the mission during the summer. So I asked her if it was time for Redbird mission to close or at least relocate to a different part of Kentucky where there were people who needed help. She told me that was a desire that she also had.
We both agreed that the current location of Redbird mission had served its purpose. It was time for the Redbird mission to move on. So my next question to her was, why did this not happen? She did not have an explanation beyond that the administration board who made those decisions decided they would stay put. Their mission was working well and brought in money, so they did not want to move to a new location where they could have lost the financial support that churches had given them.
There are plenty of other examples like view ministries that were established for need, did a great job, and now needed to close down. Instead of closing down, they tended to expand into areas that were not necessarily part of their original mission. It is interesting that Christian ministries do not like shutting down. Perhaps it’s because we created professional missionaries whom the churches liked and gave the money to so that the church people did have to deal with the poor. In the 1950s, the professional missionary worker was created. Churches were doing well financially, and the people decided that they did not want to go to where the mission work needed to happen; instead, they hired people that were more than willing to do it.
So today, we have professional missionaries. These people have made their careers in life to work for Christian ministries. Along the way, these people wanted promotions and higher incomes. So this is when the professional Christian ministry expands into areas where the people may not need help just to hand out promotions. Then they turn around and have to get more money from the churches and people to sustain themselves. What usually happens is more than one mission doing the same thing in one location.
Let me give you an example. New Hope ministries started in Dillsburg, Pennsylvania. They supply food to people who are 150% below the poverty line. For poor people, this is a great ministry to have. But then they expanded from Dillsburg to Dover, the Mechanicsburg area, and even Hanover. When New Hope started, there was nothing in the Dillsburg area to help poor people with food. Therefore the New Hope ministry was a great idea that the three main churches of Dillsburg created. But they needed to expand for reasons I have already explained, so they created new distribution sites in other towns that already had food missions. Therefore if you happen to be living in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, there are several places where you can get free food. I point out that these several ministries should combine and do one big job instead of several small jobs. But that does not help the professional career missionary because that would reduce the number of available jobs.
So we should consider two and probably even more problems when dealing with mission projects. There is always something out there, and there is always someone who needs help. But if the church stays locked in missions they created years ago whose lifecycle is over, the new needs will never be addressed.
What we learn from this passage about John the Baptist is that he knew what his mission was. He came to announce Jesus the Messiah. He knew that he had done it, and Jesus’ mission had started. He was happy to see that what he was sent to do was being accomplished, and he knew it was time to shut down his ministry and tell his disciples to now follow Jesus.
Perhaps you have a mission that your church is doing, and you asked whether we are still helping people. It is time for the church administration board to examine all the mission work they do to determine whether they should continue or have reached the end of their lifespan. If they are at the end of their lifespan, it’s time to close them and then search for a new problem. I can almost guarantee that every town and city in the United States has a need that needs to be fulfilled. As society changes in technology new needs arise. May your church go out and find what those new needs are and support them by shutting down the missions that are no longer necessary.
