Life Is Far More Important Than Ministry

For many years, we have been talking about discipleship, about becoming a Tree of Life and planting Trees of Life everywhere. We have been focusing on the renewal and transformation of people’s lives, rather than the expansion of ministry.

Pastor Ben and his wife Pastor Dinah from Singapore have been fervently serving the Lord in their local churches for many years. Four years ago, Dinah received from God that they should not only be spiritual leaders but also spiritual parents. Although they understood this conceptually, they didn’t know where to start. They came to Hong Kong last year and immersed themselves in the Tree of Life family. They gradually emptied themselves, let go of their thought patterns, adjusted their marital relationship, and relearned how to be spiritual parents. Slowly, they embraced the core value of relationship before ministry, understanding that people are more important than ministry because God values every individual’s life. When C-Mo challenged Dinah to really become a mother before pastoring a church, she was shocked. Later, she realized that it wasn’t about establishing numerous ministries, but learning to be a mother, loving her spiritual children, and focusing on the atmosphere of the church and community as a family.

They committed to serving God diligently. However, they were more like a CEO in the marketplace when they led and discipled the church, with little engagement in the lives of their co-workers, brothers and sisters, as well as their disciples. In fact, many ministers in the world today are like this – focusing on ministry. They have mistaken doing ministry as serving God, spending much effort to meet various ministry demands. We really need to separate serving God from serving in ministry because people’s lives are the most important. The entire Bible is about people. When people change and their lives are right, ministry will naturally unfold.

I believe the most important aspect of serving God is learning from Jesus how to make disciples. We inherit the lives and visions God has given us, and as we come to understand what He wants to convey to us in the Gospel, we pass it on through our lives. Coming from an English-speaking background, Ben and Dinah desire to introduce what they have got from the Tree of Life to the English-speaking world. I appreciate that very much and am also deeply moved.

Their lives have been shaped by God, and they are now ready to be launched by Him. Dear brothers and sisters, let us also continually renew our lives, align with God’s heart, and get prepared to be launched onto God’s path!■【2025.01.26】