The pace of ministry can often consume us. As soon as we finish one major holiday or outreach, we are already neck deep in the planning of the next one.

This is a very dangerous place to be personally, but also for the leaders who work with us.

We were made to celebrate!

In the Old Testament, God instructed the children of Israel to pause during the year to celebrate. They would celebrate the harvest, their deliverance from Egypt, and more. This was an important piece of Hebrew history to help them keep their focus on God and to pass faith on to the next generation.

However, in our breakneck pace of ministry, we often don’t slow down to celebrate the wins.

Benefits of celebrating:

1. It gives honor to God. It’s a way to show the team what God did regardless of how successful you’ve been or how many challenges you had.
2. It gives recognition to workers. Sharing the victories is important. Good leaders take responsibility but share in the praise.
3. It encourages longevity. Your thanks and celebration of a win may be just what the team needs to roll up their sleeves and do it again.
4. It reminds people of mission. Whenever you pause to celebrate, it’s an opportunity to reinforce why you do what you do.

Components of celebrating:

1. Share stories of lives changed.
2. Laugh at some of the things that went wrong.
3. Invest in conversation—walk slowly through the crowd to make individual comments to each team member.
4. Give public credit to the team for their contribution (be specific).
5. Be humble.
6. Thank the church leadership for their support.
7. Report on what happened (attendance, salvations, bags of groceries distributed, offering received, etc).
8. Eat.
9. Let others share their stories.
10. Thank God for his goodness and provision.

Don’t miss the opportunities you have to celebrate all that God is doing in your life and ministry.