Who Cares?

Who care’s what I’m doing? Who care what the needs of these people are? Who cares what my needs are? Sure, we know that God cares. But I’ve never met someone in ministry that hasn’t had these questions run through their head.

As humans, we tend towards self-sufficiency, even us Christians. It is because of our good works that things happen. We must be constantly working to get the resources to do our work for God, right?

I’ve yet to meet someone involved in missions work who does not feel the pressure, the need, the anxiety to get more resources. It’s almost like it is in our DNA. It is almost like we don’t trust God to provide, that we have to do more than the work he has called us to.

My wife used to work in a struggling non-denominational Christian school. Recently she was reminiscing about the fun times they had, in the midst of worries and concerns about money. Those trials that they experienced – for years – was also a time of great joy, friendship, understanding and trust. The school did not grow much. It was constantly challenged by changing circumstances. Yet they rejoiced in the good work they were doing. And there is little doubt that God smiled at the lives they changed, and the teaching they did.

There was a change in leadership, and the school embarked on a major expansion and fund raising program that lasted a few years. Today, it’s a large campus with excellent athletic facilities, and lots of extracurricular activities for the students. There is a very big emphasis on athletic success.

By outward appearances, by man’s perspective, it is a huge success.

Yet these same improvements meant a huge increase in tuition. The make-up of the student body changed considerably, as did the culture of the school and the school population and teachers. It is more of a school about worldly success and less about God’s work. And it has essentially eliminated the lower-income families who used to scrap and scrape to find the money to pay for their kids to go there.

The founding administration relied on God’s leading and God’s provisions to create a learning environment focused on who God is and what He has done and is doing.

The current administration is driven by man’s perspective about success. About outward appearances. About a certain economic class of people.

The promise of the original intent of the school has been changed, because the mind of men changed.

Who cares? The people left behind, forced out, care. The ones who no longer have access to what was once the focal point of the school care.

And you can bet God cares.

So do your followers.

Jesus moved to awaken followers with a simple call: “Follow me.”

John the Baptist moved to awaken followers with his call to repent: “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.”

What is it in these simple callings that awakened followers, and still does today?

I submit that it is a heart issue. That when these words penetrate a heart that is hungry for good news, for seeing an empty life become one of significance, the heart turns to the calling.

From a follower’s perspective, it is not about the resource needs – it is about responding to the calling. It is about being a part of doing God’s work.

And in being a part of that, realizing significance in one’s life. We all have a need to be a part of something much bigger than ourselves. It is how God made us all. From a follower’s perspective, if your mission strikes a chord in that person’s heart, they’ll become a follower.

Once a follower, what they care about is the mission. The work. The trials. The hunger to know, understand and appreciate how God is moving in your ministry, the lives he is changing, the circumstances He uses to refine you. There is a craving to connect, to be immersed in some way in what you are doing for God.

That is how we define a follower. Not a supporter, not someone you hope will write you that check every month.

But someone whose heart has been turned, and they have been awakened to your mission.

Who cares? Followers care, if you let them. If you give them the information and the connection they want and need.

I believe that followers arrive because God has already bent or is in the process of bending them in your direction. He bends people because He cares. But here’s the thing – you need to stay aware of the path your ministry is going down, and continue to check that it is locked in with what God cares about.

Because that is the best answer of all to the question, “who cares?” God cares.

And so will others when they get awakened to your work.