The Center for Leadership Excellence, in partnership with COSROW, is pleased to lift up the voices of women in ministry encouraging fellow women in ministry. Please enjoy this month’s Encouragement from the Rev. Sung Moy, pastor at Westover UMC in Raleigh and feel free to forward it to a friend. Anyone can sign up to receive these monthly emails here.
There are some days in ministry that I wonder if God wasn’t crazy to call me into God’s service. Moses’ question in Exodus 3:11 (see below) becomes the very question that I ask myself and of God: Who am I? I ask this often in a self-deprecatory way because this is how I was socialized even though I was an excellent student and excellent employee. Even as a pastor, I often still ask myself: Who do you think you are?
I wish I could tell Moses all the great things God would do through him, even with all his doubts of ability and the massive criticism lodged at him from the very people he was called to save. So let me tell you that God’s call on your life is not based on your ability to perform or even your honed relational skills that you have developed. God will do amazing things because you respond in obedience. You will have doubts about your ability, and you will face massive criticism for your leadership even though God has called you to shepherd these people.
Take courage. God told Moses that God would be with him. God is with you too. Be faithful and walk with God who can accomplish abundantly more than we can ask or imagine (Eph. 3:20).
Read Exodus 3:11
But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”
Reflect: Who are you? Take time to think about the ways that God has worked through your ministry and leadership. How has God brought me to this place in my life? Rely on these memories to bring your faith into a place of assurance.
Take Action: Look at the challenges of your ministry and find a friend, prayer partner, or mentor to pray with you to discern how God is leading you to be a leader in these challenges.
In partnership,
Center for Leadership Excellence and the Commission on the Status and Role of Women