Risk is part of life. Risk is part of faith and ministry.

The people in the Bible were risk-takers. Noah risked obeying God by building a boat even though there was no water in sight. Abraham risked following God’s orders, even if he couldn’t explain where he was going or what he was going to do there. Joseph risked resisting Potifar’s wife in his pursuit of an ethically correct lifestyle, even in a foreign country where no one knew him. David risked his life, because he was not going to kill the very person who was trying to take his life. Ruth risked moving with her mother-in-law to a foreign land with a foreign God without any guarantee that this chosen path would be anything better than the hard years of the past. Mary risked saying yes to the plan of God, even though she knew she risked her reputation and relationships. Paul risked saying yes when he met Jesus, knowing that all those who cheered him on in the past would turn their backs on him in the future.

Jesus’s Example

The risk that impresses me most, though, is the risk Jesus took after his death and resurrection to expect his disciples to start the concept of church from scratch, without him leading the project. He did not instruct them in how to build a church. He did not train them in the principles of church planting. He did not tell them how to write hymns or help them formulate the perfect liturgy. He did not tell them to start Sunday schools or youth groups or cell groups. No instructions on preparing a sermon, leading the elders, setting up denominations or statements of faith were handed down. He simply promised the Hoy Spirit and left.

What an incredible risk! Was this responsible? What if they did it wrong? What if they had different ways to do worship and sermons and what if they couldn’t agree on how long a service should be? What if they couldn’t figure out how to do church different for the Greeks than for the Jews? What about quality control, qualifications, salaries, and policies? How could he afford to simply leave them with a task as big as establishing the first churches?! Wouldn’t it have been wiser and more responsible if he stayed another three years to establish the first church before he left?

Why could Jesus do that? Because he knew and trusted the Holy Spirit: “But the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, will teach you all things and will remind you of everything I have told you” (John 14:26).

Are We Ready to Risk?

In our churches and ministries, we face the need to be risk-takers on a regular basis. First, we need to take multiple risks to obey and go. Then, there are risks involved in faithfully doing what we have been called to do. And when it is time to move on for whatever reason, we need to risk leaving the much-invested ministry in the hands of others, if we are fortunate enough to have a successor. Or we need to entrust the task of furthering God’s kingdom and bringing healing to the nations into the hands of those we have invested in or, even scarier, into the hands of the next generation. This feels pretty risky, to say the least.

• What if they cannot do it as well as I did?
• What if they do it differently?
• What if they stop doing it?
• What if they damage more than they contribute?
• What if there are not enough personnel or resources to continue?
• And the scariest question: What if all these years of laboring were in vain?

 

Jesus’s Approach to Risk Taking

When Jesus left church planting and evangelizing to his disciples, he did not leave it in the hands of a top-notch crew that was excelling in everything they did. It was a rather shaky group of fearful people who had no idea what they were doing. By giving us free will, he chose to let go of control. He knew they were fallible, and he did not leave them with a big inheritance to cover future bills. He had no sustainability plan or quality control in place. He simply gave them all they needed. The Spirit. That’s it.

I believe we can risk it too. If we believe the Holy Spirit is enough for those that come after us, we will be able to risk much more.

My Approach to Risk Taking

I am a trauma services specialist. My work is doing crisis intervention—crisis management, trauma debrief and training for faith-based workers all over the world. My heart is that workers will stay in a healthy place so that they will be effective in what they do, even when bad things happen. However, it did not take long for me to realize that what I can do is limited. I also realized that those who are most affected do not have the finances to fly in an expert or get training in these skills. Coming from the third world, I wanted to change this. I started to train others to do what I do. I used an apprentice cameraman to help me create training videos and started distributing them for free.

A couple of years ago I was asked to help a team in crisis in Myanmar. We identified those who could speak well enough English for me to debrief them. After they had been helped, I trained those I identified during the process of debriefing as potential debriefers. I invited them to be trained and then encouraged them to go and help those who still needed help (which was everyone in the country). They were allowed to use my material as is or to keep the principles and change the format to fit their culture. I remained as a support and consultant, as needed.

Increasingly, this became my pattern. Get trained, do, gain experience, pass on, enable, and empower.

I do get concerned responses around certification, quality control, and possible damage being done in the process. It is a risk, and I am sure it happens in some instances. Yet, the model of Jesus to leave it in the disciples’ hands, knowing the Holy Spirit is all they need, is what I want to follow—and I am willing to risk an imperfect result. And honestly, lots of beautiful things are happening worldwide because of this strategy. Way more people get trained and helped than I could ever have done by myself. What I love most is seeing others starting to fly.

For an effective ministry, I need to engage with risk regularly: entering war zones with no guarantees, developing new models because I see a need that is not covered, working alone although I am a team player, passing my knowledge and expertise on to people I do not know, producing videos even though I have never stood in front of a camera—just to name a few. Taking these steps into the unknown has an incredible reward: I see God in action. I become dependent on the Spirit to guide me. I am reminded of my own limitations and see growth in my personality and my faith because of that. I learn to let go easily, to give fully, and to not live result focused.

The Focus of Empowerment

I believe one of the things that keeps us from taking the risk to multiply and empower is a desire to control, to have a legacy, to see the fruit of our labor, and to have our signature all over the project. Trees produce nutritious fruit and seeds. No tree ever benefits from its own fruit. Either people and animals enjoy them, or they fall and rot. No seed falls into the ground and produces a replica of the tree it came from. It might be the same kind, but it will have its own distinctive form and character; it will be a different tree. Often, the seeds are carried to unknown places where we never to get to see that a seed has grown into a tree. Our ministry is never for our own benefit. If those coming after us, do it differently, or if they seem too immature for the task, have grace and keep on risking. We too were young and immature. We too had our own ideas and ways. John 14:26 is not just relevant for us, but also for those coming after us.

I have a picture of myself as a storeroom full of grain. For some, the grain is nurturing; for others the grain is for planting their own fields. I keep on passing out the grain from the storeroom. 2 Corinthians 9:5–15 (read in the context of resources) encourages me to not focus on the risk. My part in his big plan is important but not to determine the outcome. He is the One who is holding the bigger picture in his hands. No matter what kind of risk I must take to play my part, it is a calculated risk, because I know who holds the bigger picture. This is true about every aspect of life and ministry, including how and where my multipliers plant the seeds and develop their fields.

The Spirit is, after all, all we need. I have the Spirit. Those coming after me, have the Spirit. I can trust that the good work that has been started, will be completed and that God will be glorified. For me, this is enough.