The most important thing you can do starting the year as a church communicator has nothing to do with getting new equipment, designing a better website, or having time for training classes in the latest software upgrade.
It has everything to do with strengthening your walk with your Lord.
For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand. (Eph. 6:12-13)
Working for the Lord in church communications is hard. The bottom-line reality is that we are in a war. And in any war, one of the first things the enemy tries to knock out the communications equipment of their opponent. As we've seen in recent years, changes in government, huge movements, wars large and small, have often depended on the success or failure of communications. Today, if a government wants to cripple dissent, the first target they attack is to cut off the web and social media. When people can plan, strategize, and encourage each other through communications they can be an invincible army, without communications they are isolated individuals without focus or purpose.
Church communications have the same purpose
You aren’t just “doing the bulletin” or some other isolated project. You are the communication center for spiritual warfare, success or failure for your church. When you got into communications work for your church or ministry you entered one of the most intense areas of spiritual warfare raging today. Satan wants to knock you out.
Troubles with hardware, software, and co-workers are to be expected. Especially people problems should be no surprise because Satan is “the accuser of our brothers” (Rev. 12:10) and one of the easiest ways to cripple you in the battle is to get you fighting with your fellow soldiers. Don’t let him win; don’t take on his job.
Remember also that you are in a war that has already been won. When Jesus died on the cross, he said, “It is finished!” When he rose from the grave, he conquered sin and death.
Because of Jesus’ finished work, our battle resembles the fighting of the resistance fighters in France at the end of WW2. The allies landed on D-Day and basically the war was over, but until Paris was liberated, the war wasn’t over for the French Resistance. The resistance army still had to fight. If you study the history of the resistance, you find that one of their primary weapons was communications. “Freedom is coming—the war is over—hold on until the victors arrive!” That was their message and ours is the same.
Your most powerful weapon—God's Word
We may be involved in spiritual warfare, but we don’t have to fight alone. We can expect help for the battle. Our help never comes ultimately from new equipment, or a more peaceful work situation, or more considerate workers. Our help comes from our Lord and from doing our work according to his Word.
In the midst of a description of how to handle ourselves in daily spiritual warfare, the Message translation reminds us that:
Eph. 6: 3-18 Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own. Take all the help you can get, every weapon God has issued, so that when it’s all over but the shouting you’ll still be on your feet. Truth, righteousness, peace, faith, and salvation are more than words. Learn how to apply them. You’ll need them throughout your life. God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. In the same way, prayer is essential in this ongoing warfare. Pray hard and long. Pray for your brothers and sisters. Keep your eyes open. Keep each other’s spirits up so that no one falls behind or drops out.
God’s Word is an indispensable weapon. You've got to be strong in His Word if you are going to be able to do all that you need to do as a church communicator.
To help you do that I encourage you to do what I do every year and that is to read through the Bible in chronological order. Though we are a few days into the year, please start this adventure with me (I apologize for not getting it out sooner—rotten sinus infection and death in our extended family have slowed me down a bit). We are doing it together at my church and below are links to some materials I have put together on this. I can't urge you enough to do this—it will change your life, not only as a communicator, but overall as a growing disciple of Jesus.
Why read through the Bible in Chronological Order
http://untilfulllight.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/why-read-through-the-bible-in-chronological-order/
Download Chronological Bible reading plans
http://untilfulllight.wordpress.com/2014/12/24/why-read-through-the-bible-in-chronological-order/
Video: Ways to read through your Bible in Chronological Order
http://untilfulllight.wordpress.com/2014/12/27/video-ways-to-read-through-your-bible-in-chronological-order/
Overview of Genesis and Job, foundations for answers to the big questions of life
http://untilfulllight.wordpress.com/2015/01/02/overview-of-genesis-and-job-foundations-for-answers-to-the-big-questions-of-life/
Job intro: Know the end of the story before you read the book of Job
http://untilfulllight.wordpress.com/2015/01/03/job-intro-know-the-end-of-the-story-before-you-read-this-one/
Finally, get into God's Word so your work will have purpose and power
If you don’t train yourself to look at the battle you are in as spiritual warfare, if you don’t draw your strength from Jesus by spending time in His Word and prayer, your job will be much more difficult than it should be.
God did not put you in your work to simply survive. Do your work with joy and passion, with your eyes on heaven and know that though the daily battles might be difficult, the war is over, victory is assured, and your King is coming.
