Ministry Will Not Fulfill You

“Ministry will not fulfill you.” When I heard those words on my very first night at the Encounter School, it was like a punch to the gut. That sentence was quickly followed up with, “Only a relationship with Jesus can do that.” The past several weeks for me had been such a challenge. I had been so frustrated with myself and my inability to live out my life on mission as fully as I desired to, and it caused me to struggle with receiving God’s love. I felt like I needed to do something-pray with people on the street, serve in certain ways, live a life of joy-before I could receive from Him. Because I didn’t feel like I was worthy of God’s love or fulfilled unless I was living out mission in concrete ways.

When those two sentences were spoken, I realized how deeply rooted my identity was in pride and ministry, and not in Jesus and His love for me. The first quarter involved a lot of digging up deep roots of my identity being in what I do so that they could be transplanted into Jesus’ heart and I could be reminded of who I am in Him. It’s still a daily process of surrender, trust, and humility, that is a huge challenge because so much of me just wants to DO things for God so I can feel like I’m in some way doing something for Him. But I so often need to be reminded that He just wants me, and He is more than enough to fulfill me if I allow Him to.

– Meghan Campbell
Main Campus (Brighton)