Category: Discipleship

Apostolic fitness exercises! A 30 step plan

Paraklesis

[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]

[80th birthday edition!]

Dear friends,

As I look back over my life, I realise how much God has inspired me and strengthened me in a Biblical life and ministry by people I have met, and their examples of God-honouring and grace-filled lives and ministries.

So here is a 30-step plan for us all to be inspired and strengthened in life and ministry by Paul’s words about his aims in life, what kind of servant of God he wanted to be, and told others he wanted to be, in words inspired by God’s Holy Spirit.

As you do so, be encouraged by these words of Archbishop Thomas Cranmer

The words of Holy Scripture are called the words of everlasting life; for they are God’s instruments, ordained for the same purpose. They have power to turn through God’s promise, and they are effectual through God’s assistance; and being received in a faithful heart, they have a heavenly spiritual working in them… And there is nothing that so much strengths our faith and trust in God, that so much preserves pureness of the heart and also of outward godly life and conversation, as continual reading and recording of God’s word. For that thing which, by continual reading of Holy Scripture, and diligent searching of the same, is deeply printed and graven in the heart, at length turns almost into nature…there is nothing that more maintains godliness of the mind, and drives away ungodliness, than the continual reading or hearing of God’s word, if it be joined with a godly mind and a good affection to know and follow God’s will. [Homily, ‘The Reading of Holy Scripture’, Thomas Cranmer].

One option is that you meditate on and ponder these quotations, one a day for 30 days!

Or you could meditate on and ponder a quotation for a week, and so complete the fitness program in 30 weeks! [How fit you would be!].

Reflect on them, prepare yourself and commit yourself, and then Paul’s Spirit-inspired words out loud, to affirm your present and life-long commitments and actions to God.

Of course, you may need to adapt some of them for your own particular use, and especially focus on which people you refer to when Paul writes ‘you’ and addresses human recipients.

May the example of Paul and the words of Paul enhance and enrich our prayers, and so enrich our lives and ministries!

30 Step fitness program

Ponder, and then say:

“Everlasting God, by your grace and power I declare …

1… I am innocent of the blood of all … For I have not hesitated to proclaim to them the whole will of God” [Acts 20:26,27].

2… I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes” [Rom 1:16].

3… I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us” [Rom 8:18].

4… I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord” [Rom 8:38.39].

5… I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people … My heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel [or another group] is that they may be saved” [Rom 9:2,3, 10:1].

6… I resolved to know nothing … except Jesus Christ and him crucified” [1 Cor 2:2].

7… I laid a foundation as a wise builder, and someone else is building on it … no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ” [1 Cor 3:10,11].

8… I planted the seed, but you, God have been making it grow” [1 Cor 3:6].

9… I have become all things to all people, so that by all possible means I might save some” [1 Cor 9:22].

10… I strike a blow to my body and make it my slave, so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize” [1 Cor 9:27].

11… If I speak in the tongues of men or of angels, but do not have love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and give over my body to hardship that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing” [1 Cor 13:1-3].

12… What I received I passed on to you as of first importance; that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures …” [1 Cor 15:3-5].

13… I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me … I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong” [2 Cor 12:9,10].

14… I make it my goal to please Christ … for I must appear before the judgement seat of Christ, to receive what is due to me, whether good or bad …” [2 Cor 5:9,10].

15… I have not stopped giving thanks for [my church], remembering them in my prayers” [Ephes 1:16].

16… May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world” [Gal 6:14].

17... I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” [Gal 2:20].

18… I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen my church with power through his Spirit in their inner being, so that Christ may dwell in their hearts through faith. I pray that they, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that they may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God” [Ephes 3:15-19].

19… I long for all of my church with the affection of Christ Jesus” [Phil 1:8].

 20… I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death” [Phil 1:20].

21… For me to live is Christ and to die is gain … I desire to depart and be with Christ, which is better by far; but it is more necessary for you that I remain in the body” [Phil 1:21,23,24].

22… I consider everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord” [Phil 3:8].

23… that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith” [Phil 3:8,9].

24… I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead” [Phil 3:10,11].

25… Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me” [Phil 3:12].

26… Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” [Phil 3:13,14].

27… I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do all this through him who gives me strength” [Phil 4:12,13].

28… He is the one I proclaim, admonishing and teaching everyone with all wisdom, so that I may present everyone fully mature in Christ. To this end I strenuously contend with all the energy Christ so powerfully works in me” [Col 1:28,29].

29… that I may proclaim the gospel clearly” [Col 4:3,4].

30… I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith. Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness which the Lord … will award me on that day … his appearing” [2 Tim 4:7,8].

[Please note: all quotations are from NIV 10, with some adapted for use in this context].

And finally, a really important book: Tim Silberman, Engaging Neighbours and Nations: Factors Shaping Local Church Involvement in Mission, Pickwick, 2024.

It demonstrates that healthy churches engage in both local and global mission, by a detailed investigation of what happens in churches.

We should resist the temptation not to do mission, or to limit our mission to our own neighbourhood, and so ignore God’s great global gospel plan. A message of vital importance to every disciple of Christ, and every church!

With warmest greetings,

Yours,

C:\Users\peter\Desktop\CURRENT\MAP AND ST JUDES AND MINISTRY\ST JUDES\ADAM_Peter_Signature.jpg

Leading without burnout

Paraklesis

[‘encouragement’, ‘exhortation’, for life and ministry]

Peter Adam | November 2025

Dear friends,

This is my final Paraklesis on this year’s topic of Leadership.

We live in an over-busy world, where everyone is busy, and busyness is a matter of pride and a sign of importance. I heard a little boy asked how he was. His reply, ‘Very busy!’ His reply no doubt reflected his parents’ replies when asked the same question, possibly their style of parenting, and the ideals of our society.

Here are some of the many reasons why people in ministry get into over-busy mode, and can’t break it. As you read through the list, see which reasons apply to you. Busyness is the result of many different causes. We need to tackle the causes, not just the symptom! [For your interest, I have noted the most common causes of my own busyness!]

  • If we love those to whom we minister, we created more opportunities for care.*
  • There are often no limits to the number of people to whom we could minister.*
  • Often we have no direct supervisor who can limit our ministry.*
  • Often we have no limit on the number of people who can request ministry.*
  • We often have to deal with the strong expectations of others for ministry, at the same time as we have our own ideas about priorities and new opportunities for ministry.
  • People usually have to pay for attention and care: we offer it for free.
  • We may find it difficult to say ‘no’ to requests for ministry, because we like to be liked; we like to be needed; because we find it hard to say ‘no’; * and/or because people have strong expectations that we will meet all their needs.
  • We are not good at organising our time, energy, and timetable.*
  • We waste time flitting from one unfinished task to another.*
  • We are not good at setting and achieving our priorities.
  • Those who employ us have unreal expectations of what we can achieve.
  • We are competitive in ministry, and want to do more and better ministry than others.
  • We want to be ‘successful’, or need to be ‘successful’.
  • We are overwhelmed with the seriousness of our ministry, and of its eternal consequences.
  • We are trying to prove something about our capacity and ability.
  • We think that serving people as Christ served us, means meeting all their needs and demands.
  • We over-value our importance in God’s gospel economy, or even imagine that we are the Messiah, when the job is already taken!*
  • We want to function in ministry, where we are professionally competent: and avoid our marriage and family responsibilities, where we feel less competent.
  • We are perfectionists, either by temperament, and/or by our training and practice of our previous employment.
  • We like being needed, and become dependent on those who need us.*
  • We are overwhelmed with personal ambition.
  • Any other cause?

If you want to decrease your busyness, then you need to tackle the causes, not just the symptoms!

Some practical advice that may help.

  1. Don’t make inflexible and permanent decisions about the shape of your ministry, but change them from year to year.
  2. If you come into a ministry in which there are some less helpful patterns of ministry, make changes slowly. Do the good ministry you want to do, but begin where people are, not where you think they should be!
  3. If people expect you to be their slaves, remind them that you will serve them, but that they are not your masters: Christ is your only master!
  4. Put a draft 4 year plan on your wall, so that you can put things in later years, and not think they all have to happen this year!

So, for example, if you were starting in a new ministry:

YearParticular focus of ministry
1Set a culture of Bible, prayer, godliness, mutual care, and outreach. Get to know people and built relationships. Find out what God is already doing. Find people with ministry potential.
2Train people for leadership, mutual care ministry, Bible-teaching ministry, discipling, mentoring, evangelism and administration.
3Encourage and coach people in their ministries, and lead in Bible teaching and evangelism.
4Begin a new ministry or outreach.

5. Don’t fall into the easy trap of thinking that ministry can be reduced to just one task: I must care for people; I must teach people the Bible; I must care for people; I must do evangelism, etc. The New Testament tells us to do all those tasks and more: the issue is how we balance them from time to time.

6. It is well worth while making good use the ‘down-times’ during your ministry year. Use them to work hard on the books of the Bible you will be teaching from and preaching during the coming year. Spend lots of time on each book, asking questions like, ‘What is this book about?’ ‘ ‘Why did God write this book?’ ‘What difference did God intend to make in peoples’ lives by writing this book then?’ ‘What difference does God intend to make in these people’s lives now?’ ‘How does this book apply to individuals?’ ‘How does this book apply to this community?’ The more work you do on a book of the Bible ahead of time, the easier it is to divide it into preachable/teachable sections, and the easier and quicker it is to prepare each sermon/talk.

7. The sooner you start preparing a particular Bible talk/sermon, the more time you have to process it. Begin it at least 6 days before you teach/preach it.

8. Allocate time each week according to your priorities for the current year. For example, for a 40 hour week: 4 hours in ministry prayer by myself and with others; 9 in preparing talks; 3 in team-work; 7 in administration, 5 talking to people before and after services or meetings, praying with them, encouraging them, answering their questions; 2 in one-to one meetings with people; 4 in training, 4 in evangelism, 2 for unforeseen and emergencies! Of course I did not stick absolutely to the hours I had allocated to teach activity, but doing this helped me cover the necessary range of ministry tasks.

9. God’s provision of electricity means that we can work evenings as well as days. But God did not instruct humans to work 6 days and 6 evenings each week! By a ‘day’ he meant a Mediterranean day: sunrise to sunset. It did not include evenings! If you divide the week into 21 sessions [mornings, afternoons, evenings] then I think that working between 11 and 14 sessions a week is satisfactory.

10. Beware of getting too focused on one particular ministry task! If you are not careful, time spent on one act of ministry can balloon out of control! The advantage of allocating specific hours a week to different ministries can help you avoid doing this.

11. In order to continue long-term in ministry you need to keep as healthy as you can. We are not disembodied ministry machines! Healthy food, healthy diet, healthy exercise, healthy sleep, healthy relationships with family and friends, and healthy activities and interests apart from ministry are essential. Don’t think that you are exceptional, and can ignore these. If you do, you will diminish your quality and quantity of ministry.

12. Build some mutual accountability with a colleague or colleagues in ministry, meet and pray with that person or persons, and support each other. Don’t dump your all ministry frustrations on your spouse!

13. Remember that God is in charge of his people, that Jesus is building his church, that God can use you in ministry, but also achieve his gospel purposes without you!

14. Regularly confess your sins of ministry, both bad things you have done, and good things you have not done, and receive forgiveness and cleansing through the blood of Christ. Don’t build up a burden of guilt.

15. Like the apostles, devote yourself to prayer and the ministry of the word [Acts 6:3].

16. Thank God each day for the Bible, ask God to continue to transform you into the image of Christ as he teaches, trains, rebukes and encourages you through the Bible; and use it as your chief tool of ministry in every part of your ministry.

17. Spend time each day praising and thanking God that he has prepared good works for you to do; that he works in you and through you to achieve those good works; and that he will provide all the energy, time, and wisdom for you do to those good works. At the end of the day, commit those good works and the people you have served to God, and entrust them to his powerful care and love.

18. Spend time each day praising God and thanking him that he will achieve his gospel plan for this world, that he will bring the nations to trust in Christ and honour Christ, and that he will bring people from all nations to gather round his throne to worship him and worship the Lamb. Don’t just know this, but praise and thank God for his divine gospel plan, and divine gospel power.

Four good books on this topic:

  • Peter Brain, Going the Distance: How to Stay Fit for a Lifetime of Ministry, Matthias Media, 2004.
  • Zack Eswine, Sensing Jesus: Life and Ministry as a Human Being, Crossway, 2012.
  • Kirsten Birkett, Resilience: A Spiritual Project, Latimer Trust, 2015.
  • Christopher Ash, Zeal without Burnout, The Good Book Company, 2016.

This is my final Paraklesis for this year.

With warmest good wishes,

Yours,