Serving Despite Fear Requires Lovingly Taking Uncomfortable Risks

I volunteered with Campus Crusade for Christ many years ago on Penn State’s main campus. When weekly evangelistic outreaches were held, I battled emotional hurricanes.

The winds of fear swirled and whistled within me as I contemplated the hostile responses I might receive. The easy thing would have been to avoid these outreaches.

I am glad I did not. They were my first lessons in overcoming fear to minister to others.

I am not naturally outgoing. In my high school yearbook, my twin brother was described as quiet, and I was “very quiet.”

God has a sense of humor. He has used a person who is still “very quiet” to serve others through public speaking and preaching.

After my Penn State experience, my wife and I served on the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ for two years. Regularly sharing the gospel with students was emotionally taxing.

I learned about faith-sharing during those two years. However, college campus ministry was not the best fit for my personality and spiritual gifts.

That experience trained me to do ministry, though I am afraid. It was one of many ways God prepared me for His calling to a writing ministry that reached full fruition after I retired from pastoral ministry.

After forty years of ministry, you would think I would be over the anxiety I experienced when I traveled the early paths of Christian service. Not entirely.

My fears are greatly diminished, but present. I pray for the Holy Spirit to empower me and make me a blessing to others despite my fear. Then I walk toward the doorway of the opportunity and trust God’s adequacy to make me equal to it (2 Corinthians 12:9).

Have I taken advantage of every ministry chance? No. Fear has caused me to miss many opportunities to bless others. Can you identify with that?

Even the best of us experience fear in ministry. The Apostle Paul wrote, “I came to you in weakness with great fear and trembling” (1 Corinthians 2:3 NIV). “For when we came into Macedonia, we had no rest, but we were harassed at every turn—conflicts on the outside, fears within” (2 Corinthians 7:5 NIV).

Fear probably interferes with your ministry. The flesh is weak. Our sinful natures rebel against potentially embarrassing risks and living by faith.

Meanwhile, God’s Spirit moves us to take the risks love requires. “For the flesh desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit what is contrary to the flesh. They are in conflict with each other, so that you are not to do whatever you want.” (Galatians 5:17 NIV).

Reading the following passage in Ezra for my devotions spurred these “despite their fear” thoughts: “Despite their fear of the peoples around them, they built the altar on its foundation and sacrificed burnt offerings on it to the Lord, both the morning and evening sacrifices” (Ezra 3:3 NIV).

After returning from Babylon, the Israelites risked restoring their worship practices. They did it afraid. We must do the same.

I am learning that those who fear the LORD do not have to fear anything else. I am making progress. Doing ministry while we are afraid makes the next opportunity to serve God and others slightly less intimidating. What is your takeaway?

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God has empowered me to write His Power for Your Weakness—260 Steps Toward Spiritual Strength. It’s a free, evangelistic, devotional, and discipleship e-book. Pastors have used it in Malawi, Mozambique, and Zambia to lead 6,090 people to Christ and teach the basics of Christianity to 15,150 people. I invite you to explore and use it in your setting. 

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