Ministry Reflection Four
My experience in ministry is that the number one motivator for people is encouragement. Not everyone agrees with this. I worked with one pastor who told me that if I was doing a good job that I would not hear from them, but if I did do something wrong I would get corrected. The concept was that people would be motivated to do better because they would not want the discomfort of being corrected. I go at it from a different perspective. I try to be intentional in encouraging people. Even if I see people struggling, I look for what they are doing right and tell them. I do correct as well, but I do in it a relationship of encouragement. Often I find that if I encourage people in what they are doing well, they improve on their own without me having to correct them. Never underestimate the power of encouragement.
