Talk Is Cheap?

One of the common phrases we always heard is "talk is cheap" or "talk only, no action". However, lately I've been thinking about the problems we faced in CLMC. As we all know, we need to identify the cause or root of the problem before coming up with a solution(s). Otherwise, we'll be shooting in random and hoping to hit the bull eyes.

Surely, we all knew what the main problem was, it was "settled" in some sense, don't know for better or worse. We also knew what the secondary problem was, that has yet to be settled. Even though the top 2 problems are identified, it's still not enough as we see things are still deteriorating. I'm not saying about things like leadership or management at this point. It's the simple heart to serve or willingness to serve.

One of the reasons I found out is: We don't talk about it much.

How often do we hear people sit in groups talking about ministries or church stuff? Maybe we can hear more gossips about who is dating who, who is next leader, etc more than the positive sides that we desperately need people to talk about. Most of the times, it's "cold jokes" or "guessing games" during the dinner talk.

The interest on this topic no longer exists! It's very awkward for us to even start a conversation about church ministries. Sometimes when we did talk about it, it wouldn't last a few sentences and the topic get changed. So, how can we grow the right habit or attitude towards church ministries?

We need to be able to sit down and chat comfortably about God's ministries & plans for us. Gone are the days where leaders sit together and plan together. Gone are the days where leaders sit down and talk to their members about church's plan.

I remember long time ago when I was having a dinner with Ye En together with a pastor, we were talking about church ministries. However, the pastor mentioned "why talk about it, just go out and do it". It seems right in some sense but for me, the pastor seems to neglect the importance of communication. If you are doing the ministry as a single person, then sure just do it but if you are doing it as a unit or team, we need to talk about it. We need to get everyone to know and understand where we are heading towards. Without it, how can we go forward? Like rowing a boat, if nobody is communicating, everyone would be rowing in the directions of your choice, how can they go forward in the fastest speed or achieve uniformity?
Some might suggest pulpit ministry be the main & only means of communicating the directions for the church. I wouldn't deny pulpit ministry being a very important factor but we shouldn't neglect the importance of small "chit chat" about ministries as well. The small "chit chat" enables people to understand deeper and question deeper towards the ministry. It's a similarity to why we need small groups as well, not just Sunday sermons weekly. Without directions, it's very hard for people to keep up the pace, not to mention increase the pace.

By constantly talking about it, it increases people's interests and burden for God's ministries because they will understand more. We can also identify problems earlier and eliminate ministries' risks before it affects us.

Can we afford not talking about it? I don't think so~!

So, I'm reiterating that we need to have a culture of talking about church ministries and not be ashamed of talking about it. We need everyone to start talking about it and be part of it. Enough of the cold jokes and empty talks.
Talk only is cheap, but actions without talking first will be an expensive lesson to learn~!