Zambia Hunt

When I first moved to Africa as a missionary in the early 1990s, a nagging question haunted me: “Will we make it?” The statistics weren’t encouraging—60% of American missionaries were leaving their field of service within the first four years. This sobering reality reminded me of Charles Spurgeon’s admonition to his pastoral students. As he sent out the 900 men trained at his pastor’s college to plant churches, he urged them: “Cling tightly with both your hands; when they fail, catch hold with your teeth; and if they give way, hang on by your eyelashes!”

This call to perseverance echoes throughout Scripture. In Revelation 2:2-3, we read Christ’s commendation to the church at Ephesus: “I know your works, your toil and your patient endurance, and how you cannot bear with those who are evil, but have tested those who call themselves apostles and are not, and found them to be false. I know you are enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary.”

I was asked recently to share personal lessons learned regarding endurance in ministry. I sat down and quickly jotted down these five overarching truths that I return to again and again.

Five Essential Principles for Enduring in Ministry

1. Hold Firmly to God’s Character and Nature

Our endurance must be anchored in understanding who God is. He is sovereign in Providence—having supreme authority independent of all external influence. As Romans 11:36 teaches us, God’s sovereignty controls every single thing that happens, whether good or bad. His plan is unchangeable and must succeed, including all things that come to pass (Romans 8:28, Ephesians 1:11).

God’s plan is of one mind and what His soul desires, that He does. As Isaiah 10:5-6 demonstrates, God is always working to accomplish His plan, and this plan is unchangeable. What God has purposed must and will succeed, for He does all things according to His own eternal knowledge, power, and desire (Isaiah 46:10, Acts 15:8).

In evangelism, we must remember that God is not primarily concerned with methods. He demands our obedience in the verbal proclamation of the gospel. As the saying goes, “God is not concerned with glorifying a method; he is concerned with glorifying His Son.” The work of evangelism among any people group is ultimately God’s work, for the gospel itself is the power of God unto salvation.

God’s love is boundless (Psalm 52; Romans 5:8, 8:35-39). Whatever the circumstances, we can be absolutely confident that He loves us with everlasting love and is lovingly present in every moment of crisis, danger, or uncertainty. His omnipotence is demonstrated throughout history—from creation (Psalm 65:6; Jeremiah 32:17; Hebrews 1:3) to the exodus from Egypt (Exodus 15:1-18) to the continuing work of the church (1 Corinthians 2:5; Ephesians 3:20).

2. Maintain a Clear Vision

Endurance requires keeping sight of God’s calling as our north star, especially when walking through darkness or facing opposition. Without a clear vision—a God-given picture of desired future outcomes (Revelation 7:9-10)—how will we know where we’re going or when we’ve arrived?

This vision must be supported by three key elements:

• Vision: The God-given picture of desired future outcomes that graphically describes what your ministry could look like should God enable it
• Values: The beliefs that influence decisions and actions, grounded in Christ’s teachings (Matthew 5-6)
• Mission: The specific calling of people in the organization to accomplish the vision (Matthew 28:18-20)

We must count the cost of discipleship, as Luke 14:25-30, 33 teaches. Don’t start if you can’t finish. Failure to submit to the king is a sure way to miss the mission (Luke 14:31-32). This clear-eyed assessment of the cost helps us persist when challenges arise.

3. Embrace Brokenness

True ministry requires a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51:16-17). Brokenness is God’s process of bringing our will into absolute submission to Him, deepening our dependence on His grace and our fellowship with other believers. We must follow Christ’s example, who took the path of a bond-slave in service to God and others (Philippians 2:7).

This brokenness must manifest in our relationships with our host culture and co-laborers. This means communicating often, forgiving quickly, and holding no offense against our brothers and sisters. Bitterness is a poison that kills the person who harbors it, and is certian death to relationships.

Faithful endurance requires deep humility—accepting both blessings and hardships from God’s hand. It means trusting that God is orchestrating all circumstances for good even when we can’t understand why. This humility acknowledges God’s supreme wisdom and our own limitations: He is everything, while we are nothing in comparison. It makes us quick to admit our sins, recognize our blind spots, acknowledge our failures, and be open to better ways of doing things.

4. Pray with Abandoned Reliance on God

Prayer must become our lifestyle, not just an activity. As taught in Ephesians 6:18-19 and Philippians 4:6, we must be men and women who live in an attitude of prayer. It has been said that prayer is the slender cord that moves the hand of omnipotence and demonstrates our faith in God’s promises.

Through prayer, we acknowledge God’s sovereignty and our dependence on Him. When we pray, we’re declaring our trust that He will fulfill His promises, regardless of current circumstances. If He said it, He will do what He says, even when current circumstances suggest otherwise.

The key to faithful endurance is an unwavering faith in God that He will do what He says in His word. Thus, we respond in obedience, hope, and confidence.

5. Determine Never to Quit

Hebrews 12:1-4 calls us to “run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

We must follow the examples of faithful servants who went before us:

• Be like Job, who declared “though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him” (Job 13:15)
• Be like Paul, who could say at the end of his life, “I have fought a good fight, I have finished the course, I have kept the faith” (2 Timothy 4:7)
• Be like the ancient believers who suffered and endured loss (Hebrews 10:32-36)

The Heart of Faithful Endurance

Our endurance in ministry flows not from our own strength or methods but from daily relying on God’s sovereign power, boundless love, and unfailing promises as we fix our eyes on Jesus. God has called us to pursue Him as our highest goal, humbly submitting to His purposes as He works in and through us.

The call to faithful endurance is ultimately a call to grace. As stewards of God’s ministry, we must pursue Christ wholeheartedly, maintain short accounts of sin, and frequently bow at the foot of the cross. In doing so, we find the strength to persevere when statistics and circumstances might tell us otherwise.

Press on dear brother, press on!