Joyful Perseverance

How to Remain Joyful about Ministry Despite Inevitable Challenges

Life in ministry is not detached from disappointment. Threats to one’s integrity, harmful expectations from celebrity culture, and the tendency toward loneliness, insecurity, and pain can put a strain on ministry leaders. How can they remain faithful to their work for Christ’s kingdom without letting bitterness seep in?

Joyful Perseverance encourages ministry leaders to rely on God’s grace to find joy, energy, and the freshness to serve well, despite inevitable disappointments. It offers practical ways to combat the negative effects of ministry such as embracing God’s joy-giving presence, guarding one’s integrity, leaning into one’s God-given identity, groaning with God, settling sin issues through repentance and forgiveness, cultivating friends, and more. By adopting a life of thanksgiving, readers will experience abundant joy, resulting in an ongoing passion for ministry.

1. Opening Credits
2. Dedication
3. Foreword by Thomas R. Schreiner
4. Introduction
5. Chapter 1: What Do We Mean by Freshness?
6. Chapter 2: It Is All of Grace
7. Chapter 3: Strength for Energy-Sapping Ministry
8. Chapter 4: Thanksgiving and Joy
9. Chapter 5: Three Reasons for Joy
10. Chapter 6: When I Don't Feel Joy
11. Chapter 7: The Reality of Frustration
12. Chapter 8: Groaning and Lament
13. Chapter 9: The God Who Groans
14. Chapter 10: Refreshment through Prayer
15. Chapter 11: Battling Insecurity
16. Chapter 12: Guarding Our Integrity
17. Chapter 13: Conscience: Others' and Ours
18. Chapter 14: Contentment in a Celebrity Culture
19. Chapter 15: Innovation, Growth, Excellence, and God's Glory
20. Chapter 16: Refreshment through Our Call and the Scriptures
21. Chapter 17: Grace through Friends
22. Chapter 18: Friends in Times of Need
23. Conclusion
24. Closing Credits