I love the principles behind the Agile Manifesto and I think they adapt perfectly to a ministry setting. These 12 principles encapsulate how we ought to work in ministry and treat other people.

Principle 1: Our highest priority is to glorify God by loving Him, interacting with Him, and serving Him.

If the hours of your week were all recorded on a calendar that others could review, would they see your relationship with God as a priority?

There are thousands of distractions vying for your attention. Corporations spend billions of dollars to shift your focus to material possessions and self-centered pursuits. There is nothing inherently wrong with fun, possessions or money (the love of money is the problem - 1 Timothy 6:10). However, when these things take a higher priority in our lives than our relationship with God, an adjustment is needed.

In ministry life, it is easy to make our work a higher priority than our relationship with God. In Luke 10:38-42, Martha became frustrated because she did all the work preparing a meal for Jesus while Mary sat and listened to Him. Jesus rebuked Martha and said Mary chose the better way to spend her time.

Be careful not to allow ministry to become your idol.

When doing the work of the ministry takes precedent over spending time with God, we cannot say our highest priority is to glorify Him.