Finding Balance

One thing I’ve learned in my first year serving Trinity is that ministry is a constant balancing act. It’s balancing time between preparing for Sunday worship and being present in the community. It’s balancing attention between the needs of individuals and the needs of the church as a whole. It’s balancing the energy poured into what’s urgent and the energy reserved for what’s truly important.

Scripture is no stranger to the idea of balance. Jesus Himself modeled balance in His ministry. He healed the sick and fed the crowds, but He also stepped away to pray in solitude (Luke 5:16). He spent time teaching the masses, yet He invested deeply in just twelve disciples. He gave fully of Himself, but never neglected His connection to the Father.

In our Wesleyan tradition, John Wesley often spoke of the “means of grace”—practices like prayer, Scripture reading, worship, and acts of service—that help us keep our spiritual life centered. These are not random activities; they are a rhythm that holds together the inner life of faith and the outward life of love. For Wesley, holiness was never just about personal devotion or just about doing good—it was both. One without the other was incomplete.

I’m still learning the art of balance in ministry, and I expect I always will be. But I think the same is true for the church. We, too, are called to balance—caring for one another and reaching out to the world, holding fast to tradition while being open to the Spirit’s new work, attending to our own spiritual growth while also serving others.

Perhaps the goal isn’t to find a perfect balance once and for all, but to keep leaning into the rhythms God gives us—rhythms that keep us steady no matter what comes.

Rev Chris Hester