You have your personality for a reason.

This is something that has come up a lot recently. Whether in talks given at church, with my team, or just what I mull over in my head from time to time. So I thought maybe I should write it here too.

Being involved in ministry and missions for the better part of a decade now (let alone basically all of the 20 years before that. Thanks, Mom and Dad. (btw this isn't sarcasm, Mom)), I have seen and been a part of many different expressions of ministry.

I also have what many would call a ✨strong personality✨. And no I don't just mean that I'm difficult or headstrong (we'll go with some sort of version of "outspoken" but constantly being refined haha). But what I mean by that is I like what I like, look the way I do for a reason and, for the most part, have the security to not try to be someone else.

So taking all of this into consideration, I have a major gripe with the way that we do/perceive ministry and Christian life: why does it seem like our personality needs to evaporate for God to use us?

We've all seen it or thought it in some form, right?

Here are some of my favourite examples:

"I'm not an extrovert so I can't do evangelism"

"I'm not soft-spoken/classically feminine enough to lead a women's ministry"

"I'll look like an idiot if I kneel during worship because no one does that here"

I'm sure we can all add to that list with our own experiences or thoughts, maybe based on different environments we've been in or even our own insecurities.

But the fact is, whoever you are, you can do evangelism / lead a women's ministry / worship freely / [ fill in your own blank ] if God asks you to.

Your personality should never dictate your obedience, but it will be how your obedience unfolds.

Or better yet, how your obedience impacts others.

Let's take evangelism. How many times have I heard "I don't have the personality for evangelism, so I'll just stay back and pray" Nah, girly pop. Last time I checked Jesus told us all to go into the world and make disciples. (Not that I have a problem with prayer at all, but I do have a problem with people using spiritual terms to cover up disobedience 👀 But we digress)

I'm the person who, when we're on the streets, doesn't think twice about yelling to someone across a crowd about how much I like her fun hair colour and inviting her under our tent for a coffee. And I get it, the thought of that alone makes some people hyperventilate.

But then this hypothetical woman comes under the tent and in swoops one of my most soft-spoken teammates whose worst nightmare would be yelling at a stranger. But they can hand her a coffee, ask her how her day is going and have the most profound convo in the middle of the busy street.

Another example that always comes up is the way that I worship. I didn't grow up Pentecostal, but you would have no idea if you stood beside me during a time of worship. I've literally lost count of the number of times someone has said to me some version of "I love the way you worship/it's so inspiring to see how free and passionate you are in worship". I just respond with "well, I'm a very expressive person in general, so why wouldn't I be in worship?"

Talk to me for five seconds and it's clear that I'm animated, expressive, and passionate. That's my personality. So why would it suddenly change in a corporate worship setting?

Or even something as simple as your style. We all have certain styles/interests that can reach certain groups of people or open doors to sub-cultures that others can't reach.

Paul talks so much about the Church being different parts of one body with different roles [1 Corinthians 12]. And I believe this also means our personalities. When we start diluting the uniqueness that God gave us, we're essentially telling Him that He designed us wrong and that we need to change ourselves in order for Him to use us. Of course, all of our personalities need some good ol' pruning, refining and maturing, but hopefully you know what I'm getting at here.

So maybe you're going to initiate and lead a whole campus-wide outreach festival at your university, or maybe you're going to have a chill one-on-one study session with a classmate and give them a judgement-free space to be vulnerable and offer them prayer.

Or maybe you're going to make friends who are also fans of some hyper-specific music genre that I've never heard of and you'll be able to show them how Jesus changed your life at a gig.

God has designed us all with specific traits, characteristics and interests. But we all share the same purpose of loving him and others and making disciples. So instead of trying to fit ourselves into the mould of what we think that has to look like, let's stop being so distracted by thinking of ourselves so much and just enjoy God and how he designed us.

After all, chances are that if He designed us a certain way, then He must also have some pretty specific ways He wants to use us. And that sounds like a pretty exciting life to me.