Lydia Ministries International Ministering to Ministers

Our work is to minister to ministers, clergy spouses, widows and orphans, to empower, equip, encourage and educate.

Lydia Ministries International is a 501 (3)(c) non-profit organization. 100% of your gift goes to the work of the ministry. We do not take a salary from the ministry.

The Mission of Lydia Ministries International

The mission of Lydia Ministries International is to encourage, empower and equip pastors and their families as they serve God.

Susan Ferrell

Susan Ferrell Leipsner has a heart for churches, pastors and their families. Susan has served in the ministry for over 20 years. Her late husband, Rev. Gary Ferrell, served as an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church for over thirty-five years. Out of Susan's love for the church and it's ministry, and out of the seeds of experiences that she and Gary were privleged to have known, Susan now consults with churches establishing an intentional ministry within the church to nurture, care for and minister to their pastoral leadership, to take care of our pastors and their families. Also, to restore pastors who have become broken and to offer means of healing the pastor and church relationship. It is our mission to minister to ministers and their families.

In addition, Lydia Ministries International, ministers to pastors, widows and orphans around the world. This mission has taken us to such places as Epuru-Gudem in India; Ghana, West Africa, Kenya in East Africa and to the Middle East. Susan trains pastors in the world's largest slum areas, in refugee camps and in remote mud villages. Wherever there are pastors, there is a need for training and encouraging, for supplying resources, revival and renewal of pastors' spirits.

While LMI is primarily a ministry of encouragement, teaching, and building ministries within the church which minister to the needs of pastors and their families, we are often faced with the physical and temporal needs also. These would include providing shoes, medicine, sports equipment, books and school supplies for orphans in remote villages and areas of grave poverty. Please see our 2008 Kenya report for our September 2008 ministry trip and our plans for our 2009 Kenya Mission Priority.

In Christ, we are all one body, whether we are in a metropolitan city in the USA such as Charlotte, N.C. or Houston, Texas or whether we are in a rural Appalachian cove. We are the same body in Nairobi, Kenya, Bethleham in Palestinian territory, or Bat Yam in Israel; and we are that same body in Hyderabad, India or Ghana, West Africa. Around the world, we are the Body of Christ.

Think about this, if you go to the gym and you work-out daily on the treadmill, while you may seem to be working your legs, you are strengthening your entire body systems-- circulatory, muscular, skeletal, endocrine, neurological, digestive--everything benefits. In the same way, when we strengthen the body of Christ in one area of the world, we strengthen the body of Christ all around the world! When we minister to ministers in the USA, we strengthen ministers in Africa, and when we minister to pastors in the many countries of Africa, we strengthen the ministry in Iraq, and Afghanistan, and Pakistan and India and in the USA. This is our ministry.

You may ask, what buisness is it of ours to minister to the pastors in other countries and cultures and denominations? Surely these are not our parish! John Wesley said,

“If you ask on what principle I acted, it was this: ‘A desire to be a Christian; and a conviction that whatever I judge conducive thereto that I am bound to do; wherever I judge I can best answer this end, thither it is my duty to go.’ On this principle I set out for America; on this I visited the Moravian church; and on the same am I ready now (God being my helper) to go to Abyssinia or China, or whithersoever it shall please God, by this conviction, to call me.

------

“But, in the meantime, you think I ought to sit still; because otherwise I should invade another’s office, if I interfered with other people’s business and intermeddled with souls that did not belong to me. You accordingly ask, ‘How is it that I assemble Christians who are none of my charge, to sing psalms, and pray, and hear the Scriptures expounded?’ and think it hard to justify doing this in other men’s parishes, upon catholic principles?

“Permit me to speak plainly. If by catholic principles you mean any other than scriptural, they weigh nothing with me; I allow no other rule, whether of faith or practice, than the holy Scriptures. but on scriptural principles, I do not think it hard to justify whatever I do. God in Scripture commands me, according to my power, to instruct the ignorant, reform the wicked, confirm the virtuous. Man forbids me to do this in another’s parish; that is, in effect, to do it at all, seeing I have now no parish of my own, nor probably ever shall. Whom then shall I hear, God or man?

----

“I look upon all the world as my parish; thus far I mean, that, in whatever part of it I am, I judge it meet, right, and my bounden duty to declare unto all that are willing to hear, the glad tidings of salvation. This is the work which I know God has called me to; and sure I am that His blessing attends it. Great encouragement have I, therefore, to be faithful in fulfilling the work He hath given me to do. His servant I am, and, as such, am employed according to the plain direction of His Word, ‘As I have opportunity, doing good unto all men’; and His providence clearly concurs with his Word; which has disengaged me from all things else, that I might singly attend on this very thing, ‘and go about doing good." Journal of John Wesley by Wesley, John (1703-1791)

Yes, the world is our parish, to minister to ministers of the Gospel, to their spouses and children, and to widows and orphans (because according to the Bible this is true religion, to minister to widows and orphans!) We invite you to join us in this ministry and mission. Please contact us TODAY to find our how YOU can strengthen the Body of Christ through Lydia Ministries International! While we are always greatful for finanical donations (and 100% of your donation goes to the ministry of LMI), there are many ways to get involved, just take the first step and ask!

Pastors Leaving the Ministry!

Studies Report:

Over 1600 ministers leave the ministry each MONTH.

90% of the participants surveyed knew of a pastor who had been forced out. These are pastors who are leaving the ministry, some never return to any form of ministry.

35% of the pastors had followed a pastor who had been forced out. These are pastors are broken and hurting, many will never return to the ministry.

23% of the particpants had been forced out themselves. These ministers now are working from wounded healers experience.

10% of participants in one survey followed pastors who had abandoned their ministries altogether! This is our loss! The church can not afford to lose ministers. We need every minister that God sends to us.

According to one survey, the average stay was 18 months or less for pastors. From experience, and research backs this up, it takes the third year of ministry that a pastor is in a church before he/she can really began to impact your church. Look at the great loss the church is suffering because we aren't taking care of our pastors. We must support our pastors!

Pastors often suffer from isolation due to a lack of close friends. They also suffer from low self-esteem, strained and broken family relationships, financial failings, and
spiritual fatigue and burnout. This in an "organization" whose commandments include the following:

"The man who is being taught the Christian message should share all the good things he has with his teacher."Gal. 6:6

"It was he (Jesus) who "gave gifts to mankind" he appointed some to be apostles, others to be prophets, others to be evangelists, others to be pastors and teachers." Eph. 4:11-12

1 Timothy 5:17-18, "Let the elders who rule well be counted worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in the word and doctrine. Scripture says, 'You shall not muzzle an ox while it treads out the grain,' and 'The laborer is worthy of his wages."

Let's stop the "Exodus" of ministers from leaving the ministry! Let's minister to the pastors, caring for them and their families.

Susan speaks with the authenticity that comes from experiencing the life of ministry. Her story will have you laughing and weeping, rejoicing and reflecting. Susan proclaims the Biblical mandates for caring for your pastor(s) and she gives you practical ways in which to follow those mandates.

How Did Lydia Ministries Get It's Name?

So Who is Lydia?

The first person recorded in the Bible to become a Christian in Europe!

Paul and Timothy were travelling in Greece, in Macedonia and sought out a place of prayer and worship. They went down to the riverside and Lydia accepted Christ. She then led her entire household to Christ.

She was a Woman of Influence!

Lydia was a professional woman. She was a merchant of fabric, but not just any fabric, instead she sold "purple" fabric that was usually reserved for royalty.

Lydia was a woman of Travel and Experience!

Lydia was from Thyatira, which was in what is modern day Turkey. However, when she encountered Paul and Timothy, she was in Greece.

Lydia was a woman of service!

When Lydia accepted Christ and led her family to Christ, she then opened her home to Paul and Timothy, fed and cared for them.

This is why we chose Lydia as our ministry's namesake. She was a woman of influence who loved Christ, loved her family and those within her household, and she loved her "ministers", enough to open her heart and her home to them. Lydia knew that it was a great honor to minister to the ministers, to support the leadership, the workers of God.

Lydia Ministry International is looking for women (and men) of influence within churches who love Christ, love their families, and love their pastors (and pastors' families).

Lydia Ministries International is a 501 (c)(3) Non-profit organization. Your Gifts of any amount are greatly appreciated and are tax-deductible. The work of Lydia Ministries International is made possible through YOUR gifts. 100% of your gift goes to the work of the ministry!