In a previous post, I indicated an intent to explore certain questions of ministry. I have found it to be a difficult subject to address in written form. Some of the hesitation I feel may be more accurately described as dread. My perspective of the church and its usage of the word "ministry" is undergoing a significant shift. To call it a paradigm shift understates the issue; I have witnessed so many "paradigm" shifts over the years that the term almost feels cliché. Rather, I suspect a more fundamental realignment is at work here, the final rendering of which remains to be seen.
So, to address the first question: "What is your ministry?" I could easily rattle off any number of Sunday School answers to that one. From the Great Commandment to the Golden Rule, from the Great Commission to the ambassadorial witness, from the dedication of God-given spiritual gifts, talents and blessing to the great calling to follow Christ - these are the easy answers. I could also say I am called to be a spiritual entrepreneur, living a purpose-driven life with a unique SHAPE, created for worship as I endeavor to teach the Word of God in an attitude of servant leadership as I fill my role as one functional part of the whole Body of Christ manifest in the local church, the hope of the world. I am to love my wife as Christ loved the church, to be a father who does not provoke his children to anger, serving as a model whose sole purpose is to point any and all to the Truth of Christ's being. Again, these are all the easy answers, gleaned from 20 years of training and teaching in a variety of ministry environments, books and movements. And while all of these are undoubtedly true, I cannot help but to suspect that something important has been overlooked. But what?
I cannot speak for history, but the past few decades have seen the predominance of the self-help genre that has inevitably awakened interest in various forms of spiritualism. Similarly, many of the Christian books and themes of the last 20 years have focused on helping the Christian become more self-aware of his own purpose of being and even personal happiness. I wonder how many people have felt the pressure to identify their spiritual gifts and ministry simply because that's what is expected. Because you know, everyone has to have one. If you don't have a ministry, or if you're not using your spiritual gifts to benefit the church, then you're simply not being faithful. New believers come to the faith, and before they are ready, the pressure to conform to the latest wave of modern Christian thinking is leveled upon them. It doesn't take long for the perception of spiritual elitism to take hold over those who "have it" and those who don't. And the purpose for all of this? Ministry.
But this is not new. The institutional church, whether intentionally or not, has impressed upon its members that service to Christ really means service to the church. Do something for God by doing something for the church. Be a part of this church program or that, because what matters is that we serve, and that people know that today's act of service has been brought to you by the people of Maple Street Suburban Church. Come to our church, so that you can receive our ministry. The church is preeminent in our thinking, in how we have trained others for full-time Christian service. Undoubtedly, there are true ministries that target those in material and spiritual need in oppressive economic and political cultures around the world. My argument is not against them. Indeed, my argument is not against those who truly love the Lord and seek to serve. My argument is, however, against the subtle undertones in motive that cause us to believe that the serving the church itself for its own temporal furtherance is to be fully equated with serving Christ, as if such propitiation could be established.
My origins are from the traditional institutional church. But my journey has taken me somewhere beyond those comfortable confines. Indeed, my years serving as a representative of my local church in the larger denominational business gatherings have seriously altered my views. While many offer their lives in full time Christian service, the message to those servants - good people with good motives and intent, notwithstanding - that they and they alone must labor to "expand the Kingdom" and at the same time, expand the membership to ensure the long-term viability of the pension program. Is this what ministry is for - to ensure that a particular brand of the Christian church survives in order to pay somebody's retirement? Isn't it supposed to be more than that?
I have seen and experienced God do amazing things. His heart and passion is for people, that they would be made whole and full in the knowledge that there is a Creator, a Savior, and everlasting life. A church should not simply "have" ministries. Rather the church should be a community that sends people to serve Christ outside the doors, not to create attendance at next week's worship service but to demonstrate the love of God to all living generations in the hopes that the Holy Spirit will draw the lost into an eternal membership in the Kingdom of God - both today and in the life to come. The institutional church is far too focused on self-preservation - the obsession with "the future of Christianity in a post-modern society" in closed-group, intellectual discussions speaks evidence to this, as does the ever-increasing focus on budget shortfalls. By definition, ministry should not be self-focused, but simply the dedication of oneself to the will of God wherever He places us at any given time.
So, what is my ministry? To serve Christ, to grow in knowledge and to speak the Truth. Am I equipped to do this? I don't know yet. I acknowledge that most of what I have written above lacks structure and sequence, and may be incomplete and even unfair to a degree. Hence the dread I suggested at the beginning of this post. But as I seek to answer for myself the question "what is my ministry" I first must begin the process of understanding the origins of what ministry has been and how it has changed me, so that I can fully discover what my present and future ministry is to be.
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