This post is unexpected, yet nevertheless, is important. There are many churches and ministries that are highly effective, yet many others are not. While there are many reasons this could be true, a big part of the challenge is context. Let me give three short examples of how this relates.
First, the context of time. Some ministry opportunities are just stumbled upon. For instance, our church has recently stumbled upon a ministry of distributing food once a month. It wasn't something that we were intending to do, but it literally fell into our lap. However, most ministry comes from seeing a need and responding. People discuss the need and prepare a plan to serve others because of it. Prayer is often a large component of this (or at least it should be!). Such a ministry can be effective because it meets a certain need at a certain time.
Second, the context of place. Location. Location. Location. These words are used for marketing purposes often. But the same is true for ministry. Thankfully, the notion of the context of a ministry is being made more and more apparent. Of course, many types of ministry can be done in all types of places. But the question is how. Continuing the example of food distribution, many churches and ministries have a similar ministry. However, being in a rural location, the frequency with which we receive the food, the method by which we sort the food, and certainly how we distribute the food will be different from a ministry that is in an urban setting. Neither approach is necessarily better, as long as the approach fits the location.
The third context is people. Again, using the idea of distributing the food, a member of our church was contacted by an organization to see if we would be interested in receiving food in order to help individuals and families in our area. Essentially, the organization does not know what food will be available month to month. In fact, there may be months when we do not receive any at all. When the call came, our church member, knowing the need in the community, said yes to the opportunity. Yet, how does the context of people affect the larger picture.
Well, from the context of timing, our member knew the need, but the opportunity fell into our lap. From the context of place, having a relationship with someone in the organization was critical. But our choice is to deliver the food to the homes. This is not as viable in some communities. And that is where the context of people begins to take shape.
Too often, in churches and other ministries, a ministry began due to a servant wanting to serve. Time was invested. Prayer may have made a tremendous impact at the outset of a ministry - even for several years. But over time, the ministry continues - passed down from generation to generation. This is not all bad, not at all. But when future generations begin to take over the responsibilities some questions need to take place:
- Does the ministry fit our time? Will we commit to pray for this ministry as others have in the past?
- Does the ministry fit our place? Do we still have the correct resources, or should we alter the approach?
- Does the ministry fit our people? What skills, passions, and giftedness are available today?
Too often, well meaning servants attempt to take on a ministry that is not meant for them. Their intentions are pure and their effort is faultless. BUT, God has prepared them for something else. Too often, ministry opportunities which were great in the past get handed down to people who are not gifted to serve in such a ministry. Unfortunately, many churches (and ministries) will criticize these individuals rather than celebrating learning to serve as God has gifted them. Such criticism stymies the effectiveness of ministry and hinders the impact of the church. And, unfortunately, this type of criticism drives many from our churches and from their desire to serve God.
I am thankful that we currently have this new opportunity to distribute food. It is certainly biblical. And it currently fits our time, our place, and our people - or, at least one person who is passionate enough to coordinate the ministry effort. However, as times and people change, my prayer is that this church will re-evaluate this ministry opportunity to make sure it still fits. If not, I hope future servants have the courage to change the methodology or even drop the ministry altogether in order to best serve as God enables them.
Truly our ability to minister at our best - individually and collectively - is for each person to serve as God has called and prepared them (1 Corinthians 12), encouraging each other to reach our potential along the way. After all, it is not our ministry that is being done - it is God's.
When we think of nurture, we may think of caring for someone, perhaps even gently. That is partially true, but one definition is to train or to educate. In our JOURNEY, this is how I perceive nurture. Certainly, there is an element of care, but ultimately caring for others so they can not only care for themselves, but also care for others. This is Paul's statement in Ephesians 4.11-13. God has given some to the church to help others be nurtured to conduct ministry and subsequently be united in the faith, united in the knowledge of Christ, and become complete in Him.
So nurture is about ministry. Ministry is one of the five functions recorded in the early church (Acts 2.45). It is about helping others see a need, and then fulfilling a need. But, for a believer, this should be done in the name of Christ. It is not enough to just help someone for the sake of helping. Jesus said to make disciples. Disciples are followers and they need someone (Someone) to follow. So as we help others by ministering to them, as a believer, we must also share that a greater purpose exists, and that is to help them see Jesus.
The reality is that there are more needs than any one person can meet. There are more than any one church can meet. But there are not more than God can meet. When we minister to others in our strength, and without a greater purpose, we may help others for a short time, but miss a bigger opportunity. And as a pastor, my role is to be a coach-player in this scenario. Yes, I should minister to others, but as Paul wrote, I must also prepare others to do this. The reasons are multiple, but two are primary.
First, I cannot meet as many needs by myself as a congregation full of people can meet collectively.
Second, as I do all of the ministry, everyone misses out on the blessings. I miss out due to being overworked, stressed, etc. More importantly, I miss out on seeing others grow in their faith as they faithfully serve God by serving others.
Third, others miss the opportunity for growth. They do not have a chance to develop their gifts and better understand how God has crafted them for the good works they are supposed to do (Ephesians 2.10).
So, nurture is indeed important. Like the other letters (O, U, R, E), there is a lot of overlap in the scope of the JOURNEY. We O-bserve as we nurture, we U-nite in purpose as we nurture, we R-evere God as we nurture, and when we nurture in Jesus name, we E-voke the hearts of others to consider the true ministry of our Savior.
As we JOURNEY through this life, let us remember that ultimately our purpose is to worship God and reflect His presence in our lives. Being equipped to serve is a part of that process. Using our gifts for His sake in ministering to (nurturing) others in His name, provides the opportunity for that reflection to shine, showing we are truly living in, not of (fotonni).
The idea of living in, not of, requires a change of perspective. That perspective is to focus on God's Kingdom. "Thy Kingdom come". What do we mean by that?
Earlier this year I read Mims' book, The Kingdom Focused Church, in which he provides strong insights for a church to consider the larger picture. Our church had just developed a Vision Team at the time of my reading this book, and we discussed how to integrate the five functions into our overall objectives, with the ultimate idea of fulfilling God's vision for us. Though some will use nine functions, our team agreed to settle on the five functions (as described in Acts 2). The five functions are discipleship, fellowship, worship, ministry, and evangelism.
The reason the items are listed in this particular order is that we have built an acrostic out of these functions. The acrostic is JOURNEY. The area of northwest Missouri (where I serve) has had a tremendous population decline over the past few decades.* As such people in the area are on a journey, largely away from this area. Are they prepared? If not, how can we do a better job of preparing them?
*Atchison County, Mo has had 25% decline since 1990, and more than 35% drop since 1980 (source google.com/publicdata)
And, of course, life is a journey, itself. This is one of the popular phrases people will use to describe it. Not to mention the Christian-lingo of "the Christian walk", "following Jesus", etc. Jesus' own words of "Come to me" and "Follow me" speak to a journey as well. Much more can be said about this, and likely will in this blog, over time, but for now, let me briefly outline the acrostic JOURNEY.
J - Jesus
O - Observe (discipleship)
U - Unite (fellowship)
R - Revere (worship)
N - Nurture (minister/ministry)
E - Evoke (evangelize)
Y - You
So the JOURNEY that links YOU to JESUS includes the five functions as described in Acts 2 and yet fit nicely into this acrostic. If these five functions are a part of our individual goals, I believe we will truly be empowered to live in, not of (fotonni).* More importantly, it will keep our focus on the true destination, the Kingdom.
*Most future references to "in, not of" will simply be stated as fotonni.
In the coming posts, I will further break down the individual components of the acrostic.
