It seems to be the term de rigeur for all things ministry-focused in our churches today. I think Stephen Neill had the story right, "If everything is mission then nothing is mission." I don't know if the pattern of calling all ministry mission is a lowering of Missions or a raising of Ministry? Can either one of those actually be accomplished? Who ever intimated that Missions was "higher" than other ministry? Though I must admit I have heard missionaries relegate ministry other than missions to a "lower" status, . . . but what a crock of butter that is . . . no serious theologian worth his or her collective weight in Mrs. Lot can seriously think that missions is more or less important than other ministry. As I heard said once, "different is different, not better or worse."
It seems that all our collective ministry is located in one wholistic mission known as the Kingdom of God. Unfortunately we try to separate ministry out into different parts, assigning some a higher status than others.
We do the same with evangelism and social justice. To Evangelicals evangelism is primary and social involvement is something we leave to the liberals. That is an easy stance to take if you get a regular paycheck and know that you can for certain purchase your next loaf of bread. But what if you didn't and couldn't?
I find it interesting that Jesus did not use a Romans Road formula to lead people to salvation nor any "pray after me" prayers over them. (I wonder why He did not endorse the magic words modus operandi?) It seems to me in my simple reading of the Gospels that He spent an inordinate time feeding people! (Did the liberals get it right and we miss something important??) Early in the gospels He feeds a couple of villages-worth of folks and at the end of the gospels He is cooking fish on hot coals for the empty-net disciples. Maybe I should have taken more cooking classes and less theology classes? Ministry is to people -- there is no higher or lower. Go to it!
1 comment:
Good thoughts. But in the Alliance isn't their a pecking order? Why is it that overseas missions receive much more then church planting? And how come it took a hurricane for the CAMA to start a relief effort in the USA?
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