Go into any Christian book store and walk into the pastor's section and you will be inundated with book after book about the same thing, but described in different ways.
"Effective Ministry"
"Relevant Ministry"
"Powerful Ministry"
"Exciting Ministry"
"Passionate Ministry"
Those all sound like book titles to me. (The funny thing about it is that you can drop the word 'ministry' and add 'worship' and you have a whole new set of books. Then you can drop the word 'worship' and add 'prayer' and get another set of book titles.)
But I am talking about ministry right now...
What confuses me is the purpose of some "outreach," "witnessing," and/or "ministry" events.
For example, how effective is it to simply walk into a restaurant and wipe off all their tables and then leave? Or a ministry I heard about recently where a church rented a gas station for a few hours and simply gave away free gas? Or what about the ever relevant "free car wash" ministry?
I fear the church has resorted to a kind of social welfare mentality in it's ministry! A youth group, not too long ago, decided to witness for Jesus be simply handing out bottles of water to people at some kind of community gathering.
I really like the one I heard about where a group went to a mall and decided to "be friendly" to people coming and going. (They didn't tell anyone about Jesus, but one in the group almost smiled a man into conviction.)
Our local Green County Ministerial Association operates (at enormous expense) a local food pantry and bill paying for those struggling financially. These two functions are the two primary purpose of the Green County Ministerial Association. While I think they are two very positive things in our community I wonder how effective they are at making a difference in eternity?
I wonder if we're not really saying: "Let us help feed you and keep your electric on as you go on your way to Hell."
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1 comment:
Hey Jared,
Great job talking about this incorrect notion about what outreach is. Helping the community in the name of Christ is wonderful and needed but we must also feverently tell people the gospel. I am reminded of an article I read a while back where a bunch of liberal "christians" were asking if Billy Graham should have done more to rasie awareness about social justice. I thought, "The man preached the gosepel to like 200 million people in person plus countless others on tv and they want him to give a homeless guy lunch." Anyway excellent job and stop by my blog at youngmissionalandreformed.blogspot.com. I see that your a Nazarene so I'm not sure that you will agree with much of my theology (reformed Baptist) but stop by anyway.
May Christ keep you and bless you in all your ways.
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