Life is
Ministry
is Life
I have been given the responsibility of re-tooling our internship program and this is the theme for 2005 and beyond. It's my ministry assistant's idea - and a great one!
It really hits home for me since I was a great "compartmental Christian". My life, until age 29, consisted of neat little boxes or compartments. There was my family compartment, the career compartment, the social/friends compartment, and the church compartment. Each of these compartments stood alone and were independent of each other. In many ways I was a different person in each compartment. I recall being more than uncomfortable and even agitated when a compartment cracked open a bit and bled over into another compartment. That always created some real tense moments.
At age 29, I had an awesome wife, 3 wonderful, healthy children, a great family support system, and a very controlled, compartmentalized life. All that changed over the course of a weekend marriage retreat, where I was pointedly challenged to stop playing the compartment game and surrender each area (or compartment) of my life, to God - making Jesus Christ the Lord of my life and the focus of all my worship.
At age 29, at some non-descript campground near Grand Rapids, I surrendered my life to Jesus Christ. God then began to reveal to me that Life Is Ministry and Ministry Is Life, and systematically each compartment began to be disassembled. He's been helping me understand this ministry lifestyle truth, as well as helping me live it out daily.
Forever Thankful,
DOM
posted by Dave Deur @ 8:04 AM
8 comments
8 Comments:
I think a better description for normal, every day Christians might be "Life is Jesus is Life" - but I get it for the use with interns.
But really, does a wife or husband of someone in ministry want to hear "Life is ministry is life?" I know a lot of wives/husbands who would be slamming the door shut after hearing that phrase come out. I can just imagine one of your interns telling his future wife (when she complains about him trying to witness to someone while they're out on a date), "But honey, Life is ministry and ministry is life."
My whole life is following Jesus, but not "ministry" in the sense that it is often defined. I don't give my life to my local Church, I give my TIME. But I do give my life to following Jesus.
Maybe a good thing to do is to really DEFINE the word ministry in the sense that you see it...this might help break down a lot of assumptions people have with the word ministry.
Thanks for the domino's clarity...JOsh
but if we are the church then we don't give time to the church - unless we are giving time to ourselves - but we are christ's body - so we are giving time to jesus, but if we are the body of jesus and ministry is just service in love to one another we are loving jesus. therefore it all is the same. what the? just kidding, but i get what you are getting at dibs - breaking down the office hours mentality and getting a little missional holistic emergent minded. wow.
loving ya
ps - thanks for sharing your story and for allowing God to invade your life. i am who i am and my family is changed because of your surrender.
Thanks for your thoughts Josh! It's good for me to think this through. Defining ministry is extremely important, in order to understand how and when we do it.
Ministry: The act of serving (according to Webster)
Pretty basic definition, but at it's core, ministry is serving. It gets cloudy and tension-filled when we use "ministry" as a reason to ignore important responsibilities eg. sleep, recreation, eating, growing in my relationship with my spouse, going deeper in Christ, times of solitude, and much more. Ignoring them often is rooted in our personal selfish desire, and it's pretty difficult to effectively serve God out of a selfish heart. A good question to constantly ask myself then,would be: What are my motives?
I would contend that as a follower of Christ, all of what I do is ministry. For instance, I have a difficult time giving of myself if I'm tired or hungry, or if I've allowed "other things" or people to interfere with the intimacy of marriage. Therefore, addressing and caring for these important areas are part of my overall ministry.
Nascar racing is more than a continual series of left turns. It's tires, fuel, pitstops, pitcrew teamwork, advertising, safety, engines, and fans. They are all part and parcel and intregal to the sport of racing. Each is important but not alone. A successful racing team does all of them well. It's all part of racing.
I believe with all of my heart that the message we want to deliver to a summer intern is that our lives are ministry. No matter where we are or what we're doing, and that includes the very things mentioned earlier that enable us to do what God has called us to do in the first place.
Henri Nouwen said: "A life without a lonely place, that is, a life without a quiet center, easily becomes destructive." I would add that a life without intimacy in my marriage, times of recreation, times with my kids, or grandkids, is also destructive. My ministry is dependent upon such balance in my life.
Dibs! Thanks for the clarity...even bringing NASCAR into it was legendary. I think the interns will get what your saying (hopefully their wives and husbands will get it too) - maybe clarifying what you do and DONT mean by "ministry" will be the most helpful.
Thanks for letting me push a little...I've had so many run ins at an early age with the word ministry - I hope it leaves our emerging language and is replaced with someone else. Sort of like some guy a few miles north of you did with the word "service." :)
Josh
Full on Josh. Thanks for the push. I'm convinced I need to make a "what is ministry" discussion part of the intern orientation in June. Practical stuff. And I don't even like NASCAR!
DOM
Hey G-Daddy Deur, Josh & Steve (or, the Tri-fecta of Blogdom)
Listening in to this discussion. Interesting.
The heated and crucial debate for me is less "what ministry is" and more "is there a difference between what a (capital "M") Minster does and the (lower case "m") ministry that each and every Christian is engaged in.
I do a "call to the ministry" group every year (Josh, you were in my first one back in Holland when you were about 15 or 16!!!) and we always have many session arguments about this. The first few chapters of my Dad's book "Call of a Lifetime" come out strong in favor of elevating the "M"inistry even more -- and that always ticks the young ones off and I spend weeks trying to make them at least think it through before they move on to flatline everything.
Anyway -- what do you guys think? Is the "M"inistry any different from the "m"inistry?
Dave
"Every profession is a conspiracy against the laity"?
Random thoughts in our emergent discussion:
If a Minister is a Minister because he/she is doing ministry, than would someone doing ministry be a Minister? Can I disciple someone if I'm not a Disciple? Where in the world is this going???
I'm called by Jesus to minister (serve). What I'm called in this "calling" is of little import...caps or smaller case. :)
How about ministry is...pouring out what Jesus has poured into you. Love. Truth. Hope. Salation. His Word in action. All the time. Every time. Here, there and everywhere. As much as you are able, through His strength and for His glory. No place is off limits. If you're not careful, that could become life is ministry is life... Any questions?
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