Ending Ministry

"I need thee every hour, in joy or pain;

 come quickly and abide, or life is vain"

- I Need Thee Ever Hour, Annie S. Hawks, 1835-1918

"His delight is not in the strength of the horse

Nor his pleasure in the legs of a man

but the Lord takes pleasure in those who fear him

in those who hope in his steadfast love". 

- Psalm 147:10-11

After much deliberation I have decided not to use the word 'ministry' any more.

It is funny to see where I have come on my thoughts on 'ministry'. Growing up I have seen too often the freedom Christ offers his followers abused as Christ followers sink into apathy. My trips to Eastern Europe offered me a glimpse of another kind of lifestyle. Something more radical, sacrificial, dedicated. I saw a glimpse of this same kind of lifestyle at moody, which is why I am here now. 

At this point in my life I probably have no idea how being at Moody has changed me spiritually. The effects of being in this environment are incalculable. True, I do not always agree with what is being presented but me and my fellow students are forced to engage together. In particular have been forced to wrestle over and over again with this idea of 'full time ministry' that drives Moody. 

Through my wrestling I have found myself wondering if we should reform Moody's traditional model of ministry. What do I mean by a traditional model of ministry? Either a pastor, pastor's wife  (yes we have a major for that here, kidding) or a foreign missionary. These roles are fully funded by other Christians who are working full time at a 'secular' job. 

Why do I not want to use the term 'ministry'?

1. Ministry', is a role for all Christians, not just Christians being paid to do it. The idea of roles tends to put the responsibility onto the shoulders of the pastor to feed and the missionary to evangelise. Instead let every Christian live with the responsibility of feeding our friends the word of God and challenging them to Godly lives. In the same way let every Christian live with the responsibility of sharing Christ where they are, boldly, lovingly, radically both in word and in action. What I am saying is that a confined view of 'ministry', conflicts with the church. The idea of a body of believers corporately being the body of Christ on earth is limited if this responsibility is placed upon the shoulders of a select few individuals. It keeps the rest of the body from being forced to work together in community to get a long with each other and to act missional in their lifestyle.

2. 'Ministry', creates a division between the spiritual world and the physical, day to day world. Let us never forget that our God is a God of this world, that everything we do we must do for Him. When God created man he created us in a garden and gave us work, he called it 'good'. True, after the fall we now eat our bread by the sweat of our brow. But should we not be trying to at least reflect God's original, beautiful purpose of work in how we live? Only Christians can fully appreciate and cultivate the earth and its resources rightly. You have heard it before, work is worship. Create, use, live. Let us show the rest of the world how to do this so that no one gets the idea that mature Christian will be a missionary or a pastor. There will be no missionaries in heaven, on a side note I wonder if anyone will have an identity crisis. 

3. 'Ministry', puts the focus on what we do not who we are. Often have I heard or even myself talked about 'my ministry'. Sadly, I hear about people's wonderful plans for God more often than I hear about their relationship with God. In this setting we come to believe that what we want to do is a greater reflection of who we are than who we really are as a person. What we do can so easily become a cover, a identity a part from Christ, even if we are doing it for Christ. God does not need what we do, "The Lord takes pleasure is in those who fear him, in those who hope in his steadfast love". Yes there will be fruit, here will be proclamation, but the danger of 'full time ministry' is getting it the other way around. Trying to produce fruit while forgetting that it is a result of God's work in us, especially when we are so young and still have so much to learn. First we must abide in Christ, then we will bear fruit. 

In conclusion, Moody's model of ministry has forced me to always think in a way that puts what I do for Christ first, but I do not believe I have to have a title to do this. I hope that I will always think this way, and that as I pursue Christ he becomes more every day the center of everything I am and do. I do not have to be a pastor (that might be frowned on anyway), a pastor's wife or a missionary. I must to be radically sold out for Christ and his cause on earth where ever I am and what ever I am doing. Call it what you may. 

A church that believes all its members are called to a radical, Christ centered lifestyle might have a rotating staff of preachers who have other full time jobs. This church would be locally, missionaly focused meaning that it is constantly looking for ways to engage in its local community for Christ. This church may encourage its members to move into the local neighborhood, to move next to or in with each other. Why shouldn't we 'send off' missionaries into the business world, new mothers, farmers, skilled and physical laborers, artists, entrepreneurs? We should  not be afraid to be challenged to change where we live, what we do for work, where we work, what we do for fun, where we shop, who we spend time with and channel all those 'everyday' aspects of our lives for the sake of living for Christ. Call it what you may. It is just the Christian life. 

I hate putting qualifications to what I say, but I hope that the reader will understand that of course I am not against moody, not against pastors and missionaries, not against people raising support. There is a time for everything. I probably will keep using the term, 'ministry' to a certain extent. I am not at all a lone radical in my thoughts, in fact I am sure I wouldn't even be writing this if it was not for unnumbered conversations with friends about this subject.  I am simply documenting the history of my thoughts and would like to humbly offer my reflections.  I have great hope for this institution and hope that thinking people within Moody will be the beginning of a current of change challenging the traditional way to think about 'ministry'.