• Our hope-filled future is bound up in sharing the story of Jesus, in discipling others, in bringing those disciples together into communities of believers, and in developing and releasing those believers to create other communities... till Jesus the King comes again!

Can ministry become an idol?

Posted on January 17, 2012 by wtdavid

That’s a hard one to answer.  In one sense, it’s difficult to believe that ministry can become an idol when the very nature of ministry is to help people “turn to God from idols to serve the living and true God” (1 Thessalonians 1:9).  It’s a spiritual work.  It certainly is not true that ministry has become an idol when we are saddened or upset when someone or something frustrates the spiritual work in which we are engaged.

Yet, in another sense, many of us may have become functional idolaters without realizing it.  One writer describes idols this way: “[They] are objects or persons to which we give inordinate attention.  Idols are things that we glorify other than God.  An idol is anything that gets more glory, more weight, more importance in our eyes than God does.”

What do you lead with in conversations?  That question alone can reveal the core direction of our heart.  Is our conversation sprinkled with what we do (ministry) or who we serve (God)?

When there are difficulties in ministry, how do we respond?  Are we devastated, do we blow up at others, or do we turn away in self-pity?

Idolatry, Os Guiness says, is to “inflate something to function as a substitute for God.”  Ministry can become our god; it can function as a substitute for God when our lives revolve around the work in which we are engaged, rather than the God who called us to that calling.

We need to keep asking questions like the ones above to help us expose the roots of idolatry of ministry and in our ministries.

 

Filed under: Assessment, Gospel | 4 Comments »

When the gospel is central

Posted on January 13, 2012 by wtdavid

Thanks to many of you for the various comments and e-mails about recognizing that we are rescued people needing to learn to become dependent people.  It’s a process, a journey that we are on with Jesus and each other.

That journey has its ups and downs as we struggle to learn how the gospel works itself out in our everyday lives and relationships.  I experienced that that struggle just yesterday.  Growth comes as we learn to live our lives “by faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us.”  (Galatians 2:20)  This is our daily journey.

One writer put it this way: “Gospel power comes when the gospel is central.”  In other words, the struggle comes when something else becomes central to our lives; when something else or someone else becomes our ‘savior’.

This is when we need each other.  So often we can be blinded as to how we have strayed from Jesus; from trusting Him alone as our Savior. Well placed words by others of gospel reminder can shake the heart and mind from its stupor and set us back on the road to the cross, to forgiveness, to laying claim to His righteousness on our behalf.

Do you have people like that in your life, as part of your community?

 

Filed under: Community, Gospel | Leave a comment »

Rescued people are dependent people

Posted on January 11, 2012 by wtdavid

Rescued people learn to become dependent people.  It is not a onetime event, but a process over a lifetime. 

How does one know if he/she is growing in dependence or is simply remaining in his/her sinful independence?  Darrin Patrick writes: “We often do not know whether we are living in dependence upon God because we are disengaged from our hearts.”   So, we must engage with our hearts, discerning its movements and motivations.  Patrick provides us with some questions that might help us in this process:

1)      Which do I want more: to know God or to achieve for God?  [Some verses to meditate on: Philippians 3:10; Exodus 33:13; 1 Timothy 4:6-10]

2)      When was the last time I experienced a prompting of the Holy Spirit?  [Some verses to meditate on: John 4:7-19; Acts 16:6-10]

3)      Am I consistently being convicted of sin in my life?  [Some verses to meditate on: Hebrews 12:5-11; John 16:7-8; 1 John 3:9]

4)      Am I consistently accepting my acceptance by God through Christ? [Some verses to meditate on: 2 Corinthians 5:17, 21]

5)      Where do my thoughts go when I am not forced to think about anything?  [Some verses to meditate on: Psalm 63:1-4]

I was greatly ‘exercised’ by this list; discouraged might be another way of putting it.  Then I realized the problem.  I was responding to a series of questions about being dependent by trying to just exercise my own independent will.

Rescued people learn to become dependent people by choosing to go God for the power to change; for the ability and strength to engage one’s heart and learn what it means to depend on God the Father more and more.

Filed under: Godly living, Gospel, Lifelong learning | 4 Comments »

Rescued people

Posted on January 9, 2012 by wtdavid

I have appreciated the interaction we have been having on innovation.  Over the weekend I read a quote which refocused my heart on that which is most important in all that we do: “While a church planter may be a good person or a talented person or a clever person, he/she must be, first and foremost, a rescued man, a rescued woman.  He/she must be a person who has been rescued from the slavery and foolishness of their own sin and saved by the freedom and “foolishness” of a God who displayed his perfect justice and love by laying down his life on behalf of the very ones who wronged him.” [Darrin Patrick] 

It’s ultimately not our goodness, our talents, our wisdom, nor even our capacity for innovation that is the driving source of our passion to multiply disciples and communities of believers.  It’s that we know we are rescued people.

Let me leave each of us to reflect on these challenging words from another older saint, Richard Baxter: “Take heed to yourselves, lest you be void of that saving grace of God which you offer to others, and be strangers to the effectual working of that gospel which you preach; and lest, while you proclaim to the world the necessity of a Savior, your own hearts should neglect him, and you should miss of an interest in him and his saving benefits.”

Filed under: Gospel, Reflection | 2 Comments »

Ministry practice 2.4

Posted on October 25, 2011 by wtdavid

What is that we actually do as cross cultural workers? The CPM Roadmap (like the WT Continuum) makes an attempt at ‘painting a picture’ to describe the ministry in which we are engaged. It is a good model, a good framework from which to work. Could we look at cross cultural ministry from another perspective or outlook in order to help better grasp the task or the journey that we are on?

The first step is to engage others in spiritual conversations. The second step is to encourage others to read God’s story contained in the Bible. The third step is to journey with people in their discovery of God. We live in a world that is hurtling forward at light speed. Every day, businesses as well as we as people are confronted with a multitude of decisions that must be made seemingly within microseconds. However, the shifting of the spiritual framework that directs our lives will not happen in a nanosecond, a microsecond or even a few minutes. That is why we must journey with people.

People are not ‘projects’ for our cross cultural work. People are relational beings, created in the image of God, but ostracized from Him by the disruption of sin. Our work is to call people back to relationship with the Creator God. Relationships are a building process; they are a journey that has its highs and lows.

This is why prayer is so critical to the journey. In prayer, we recognize that people are set on this journey, and ultimately only discover God because He works to open their hearts.

So what do we do? We pray boldly asking God to open people’s eyes to discover Him. We depend on the Spirit for the patience to journey with others well, not dragging them to God, but allowing them to discover God for themselves. We trust God’s Spirit to lead many to see the outcome of that journey to be the discovery of the God of grace and of His unfailing love.

Filed under: Gospel, Mission, Sharing the Gospel story | 2 Comments »

What’s Our Work (2)?

Posted on June 3, 2011 by wtdavid

Here’s one possible response to the question I raised in yesterday’s post from Craig Ott and Gene Wilson in their book, Global Church Planting:

“From the outset national must be trained to do all essential ministries: evangelism, preaching, teaching, counseling, administration.  The church planter must surrender the desire to have “up front” ministry.  His or her primary role is behind the scenes, equipping others.  The church planter who loves to preach must learn to focus on equipping others to preach; the church planter who is gifted in counseling will need to shift emphasis to empowering others to counsel.
The lay sermons will probably not be as homiletically polished or theologically astute as those the missionary could preach. But the reward will be the development of truly empowered local leaders who will serve the church well after the church planter has departed. The missionary is constantly working himself or herself out of a job, performing a ministry only so long as necessary to train a national.  Indeed, apart from evangelism and initial follow-up, if a national is not available and willing to be trained, the ministry should probably not be initiated.  This may make for a slower start but will result, we believe, in a more solid finish for the church plant.”

One of the essential attitudes, though, needed to keep our hearts and minds focused on the endpoint is gospel humility.  Without a heart mastered by Jesus, convinced
of His incredible love for us, we could not keep an other-centered focus, where we would always seek to equip others in ministry and release them to that task.

 

 

Filed under: Church planting, Gospel, Humility | Leave a comment »

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