re-imagining ministry
i was reading an interesting post this morning and it made me think about the role of “ministry” in the church.
The article was based around the future of para-church ministries as the church becomes more missional in its being. I have begun to see a little of this future relationship within our church as I have encouraged those involved in para-church (mostly ywam) to see their ministry in our church community and local community as YWAM, and that our community/church is a connector to that mission.
The interesting thing I have seen however is that most of them have trouble not “doing” anything in our group, even though we don’t have anything for them to do. I’m not sure if i am making sense, but we have had one girl (who has been a huge part of this relationship) struggle with being part of the open house cause she didn’t feel she was doing enough, and so she thought she should go to a church where she could be anonymous and keep being part of YWAM, even though I kept assuring her that just being part of our community (apart from “doing” something specific) was a blessing enough to us (besides her great insight and beautiful voice).
What I think will need to happen is that it will be up to the para-church people to be comfortable “being” part of a local missional church community (aside from “doing anything specific), and the church people not expecting them to “do” all this programmed activity in their church.
What will this mean for the future of “para-church” ministries? I’m thinking they will decline a bit each year, but the ones who will remain strong will have to become more specialized to their context, meeting a need the community has that the church needs help meeting.
any other thoughts on this?
Thanks for the shout out. As I mentioned in the comments at my post, I am not sure we see this issue from the same light (which is to be expected, given we are both in the other expression mentioned in the posts). I think, more than anything, what I hope to see is a growth in real and practiced honour between the two groups. I am not sure the “para-church” is given the respect and mutuality is deserves from much of the local church. This is not to say that the “para-church” is faultless. Rather, this is just the concern I see after more than 12 years in ministry with YWAM.
Peace,
Jamie
When my wife and I first found ourselves venturing into the idea that “church” is a state of being rather than a place of going, we had a difficult time with not “doing” anything or, as one acquaintance of mine would say, not being “intentional”. In a few months, we got over that when we noticed some significant changes in the way we live life resulting from “not going to church”. I’ll keep those specifics to myself and for private conversation for now as it would cheapen such things learned through time and experience to simply list them in print here, as if they were mere facts to retained.
I think most people have, more or less, a healthy picture of what the Church is, we just associate it with the wrong system. Most of us who’ve grown up in “the church” have been blindly led into the belief that the local church which we may (or may not
) go to is, in fact, Church…when it is actually not. It is, at the most, simply a place where the Church gathers. That’s it. The building is not holy. It is not set apart. It is surely not God’s house. It is not special in any way shape or form. Those things many people believe about their church buildings should more appropriately be believed of themselves, for they are the Church.