I have been thinking about this for a long time, I thought about
saying it a lot, but I always think that I would be talking to the
wrong people. Should I talk about this to Christians? Would they think
this is a form of criticism? Or should I try to explain/justify it to
non-Christians, who seem to be hostile about it?
Well, whoever the audience will be, I decided to let it out.
As Christians, there is no doubt that we are all called to ministry.
Ministry in the sense that we need to tell people about Jesus Christ.
In fact, it would be really selfish to not do so. But what are the
limits of this ministry? is there a right place, or a right time or a
right person to do it? Well, different people have different views.
Some of the more conservative Christians would swear (OK they wouldn't
swear, but they would insist) that a Christian is obligated to talk
about Jesus Christ every chance he got and in every possible way. As
we all know, this involves warning people to "start thinking about
their eternity" and raising the signs that says GO BACK TO JESUS OR
(insert your favorite picture of hell here).
Others would just feel obligated to at least tell people that "Jesus
loves you" whenever they get the chance.
Now before people start getting me wrong, I am not writing to condemn
ministry. But I happen to think that the most effective form of
ministry is the ministry of actions. Words are very ineffective to
convey the point anyone tries to make. You can be really good with
words, but once you start acting opposite to what you preach, all what
you said will be a lie.
We see this in politics everyday, empty words and empty promises that
people believe. Once its time to act, and people see no actions, they
realize how naive they were to believe the promises in the first place.
To be a good Christian is to show, not tell. This is something that
all of us as Christians fail to do, on a daily basis!
Now someone can ask, aren't we all humans? don't we all make mistakes?
Does that mean that we can't tell people about Jesus Christ so long as
we are humans?
Well, not really. I think a simple message of "Jesus loves you" does
not harm anyone, it is not judgmental, its very brief, yet, it really
summarizes what Christianity is all about.
This reminds me of an amazing story I read in Don Miller's book "Blue
Like Jazz", Don is a Christian writer who attended Reed College for a
while, Reed College is known to be one of the most liberal colleges in
the US. I don't quite remember the details of the story, but in
summary, Don and his Christian friends decided to set up a confession
booth on the campus of Reed College. The idea of a confession booth
was really weird and unrealistic, do you really want students to
confess? What would you want them to confess about?
This happened to be exactly what one student went in the confession
booth and decided to ask. Don started talking to the student,
explaining to him why he (Don) needs to confess to people about how a
bad Christian he was. He confessed that he was not a good example of
Christianity, and that he constantly failed to live up to what is
expected of him as a Christian. He failed to be loving, and not
judgmental. At the end of the confession, Don and his friends would
tell people that Jesus loves them. (For those of you who would like to
read the full story, you can find it here
http://www.christianitytoday.com/le/2005/summer/4.62.html?start=2 )
This story influenced me a great deal. The lesson I took from the
story was that as a creation of God, I am not supposed to judge
people, this is just not what I'm meant to do, not only that, but I'm
also not meant to preach them and tell them what and what not to do.
At the end, God is the ultimate fair and merciful Judge, and my
judgment would NOT compare to his by any means.
As a Christian, I am supposed to show people love and acceptance.
Because to me, this is what being Christian is all about. People do
not need to hear they are going to hell, they know that already and
guess what? They don't care. Instead, they need to see you, the
Christian, they need to see who you are, and if they still choose to
not follow him, well, God left the freedom for people to not follow
him, even though he could have chosen not to....Does that tell us
something?
Friday, November 5, 2010
Christian Ministry, who? when? where?
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Too bad there is no "like" button in here. Nice post.
ReplyDelete" You may be the only Bible some people will ever read"
As you know, I'm not too fond of religion ;) One of the things I dislike and that turns me off the most about it, is the constant "God says you should be doing this so you can go to heaven" preaching. Sometimes Christians/Muslims/Mormons/whatever seem to forget that they are as human as anybody else :) There is a difference between wanting to "spread the good news" of God and His word, and trying to make everyone act like YOU think they should. Of course, I'm not a traditional Christian -- ex. I believe in the legalization of gay marriage -- but if there's one thing I know is that God is kind and forgiving. I would like to imagine that it's never too late for someone to repent, to want to be better, to try to become a more exemplary human.
ReplyDeleteBut behind all that, a person who wants to be better needs to truly have a desire in his/her heart to make such a change. And that's hard :) Like you say , I'd say the most INSPIRING thing a Christian can do to inspire someone is to lead by example, like you say. Not an example of "perfection" like so many Christians try hard to present to others, but as an example of peace, love, kindness, and understanding. Because NONE of us, whether we are saved, baptized, or in the dark, is perfect, and that's the beauty of being human. Sadly, it's hard for any of us to admit our imperfections, and it becomes even harder for someone who is "saved" to admit that regardless of whether we go to church every Sunday, we can (and most certainly do) sin like anyone else.
We constantly should ask ourselves, "Am I a good example of God's love?" and "Is it my place to judge, or should I leave this job to someone who is more qualified? aka... God". I think if we can get through life asking ourselves those questions we can be a good influence to anyone who surrounds us :)
In your post you talk exactly about what I think, but in different words ;) It'd be nice if everyone who goes to church takes a piece of that. I think a big factor that keeps people away from going to church is the fear that they will be judged. Wouldn't it be nice if they could come to a place where they aren't asked any questions or where every part of their lives is dissected and judged by other imperfect humans?