What I Love About Our Fellowship

We have a student from Princeton Theological Seminary doing his Field Education with us in the Fall. We are excited about the opportunity to help a future Minister learn the ropes of shepherding. As a preamble to the Fall semester I was required to attend a Field Education Supervisor Orientation at Princeton Theological Seminary. For those who are unfamiliar with Princeton Seminary, it is affiliated with the Presbyterian denomination and has been for more than 200 years now. Simply walking the campus is a humbling experience to think of all the influential men and women of the past who have learned in those buildings. However, when I left the Seminary that day after the Orientation was finished I did not feel out of my element. I did not feel inferior to the many learned people I was around. I did not feel like I was just a young lad with nothing of value to add to the conversation. Instead I felt grateful for the spiritual platform I had been given in the fellowship of the Churches of Christ.

My renewed appreciation for our fellowship was set off by the response I received to a question I asked in the orientation. A stretching part of my full-time work with BCC over the past 7 years has been learning to create ministry when ministry is not coming to me. People come to a minister for counseling, prayer, clarification on the Scriptures and a number of other things. However in new churches and smaller churches the minister must also learn to create ministry when ministry is not forthcoming. Some days there is no one on my schedule to minister to or meet with. It is in these times when I have to go create ministry opportunities. I cannot sit back and wait for ministry opportunities to arise. I must go find them. Some days my efforts fail. But other days great things happen simply because I went. This has been a deeply stretching part of my responsibilities as Minister and likely a stretching part of any Minister in the fellowship of the churches of Christ.

With this in mind I asked the orientation class a question. I asked, “In your opinion, is it ok to allow students some unplanned, unscheduled time to go create ministry for themselves?” One gentleman who was a former supervisor of Field Ed students answered that with the student’s coursework and field work responsibilities there is very little time that is unplanned or unscheduled for them. The question, however, he thought was a great one. One lady at lunch referred to it as the "million dollar question" of the day. But why?

I think I later understood why. I think it has to do with our theologies. Many reformed theologies conceptualize ministry as that which the Priest or Pastor does at “church”. They believe people go to "church" to be ministered-to by the Priests and Pastors but do not heavily emphasize the church leaving the building to go and minister as a whole. Some church traditions have put so much effort into training their Priests and Pastors to "do church" correctly that the outward obligations of ministry have been neglected. Ministry definitely happens within the church, but it must also happen outside of it. The Great Commission was performed by those inside the church in order to bring those outside the church into the Kingdom of God.

Don't get me wrong even the Churches of Christ have fallen into this inward-looking trap. However I think it has happened with confident irregularity. As a member of the Church of Christ I have always understood ministry to be that which happens both inside and outside of church gatherings. For this reason it has been natural for me to think that part of my responsibility as a Minister is to go and create ministry when none is there.

I was really grateful that day for a fellowship of believers who have helped me accurately conceptualize what ministry is. I felt free of stifling tradition and liberated to “Go” and make disciples. Thanks church!