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Our Ministry
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Our Ministry
This article is to all of the faithful servants who understand that regardless of their vocation, we are called to be ministers of God. Some are called to be full time ministers. Some are called to the ministry for a period of time in their life. Some are called to be ministers in work place. Some are called to minister through their church or community.
"We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all the saints- the faith and love that spring from the hope that is stored up for you in heaven and that you have already heard about in the word of truth, the gospel 6 that has come to you. All over the world this gospel is bearing fruit and growing, just as it has been doing among you since the day you heard it and understood God's grace in all its truth." Colossians 1:3-6 NIV
Josh is in Seattle spending his summer working with the Center for Student Missions. Josh turned 21 yesterday and is a student during the school year. In his Methodist church back home, he works with youth and plays guitar and drums for his church. He was attending a youth leader training conference, when he read about this summer mission program. He knew God was leading him into this summer ministry.
The Center for Student Missions is based in Washington D.C. and has centers located in inner cities across the country. Churches bring their youth to these centers for a week in the summer. Their youth spend a week learning about and helping with inner city issues.
Josh works with a different set of youth each week. He sleeps on a mattress on the floor and spends his days in downtown Seattle.
He says his favorite part of the week is when the students have to travel the city and find services for the homeless. They end their morning by each student finding a homeless person to take to lunch. He said that they often have to ask several people before the student finds someone that wants lunch. Seattle is an excellent place to be homeless and food is readily available. Many of the homeless would rather have money for drugs or alcohol than to be fed.
We visited where Josh works. The Seattle Center is located in what is a renovated crack house. The upstairs is for boys and downstairs is for girls. There is a general meeting room and an upstairs porch where boys and girls can mix. The youth bring sleeping bags and sleep on the floor. They eat a light breakfast every morning, provided by the center. For lunch, they either eat in downtown or they picnic in the parks. Every night, they eat in a different small ethnic restaurant. Each evening, they have a spiritual session where they recap their day. They hold these sessions in inner city parks.
This experience will change these young people's lives. Praise God for people that are led to minister in the more difficult areas of our nation.
Josh loves this work. He says he has never worked so hard in his life. He goes from early in the morning until late at night. Everyone working at the center seemed to be close to Josh's age. There are pictures of the Center on the Website under Washington - Center for Student Missions. Praise God for young people that will take their summers to help with mission programs.
Josh is my nephew. My husband Bob and daughter Kelley had flown to Seattle to visit me, to see Josh's work environment, and to be with Josh on his 21st birthday. Josh's group left Saturday morning and his next group didn't arrive until Sunday afternoon. We had Josh for an entire day. You will see pictures on the Website of the things that we did together.
As we traveled together, we spent a lot of time talking about hearing God's call.
Josh is a full time student but, deep down inside, really wants to be a rock star. He has already had some success and has toured for a major record company. He has been playing in groups for most of his life.
He is a wonderful minister with youth and I wondered if he was being led into the ministry. He said that God needed Christian witnesses in the secular music industry and feels that is where he is being led. He believes his vocation will be music and his avocation will be working with youth via churches and mission programs.
Josh believes that modern day religious application of Christianity needs some work. He likes non-traditional worship styles that involve praise choruses, drums, and guitars. He likes to be comfortable dressing casually.
He says our youth programs spend too much time teaching morals and not enough time helping youth develop close relationships with God. He believes most of them focus on two main sins: drinking and sex. They probably also fold in drugs. He says when our youth go off to college and happen to practice either of those "sins" they feel shame and leave the church. He believes a better relationship foundation would keep more of our youth in church and the morals would take care of themselves.
I asked him if failures in the church made him doubt his Christianity. He gave a very firm "absolutely not." He is very sure about Jesus Christ and his personal relationship.
I asked if his summer was an adventure or a calling. He admitted he was looking for an adventure. He was also praying about his summer plans. When he saw the table at the youth conference, he knew God's answer.
What a wonderful God we have. If we love Him and follow Him, He will give us the desires of our heart. Of course Josh wanted an adventure. God invented adventure and put the desire for it in our hearts. He led Josh to this ministry.
"May He give you the desire of your heart and make all your plans succeed." Psalms 20:4 NIV
We went with Josh to his favorite church in Seattle. There are pictures of Mars Hill Fellowship on the website. Not surprising, people were dressed casually. A guitar player led us in song. The minister dressed casually and sat when he talked. There was no podium. I may have been the oldest person in the packed congregation. We had a wonderful worship experience.
Kelley is 22 and has just graduated with a religion degree. In the fall, she is attending Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary and is being led to work with children in churches. She is heading up our church's summer children's program and just finished teaching 4th and 5th graders in Bible School. When I called home the other night, my house was filled with a youth Bible study. Kelley had offered our home and has been helping chaperone youth events this summer. Kelley plans for her vocation and avocation to be full time Christian ministry. Praise God for people that are led to work with children.
Kelley loves everything about working in a church. She enjoys our traditional and contemporary service. We all talked about how difficult it would be to work in a church. In a perfect world, church work environments should be a wonderful place to work and yet the same thing goes on in churches that go on everywhere else. Kelley didn't think there was anything difficult about working in churches
Kelley has worked in a church environment since her sophomore year of college. It simply delights her. The difficulties in a church environment amuse her. She just teases when her co-workers show their human side. She loves talking to the senior citizens that stop by. She loves knowing what is going on and who is sick. She loves the constant human high touch. Praise God for people that can love the church no matter what.
This summer, her ministry has faced several challenges. Our head pastor resigned to go to another church. This minister is greatly loved by our church and our church is vibrant and growing. This minister's family lives in our city. I was pretty upset by the news and asked Kelley if there was any reason. She dryly said, "Mom, God called him to another church. You, above all people, ought to know that God doesn't always call people to do the obvious." Praise God for ministers that follow the voice of God, even when it is hard.
This summer, she has children that are dealing with very serious issues. She has had difficult parents and struggled with chaperone issues.
I wondered if the seriousness of the summer had made her question her calling. She said she is grateful for the training because she needs to learn how to deal with difficult issues. Praise God for the issues that make us better ministers.
One of the ministers at our church is her mentor. He attended the same seminary that she is going to. This has been such a blessing for her. He has helped her deal with the difficult issues but made sure she learned throughout them. Throughout this week, she quoted this minister continually. Praise God for ministers that are leading the younger generation to minister.
Bob's vocation is in the field of technology. His avocation is his church. He is also a musician and plays bass guitar at his church's contemporary worship service. He is a youth Sunday School teacher and has worked with youth for most of our marriage. He often chaperones the kind of youth mission trips that Josh is now working with. Praise God for committed Christians that feel led to work with youth.
Bob enjoyed the Mars Hill worship experience on Sunday. He enjoys the contemporary worship style. He did note that the church attracted very similar individuals. Bob said most of the worshipers dressed alike and were close in age. We both wondered if they would be worshiping in that very same worship style in 30 years. We wondered if, in 30 years, their young people would be seeking a more contemporary service.
He also noted that this church was reaching an age group that our church struggles to reach. He wondered if it was because of the worship style or a possible preference on their part to only be with their own age. Praise God for ministers that are looking for ways to continually improve.
Pray to have ministers and ministries that have the freedom, honesty, and diversity of Unity Baptist Church in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Praise God for churches and ministers that take artificial barriers down.
Pray that we will pray like Faith Baptist Church in Georgia. Praise God for ministers that lead their congregation to pray.
Pray that we will reach college and the newly married the way Mars Hill does. Is it the music? Is it the "no frills" approach? Is it being with people your own age? Praise God for churches that are willing to follow the Gospel with new paradigms.
Pray for churches to have the heart and quality music and educational programs of my home church. How did they develop such a heart for God? Is it their strong leadership skills?
Pray that with the change in leadership, this heart won't change. Praise God for strong spiritual leaders. Praise God for ministers that take the time to be properly trained for their calling.
Pray for the faith of a child. Pray to have the innocent faith of the 20-year-old minister that leads the summer worship services in Yellowstone National Park.
Just before she left for her summer ministry in Yellowstone, her beloved grandfather grew ill. She prayed for him to be healed. He died instead. She admitted to questioning God. God's answer to her was that her grandfather was healed "perfectly." She accepted His answer.
She is praising God for this answer from her new pulpit. Praise God for the simple faith of innocence.
More than anything, pray for ministers and ministries that love God with all of their heart, soul, and might.
If our ministries and ministers love God the way He instructed, we would love God's children the way God does.
Through that love, we would reach a world that so desperately needs to experience that love.
Join me in praying Paul's prayer for everyone who, regardless of his or her vocation, accepts this call into ministry.
"For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom his whole family in heaven and on earth derives its name. I pray that out of His glorious riches He may strengthen you with power through His Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge-that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations." Ephesians 3:14-12 NIV
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