Well, I’ve done what I thought I might do with this whole blog thing. I’ve managed to get off it because of all my other business. It’s kind of frustrating because I still have a lot of things I’d like to take the time to think/write out.
My dad is here tonight. He has meetings tomorrow. We talked for a while tonight about callings and the issues with our various ministries. Those kinds of conversations can really go one of two ways. We either uncover all our frustrations and find ourselves surrounded by them, or we inspire one another with little tid bits of good information we each can remember from books we’ve read, talks we’ve heard, and the Bible (yes, it is also a book - I know that).
One tought I had that has stuck with me surrounds our purpose in ministry. There have been a few things that come to mind about that. 1. What is in our hand? Rick Warren brought this to my attention. Whne Moses met with God, God asked him, “What is in you hand?” Moses put his staff on the ground and God turned it into a snake. When Moses picked it up again, it turned back into wood. The idea here is that when we lay what we have down, God takes it and makes it come alive. When we are seeking our purpose, perhaps we need to ask ourselves, “what is in my hand?” and then follow that with a simple prayer, “Use me”.
The other though that comes to mind is something that a friend told me just recently. He is going through some tough stuff with his business. There is a chance he might sell it or close it. The whole ordeal has left him wondering where he missed the call or the direction God had planned. What he finds is that sometimes when you get into these kinds of situations you need to ask yourself, “What was the last call I know I got from God?” Once you can answer that, consider whether you might have since stopped heeding that call - or maybe replaced that call with something you wanted more or something that was maybe more profitable in your eyes.
Perhaps in asking the questions, “What’s in my hand?” and “What was the last thing I was truly called to?”, we might be able to readjust our direction and even inject some new inspiration into our attempts at doing ministry - especially if we can actually ANSWER those questions.
Well, I posted a while back about the series that was coming out on A&E called God or the Girl. I have since seen this show and I must say that its quite well done. When I first saw the show come out, I was a little shocked and was using that shock really to blog about my feeling about this fad we’ve had lated of Reality TV. I was talking about how most “reality” shows are not real at all. They take what could be real people and put them in completely unreal environments where they are pretty well tested as to what their limits are. It’s not really all that real if you think about it.
God or the Girl is NOT this kind of show though. It’s a documentary, not a freak show. I can say that now that I’ve seen a few episodes. It’s interesting because MOST peopel aren’t facing the decisions these guys are facing. A couple of them had/have really meaningful relationships and are having to choose between a celebate life as a priest, or a family life as a husband. The show clearly depicts both choices as being good and worthy options. This is refreshing to see.
The whole show is centred only around Catholic priesthood though, which is kind of funny to me because my dad is a priest and I’m here. Some of these guys are almost tortured by the decision and I find it interesting because if I were faced with the decision as an Anglican, I would not have to choose celebacy.
It raises some questions about Catholism. I have spend a lot of time in the past thinking on Catholism and the claim they have to being the “one true church”. There are a number of things I struggle with in regards to catholism and one day maybe I’ll blog in detail about it, but for now I just think of the concept that in the minds of these guys on the show, they can not imagine a life where they are pastors AND husbands.
Consider this, if they have gifts in leadership, teaching, and pastoring, and they KNOW that, and they also have the drive and desire to be a husband and a father who is faithful and devoted to God and his family, then why is it inconceivable to them that maybe they are called into a priesthood that is not Catholic?
Here’s the problem with denomination - ALL denomination - we are too close-minded about what’s on the outside of our denominational walls. Why? We can’t seem to fathom the fact that God is working all over the world in many different ways and through the devotion of many different men and women of God from many different churches. How many Catholic priests out there would be far more effective if they were also fathers? How many protestant pastors would be far more suited to celebacy than they would ever really consider? How many staunch Anglican priests would God be using to actually be healing masses of people if they would only follow their own personal gifting and forget for a second about what’s going to keep the people in their church happy?
I guess we’re lucky that God can work in mysterious ways. He can find a way through no matter how inefficient we can be. It makes you wonder though.
And for the record, God or the Girl, is series worth watching. It’s factinating, respectfull and truthful while at the same time being quite entertaining. I will say this though - the theme song is DATED. And old Jars of Clay song. It’s just such a cliche “Christian” song. They’d be better off with a Lifehouse song or a Creed song.
If you get the chance, check it out. I’m not sure when it airs normally, but I know I saw it on A&E.
I just came across anther good quote from Mr. Dutch Sheets. It goes like this…
”We can run our churches and ministries from the boardroom or the prayer room. The first produces the works of man, the other births a move of God.”
- Dutch Sheets, The River of God (Regal Books, 1998), p 194
I fear that the structure of most Anglican churches seek to run the church through a boardroom. A boardroom in which there is prayer. In most Anglican churches, there are no elders (people who are appointed by leadership to be spiritual directors). There is a priest, the wardens, and a vestry (church board). THe wardens are appointed, but are not delgated with eldership - in fact sometimes they are not all the spiritually mature at all. The vestry are a voting body that manage the money and the property. They are not expected to have very much spirit in their decisions with the exeption of the blanket prayer that gets prayer at the beginning of every meeting.
I think its clear that the better way to handle church leadership is to run it from a prayer room in which decisions are made. Prayer must be the priority over business. If we are going to have vestries, we need to also have other people who are appointed to lead the church from a spiritual standpoint, and I don’t feel that one priest or pastor can carry that role all by himself. In fact, when considering the whole accountability thing, churches would be far better off with a group of elders that were headed but not dictated by a head pastor or priest.
The elders would set out to pray together regularly and seek vision and direction for the church. They then had that direction down to the vestry and the various other ministries in the church that need to understand the direction of the church (so pretty well all of them).
THis would be prayer room church as opposed to a boardroom church that basis most of it’s decisions on finances and the democratic process. Jesus wasn’t democratic and neither were his disciples. Don’t get me wrong, it works for government, but I’m not sure it’s the right thing for churches.
Happy Easter everyone!
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