I was reminded this morning of a (blog) that Mark Beeson posted back around Easter. You see, occasionally, we on the Student Ministry staff have flaming arrows thrown at us by, what I would call, “the super-spiritual”. They look at some of our folks who are in their spiritual infancy and the means by which we attract them only to accuse us of not discipling these people, teaching a “soft” gospel (whatever that means), not teaching repentance, or even making a mockery of the church…It seems to me that these long-time-members of the family of God have forgotten that they were new believers walking around in spiritual diapers at one point too. I think they have also forgotten that ministry is messy and takes time. You don’t go from spiritually dead to spiritually mature over night. It is a process. In Paul’s words, it’s a race requiring discipline, training and endurance among other things. In my opinion, we are in the process of teaching these baby Christians what it means to be a follower of Christ. They are immature now. But, through the power of Jesus, they won’t stay that way!
Final thought: The sad part is that many of these people who have mis-perceptions regarding our ministry and our students have never come to hear/experience what we teach to make the accusations they do. I think they have stereotyped us based on what is out there and what they believe about other ministries in the church…that is sad…If they took the time to really check us out, I think they would find that although our methods are different, our goal is the same, connecting students with Christ.
I think I would perfer a church full of immature believers who are teachable and have a hunger for Christ rather than a church full of “mature” believing na-sayers…again, just my opinion…
Grace and Peace
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2 comments:
While I totally understand your comment and its frustration, isn't the reality that we are called to minister to both as difficult as that might be. The church body is corpus permixtum (sinners and saints) and even as believers,the most we can ever be is Simul justus et peccator (Simultaneously righteous and sinful). So as we try to live out God's desire that all might be one, we minister in a way that connects the seeker and the nay-sayer.
Blessings on what you do,
Tom
Tom,
Yes, and that's truly the goal. My frustration, however, exists in the fact that it's very rarely the immature complaining about those who are further down the road...it's always the other way around. I just wish that we could appreciate one another for where we are in Christ and extend grace accordingly.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
-Mark
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