Foundations of the Theology of Ministry

Theology of Ministry

Amy Jimenez

Foundations of the Theology of Ministry

BIBM 603

Drs. Stephen Johnson and Melinda Thompson

11 November 2011

1

The theology of ministry for the follower of Jesus Christ, is shaped by the work of reconciliation that God provided through Christ on the cross, in the power of the Holy Spirit, which He has poured out on those who believe. 2 Corinthians 5:18 states that “God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ, gave us a ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them…We are therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” [1] I will reflect on each person of the Triune God and his unique role in the reconciliation of God and man through the cross. I will define ministry and place it in the context of community. I will assess vocation, motivation, character traits, spiritual practices, righteousness, learning, discernment, and reflection as a Christian minister of reconciliation in the church and the world, in the shadow of the light of God’s multidimensional work on the cross.

Dr. Tim Sensing points out that practical theology combines theory and practice.[2] In its simplest form, ministry is the act of serving. A minister is thus a servant, “one who serves others, especially one who serves the person of a master.”[3] Willimon describes how the New Testament Greek word for ministry, diakonia, is the same root word for the English terms, “butler” and “waiter.” These, he suggests, are lowly terms, but in the “ethics of the Kingdom, this is as high as anyone rises, a servant of those seated at the Lord’s table.”[4] From a theological standpoint, Christian ministry is the act of serving God as Lord and Master, manifest in service to others in His name and in His grace and power. The theological center, that Dr. Sensing, states is the basis for our practical theology, is thus love for God and love for others. It is this belief that will shape every action of the saved called to serve.

As ministers, our ministry of reconciliation is performed in community. God is three beings is one. His activity throughout the Bible is performed with authority that ebbs and flows between the three. Shaw describes it this way: “the Father sends the Son, the Father and the Son send the Spirit, the Son sends us, empowered by the Holy Spirit. This “economyof the Trinity” is not a form of one being inferior to the other, but an affirmation that each person of the Godhead plays a different role in the divine work of redemption.”[5]As Christians, we are not one singular unit, but part of a collective whole. In the image of a three part God, we must live in community. We must seek to bring about reconciliation between sinful man and God as well as reconciliation amongst fellow Christians through discipleship.[6]

The authority for genuine, empowered ministry is God the Father. God calls, ordains (invests with ministerial authority[7]), and gives his people as ministers to build up his body, the church. Ephesians 4:7-13 says that “to each one of us grace has been given as Christ apportioned it…it was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up.” God calls believers, as his agents or ambassadors, to minister according to the grace he gives. Again in I Corinthians 12:27-30, the scripture says that “God has placed in the church, first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance and of different kinds of tongues.” No one person is called to do all of these functions, not even the paid minister of the church, but to work together with the body of Christ as God orchestrates.

I John 4:16 declares that “God is love.” Love is who God is. He cannot be otherwise. Verse 10 of chapter 4 says that “This is love: not that we loved God, but that God loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. God’s love is perfect, unconditional, and sacrificial. John 3:17 says, that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.” Jesus calls us to be agents of God’s perfect love in John 13:34-35. He says “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” Ministry in the shape of God’s work on the cross, cruciform ministry, is grounded in the perfect love of God. Shaw says the ideal model for leadership or ministry as shown throughout Scripture is the model of theocracy, rather than democracy or autocracy. He says that “leaders must see themselves as, first and foremost servants and followers under the authority and leadership of God, and from that position, lead others.” If leadership in ministry is perceived as autocratic or democratic, it is ultimately shaped and controlled by fear.[8] I John 4:18 says that “perfect love drives out fear.” Only the love of God is perfect. Ministry must be performed submissive to God’s perfect love manifest in those chosen to lead. Only God’s love in us is capable of loving those who don’t deserve love, loving our enemies, and loving those who have hurt us or others. From the example of Moses, an untrained orator and a reluctant leader, Willimon, points out that often God’s choices of leaders throughout the Bible, “tell us more about the quality of God than the positive qualities of the people who are called to lead.”[9]

Jesus’ work on the cross was humble submission to the call and will of the Father. Agonizing in Gethsemane prior to his death, Jesus prayed, “Father, if you’re willing, take this cup from me, but not my will but yours be done.”[10] God the Son, Jesus Christ responded to the call of his Father, to “make himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness…and humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.”[11] He did this humbly, not holding on to his equal place in the Godhead.

Paul urges the Thessalonians, in I Thessalonians 2: 11-13, to “live lives worthy of God, who calls you into his kingdom and his glory.” The question arises then for ministry, “How do we know that we’ve been called and what we’ve been called to?” Dr. Johnson reminded us of a quote by the theologian Fredrick Buechner in which he said, “Your calling is where your deepest desires and the world’s deepest needs meet.”[12] In light of I Corinthians 12:31, “we are to eagerly desire the “greater” gifts. The New Living Translation translates this passage, “So you should earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.” .We are to be watchful, open, attentive to the particular gifts that we are empowered (given the energy or grace to do) that can be the most helpful to the body of Christ in the context of the greatest need. Every member of Christ’s body, the church, is a minister, part of a royal priesthood, intended to be instrumental and influential in the ecclesial work of God. God gives some to perform larger roles according to his grace, but each role is vital. God provides order and leadership structure, but he often uses the least likely in the kingdom to be vessels for His amazing love and mercy manifest in the church. Romans 12: 6 says that “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. “ We are intended to use these gifts in proportion to our faith. We do this, according to verse 5, because we belong to one another as the body of Christ. Willimon says that ministry is a vocation and ministers must be called.[13] Drs. Johnson and Thompson described an inner call, a sets of reflections and feelings that we must attend to, and an outward call, which confirms the inner call by the words of Godly people, circumstances, and attention to hermeneutical interpretation.

Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was costly. It cost him his human dignity at times, the betrayal of family and friends, even his life. I Peter 2:21 reminds us “To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in hissteps.” According to Matthew 16:24, Christian discipleship costs the minister her very life as well. “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his lifewill lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” “For Paul, the cross is the pattern for Christian life.”[14] It is the pattern of sacrifice, self-denial, suffering, rejection, and betrayal that Christ navigated that shows us how costly and difficult the crucified life can be. Our goal is not to make everyone happy, not to meet everyone’s individual needs, but to display Christ’s forgiveness, justice, grace and mercy in our flesh.[15] Willimon reminds us that, for the sake of the gospel, we may be called to “provoke division, call names, condemn, accuse and judge. Paul reminds me as a preacher and pastor that I must be tethered to something more significant than peace and harmony if I am to be faithful to my vocation.”[16]

The character trait that defined Christ on the cross and should define ministry is humility. Jesus had more rights than any human being that has walked this planet earth. Branson and Martinez say that our Western culture is defined by what Americans perceive as an unalienable right to the pursuit of happiness. The Western individualist society says that the right to happiness ensures that the greatest number of people will then, in fact, be happy.[17] In John 13, however, Jesus gives us a different display of the use of his “rights.”

Jesus modeled the ultimate display of humility in the washing of his disciples’ feet, a humble act of service. He did this because he had confidence in the authority of God that had also been placed in him. He had nothing to prove and was sure that his future was secure, so he was able to perform the lowly task of a house servant. We too must approach ministry with confidence in the authority of God, let go of pride and insecurity, and serve humanity’s most basic needs.[18]

Jesus also provided us the example apprenticeship in his ministry of reconciliation. Jesus learned from the Father as he experienced an incarnational body on the earth. John 12:49 says that Jesus did not speak of his own accord, but the Father who sent him commanded him what to say and how to say it.” In John 15:15, Jesus says that “everything I have learned from my Father, I have made known to you.” On the cross, he laid his own selfish desires aside, and conformed to the will of His father. In the Garden of Gethsemane, Matthew records in Matthew 26:38-39 that Jesus was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death”, yet he prayed in his anguish, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

As believers, we learn from one another, as we each follow the example of Christ. William F. Hanks say in the forward to Situated Learning, Legitimate Peripheral Participation, that “meaning, understanding, and learning are all defined relative to actionable contexts, not to self-contained structures.”[19]The words of scripture are invaluable, but even Paul says in I Corinthian 11:1, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” Again in Philippians 3:17, Paul calls on Christians to “join with others in following my example, brothers, and take note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” We learn by observing and living out faith in the presence of others. When this learning takes place in the context of family (considering the church a family of believers) it assumes a level of consistency of Christian practice lived out in daily life that transmits subliminal and foundational knowledge of practice.[20] As ministers, we must seek out mentors in our family of faith to walk alongside, spend time with and “watch” with spiritually attentive eyes.

Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sin on the cross, yet scripture tells us in Hebrews 4:15 that he was “temptedin every way, just as we are, yet was withoutsin.” Jesus Christ provides an example of facing the difficulties and temptations of ministry to include fatigue, stress, betrayal, disloyalty, persecution, family discord, and ultimate physical, emotional and psychological turmoil. He provides us with a rhythm of living that we, as ministers, can emulate. He tempered active ministry with the spiritual disciplines of solitude, prayer, meditation, Sabbath rest, fasting, and an inner circle of close spiritual friendships.[21] Jesus used spiritual disciplines to set his priority on the mission of reconciliation on the cross that he was sent to do. Willimon reminds us that as ministers, “priorities must be set, time not wasted, talents not squandered. If pastors do not know what is absolutely essential in their ministry, they will do the merely important.” [22]

The final person of the Godhead present in the reconciliation of God and man on the cross is the Holy Spirit. Bedford contends “The conception of the Eternal Son was by the Spirit (Matthew 1:18); the incarnation took place in the Spirit; the resurrection was in the power of the Spirit. (Romans 8:11)” The Spirit was part of the plan of salvation from the very beginning, before time began. I Corinthians 2highlights the Spirit’s work as the very thoughts of God. The Spirit gave Jesus a heavenly perspective on the cross, and will be the “wisdom” given to every true believer from that moment forward.[23] I Corinthians 2: 16 says, “For who has known the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” The same Spirit that empowered Jesus on the cross now empowers our mind for ministry.

It was the Spirit of God that gave Christ the power of discernment as he took on a physical flesh and human nature on this earth. The Spirit of God led Jesus into the desert where he would fast for forty days before starting his earthly ministry. Luke 4:1 says that Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit when he was led into the desert. The Spirit enabled Jesus to recall words of scripture as he battled with Satan in his encounter in the desert. After his time in the desert 4:14 says he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Luke 10:21 records Jesus being full of the joy through the Holy Spirit.

The Holy Spirit continues to enable discernment through theological reflection in the lives born again believers. Bedford defines discernment as “figuring out what to do, all together as a church, with the help of God’s Spirit.[24] She describes the Spirit using many elements to guide and direct discernment in individuals and collectively as a group. These include, but are not limited to, academic and practical theology (what the group believes at the head and heart level about God – my definition,) Biblical hermeneutics, experiences, culture, prayer, discussion and experimentation. I define wisdom as “seeing things, people and circumstances the way God sees them.” Pursuing discernment in ministry enables the Holy Spirit to give the minister the “eyes to see” and the mind to perceive what God’s unique perspective is as related to his context and our calling.[25]

Individual and communal theological reflection and ethnographic perspective are crucial pastoral practices to allowing the Holy Spirit to provide discernment in ministry. Theological reflection is defined as “the discipline of exploring individual and corporate experience in conversation with the wisdom of a religious heritage. The conversation is a genuine dialogue that seeks to hear from our own beliefs, actions, and perspectives, as well as those of the tradition. It respects the integrity of both.”[26] The tradition is further defined by Killen and Beer as based on Scripture, historical and current interpretation and theological literature, church history and perspective and academic instruction. Willimon says the pursuit of competence in ministry is a moral matter. As ministers we seek competency by study, working hard, mastering the material in our academic pursuits, but at the same time we pay attention to our character, formed by experience and our reaction to it.[27] The art of theological reflection is a process by which to attend to competency and character as means to authentic learning and praxis.

The Holy Spirit has guided discernment throughout history. Dr. Thompson emphasized hermeneutics as a means to theological reflection. As we seek to apply the Wesleyan Quadrilateral to our understanding of God, we place the scripture in the context of ministry. We examine scripture through historical and contextual criticism, tradition by looking at the history of the church, reason by applying logic and rational thinking, and experience by embracing our personal and communal journeys as a means to understand God and discern our vocation.

Ethnography is another tool that opens the minister to the insight, perspective and the empowerment to action by the Holy Spirit. Ethnography is a way of” immersing yourself in the life of a people in order to learn something about them and from them.”[28] A minister studies and immerses herself in the context in which she is practicing ministry to gain an emic or insider, perspective.[29] This perspective then shapes the experience,imagery and insight necessary for theological reflection and enables her theology to grow and change in different ministerial contexts. According to Moschella, this pastoral practice is “communal and contextual and draws from narrative models of theology and care.”[30] Thus, this practice enables the critical skills of listening, observation, and self-awareness that are vital for authentic and effective leadership.