sacred journeys

“If what you are saying about emerging culture is true, how should I change my church?” A question like this seems almost inevitable when I speak to a group of ministers. A few seconds of silence usually follow as the others in the room dial in their attention to hear my response. In their minds, they have paid to come to the conference for this moment, for my ‘deliverable’. The second almost-inevitable question is “What’s working really well in the innovative churches that you have visited?” The questioner here determines to elicit a set of best practices that could be imported into his or her ministry.

The commonsense pragmatism driving these questions elevates ministry technique as the starting point for thinking about mission. “How should we do our worship services?”, the anxious, balding pastor asks me. Softly I reply, ‘You may be asking the wrong question first’. My answer, hopefully, suggests a more difficult, but more primary question:

How can I be changed so that others will find me worth following in mission? The way to develop a missional ministry, then, is to be transformed into a missional person, “so that everyone may see your progress.â€? In the end, my best practice must be me. (Earl Creps — p. 3)

I appreciate this type of thinking. My greatest responsibility is me. I can try to control others, or how they perceive me, I can try to control situation, I can try to control all sorts of thing — but the only thing that I have direct control over — is my heart, and watching over it with all diligence. Making sure that I’m spiritually and emotionally healthy, and connected to God, and that I am someone that others would find it worth their while to follow.