Ben Sternke

Field notes on life and mission with God after Christendom

missional church

What Ministry Is All About, and What It’s Not

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Ministry is nothing more and nothing less than joining in God’s continued action in the world.

That’s a quote from Andrew Root’s phenomenal book The Relational Pastor, and when I put it on Twitter a few weeks ago, I was surprised by how enthusiastically it was retweeted.

I like it as a definition of ministry because it resonates strongly with my own experience and theology of ministry. The implications of really believing and practicing this are staggering. It has completely changed the way I think of and practice ministry (for the better).

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If It Isn’t Full of Grace AND Truth, It Isn’t Jesus

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Lately I (along with my partner-in-crime Matt) have been thinking about what it means to live, love, and lead like Jesus. Not just the outward behavior stuff, but the inward character stuff.

How can we learn to become the same kind of person as Jesus? How can we learn his postures and attitudes? How can we truly become like him rather than merely mimic him in our own willpower? This is the most important work we will ever do as human beings.

One of the things I notice about the way Jesus loved others and created community through that love was that he calibrated grace and truth in every relationship. This spilled over into the early church community, where we see the same kind of thing happening: grace and truth held together to create a community of love.

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