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).
That’s what ministry is all about, but it’s a sentence packed so full of paradigm-shifting truth that it might be worth taking some time to unpack what it means.
So let’s unpack this a bit, using three axioms to dig into the idea.
Ministry is about God’s action before it’s about ours
I used to think of ministry as the stuff I could do that would help people get closer to God. Do you think about it that way?
I thought that ministry was basically about what I could do for God. I employed my natural abilities and talents in his service, in the hopes that my efforts would save a few people or help them in some way.
Ministry was all about my action, my efforts, and what those things could produce.
But I started noticing that this wasn’t the starting point for Jesus’ ministry (or the early church’s).
The secret of Jesus’ effectiveness was NOT that he was the most naturally talented human ever born. The secret of his ministry was that his starting point wasn’t what he could do, but rather what his Father was already doing.
“My Father is always at his work to this very day…” he told some leaders who were offended by him.
The early church wasn’t necessarily filled with the best and brightest of humanity. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, “Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise.”
That’s us! The “foolish things” of the world. Just normal human beings. God doesn’t need amazingly talented people on his side. He doesn’t shout “SCORE!” when a celebrity confesses faith in Jesus.
God isn’t standing in heaven, tapping his foot impatiently, waiting for you to start things or get talented people to do ministry.
God is always working! Wherever you go, whether you realize it or not, God is already at work, and has been for some time.
[tweet “Wherever you go, whether you realize it or not, God is already at work, and has been for some time.”]
Ministry is about God’s action in the world, not ours, and therefore…
Ministry is joining WITH God, not doing FOR God
This axiom flows from the first – if ministry is about God’s action before ours, then our posture must always be that we are joining in with something that has already been taking place before we got there.
This means that ministry is something we do with God, not for God.
[tweet “Ministry is something we do WITH God, not FOR God.”]
That distinction is SO important! Changing that little preposition makes all the difference in the world in our ministries.
Your first task in a new ministry situation is ALWAYS (every single time) to simply pay attention and ask God to show you what he is up to.
Again, this was the secret to Jesus’ ministry. Right after he told the leaders his Father was always at work, he said, “The Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing.”
Ministry is about joining with God in what he is already doing. This means ministry starts with listening and prayer, rather than with great ideas and action.
Of course, we have a part to play. God invites us to participate with him. He adopts us into his family and he gives us authority to carry out “family business.”
But the way we carry out the family business is by first noticing what God is up to in any situation, and joining him in a way that’s coherent with his kingdom.
And, in the end, God does the heavy lifting. Which means the end result of our ministry is always more than we could have done by ourselves.
You know you’re learning how to do this when your actions produce more than can be accounted for by your skills and abilities alone.
It’s happening when the result of the equation is more than the sum of its parts.
It’s happening when you see things that could not happen unless God’s power was at work.
Which is why…
Ministry is joyous and surprising, not dreary and mundane
Maybe this is an unexpected final axiom, but I have found the result of viewing and practicing ministry in this way has been joy and surprise.
Ministry used to feel like a bit of a drag to me. There were moments of joy and beauty, but most of the time I felt tired and stupid, because I was working hard and not producing much.
If ministry is about my efforts, what I can accomplish in my own strength, then it will be a dreary and thankless task.
But if ministry is about joining with God’s continuing action in the world, the pressure is off!
[tweet “If ministry is about joining with God’s continuing action in the world, the pressure is off!”]
It’s not up to me to make something happen. Failure isn’t devastating. I can relax in the wisdom and sovereignty of God and be curious about what he’s up to.
Which brings a deep and lasting joy to ministry. I simply rest in my identity in Christ and joyfully surrender to whatever he’s doing.
As I do so, I am often surprised by what he’s up to. It’s so often different from what I would have guessed, different from what I would have tried to make happen.
That’s what I mean when I affirm that “Ministry is nothing more and nothing less than joining in God’s continued action in the world.”
Thanks, Andrew, for articulating that so well for us! May you practice this kind of ministry this week, and be filled with joy and surprise as you do so!
Ben, another great post! I’m all down with the idea & practice of observing what God’s already doing and joining Him. But, I’m wondering, besides the inner work of surrendering our “gotta do this” attitude & approach, aren’t there times when even joining in God’s work is extremely hard, if not impossible? Sometimes perseverance is called for, and that can be extremely difficult — bearing up under difficult, even oppressive conditions. What has been your experience with this?
Yes, the Holy Spirit working in the world today in and through the Body of Christ! Thank you Ben.
@Al I agree that sometimes joining in God’s work is hard (Jesus agonizing in the garden comes to mind – Paul and Silas in the stocks in Philippi, too), but it’s a different hard than the hard of working in our flesh, isn’t it? I’m not saying it’s all peachy after we surrender, but there is a certain “hardness” that actually does go away.
Love it! It reminds me of what Bob Pierce was advised before founding World Vision: “Find out where God is at work and become a part of it..” (or words to that effect)
This is most certainly how I want ministry to be, but have found it difficult to achieve/practice as I’ve moved into established congregations that understandably have preconceived expectations. I understand some of those expectations are self imposed based on what I think others are thinking. It just makes me wonder how we retrain congregations to set the pastor (and other leaders for that matter) free to observe and join with God…without sounding like we’re just trying to get out of work.
Brad11 “without sounding like we’re just trying to get out of work.” LOL! Brad, that IS the issue, isn’t it? We’re often “stuck” in our own preconceived notions and the power of a culture around us that encourages us in that direction. It’s part of the reason I coach and train leaders – because it takes awhile to do the deep work we need to do to begin living differently. The good news is that it IS possible (I’ve seen it happen). The “bad” news is that it takes a very firm commitment to do so, and oftentimes can cost people their jobs.
@Frank Yes! Same idea.
Pretty sure that’s a big part of why I lost mine.
Brad11 Wow, really sorry to hear that, Brad.
Love your thoughts here. I have come to believe that our role as church planters, pastors, missionaries, etc. requires us to maintain a balance between our own spirituality (i.e. spiritual formation, discipleship, etc.) and action (i.e. ministry, hospitality, proclamation, etc). Without bringing our own prayer life to bear, without our own contemplative reflection & spiritual discernment, ministry devolves into frantic pragmatism. Conversely, if we close ourselves off and only pray, reflect, read, write, etc, we escape into a cloister that is disconnected from the context of mission. Missional ministry is the beautiful dance of contemplation and action.
TodKVogt Well said, Tod! Richard Rohr would agree!
Hi Ben,
Great work, seems God might have started something and you’ve joined with it in writing this article 😉
I lead a congregation in the area of evangelism and one of the key principles I keep reminding them (and myself) of is 2 things:
1) Evangelism is about finding people of peace – people God’s already working in the life of (cf Lk 9/10). If God’s not already at work then we can yell, scream, love, preach etc and still not see ‘results’.
Which leads to my second thought
2) We fail at evangelism if we don’t do it. That’s the only way to fail. If we take up God’s challenge to share His News then we’ve succeeded, because that’s what it means to ‘do’ evangelism (however it’s done). The results aren’t important at all, because that’s God’s business.
This takes the fear and often drudgery that often comes when we talk about evangelism, and it opens the doors to have lots of fun doing evangelism because ‘anything goes’ and we’re not responsible for the results!
seanbaussie Yes, finding people of peace is crucial! One of the things I do is train leaders with tools that help us see where God is at work, so we can more effectively join him in mission, making evangelism and discipleship more of a listening/responding activity than a scattershot activity.
Thanks again Ben. Reading this has unveiled a distant and past revelation that has been waiting on Gods ever perfect timing for awakening. As we have our annual Community fun day this coming Saturday 15th August I look forward to seeing what God is and has been doing. God Bless you.
This is the work of God’s grace. While God’s grace delivers unmerited favour, the forgiveness of sins and the removal of guilt, it DOES so much more. “Grace is God acting in our lives to bring about what we cannot do on our own” (D Willard). Paul was all over this, see Cor 15:10 & Phil 2:13. That why “His yoke is easy & His burden is light”. Now that’s FREEDOM!