Thoughts on Philosophy of Ministry

I’ve enjoyed getting together the past few weeks with some co-workers, informally around lunch, to discuss issues around philosophy of ministry. That probably sounds boring to most people, but it has really been both a provoking and encouraging experience. I’ve always had the desire to make the most of my efforts in ministry. Who wouldn’t want that? But knowing how to do this has often eluded me. By nature, as a human, I tend to program anything and everything I attempt (whether as an individual or as part of a team). Do we need to do better at evangelism? Well, let’s start evangelism training, and plan weekly outreach events, and have a conference with a special guest speaker? Or do we need to assimilate people better? Well, let’s have a 16-week…um, no, no one will commit that long. Let’s have a 6-week program for visitors, another for new members, and then we’ll put them in a community group. I could go on. The point is that I typically think of “doing” rather than being. Could being a better evangelist be more meaningful (even if to fewer people) than doing all these programmatic things to a larger group. Or if I was more proactive at enveloping others into the body, would that be an example and encouragement to others to do the same (more than attending a conference on assimilation)?

I’m not trying to demonize programs, or plans. But I think relationships, personal relationships, may bring more to the table in terms of effectiveness in regard to many things that we face as challenges. Discipleship? We could do it in a group, go through a book or two, and then everyone would be discipled, right? Relationships are a little trickier. How do we know when we’ve done “it?” How much more time would that take? My point is clear, I think. It can be more work and more ambiguous.

So today we were talking about presuppositions. Our facilitator (who has strong ties to Reformed University Fellowship) shared six presuppositions that ought to be in our minds, because they do affect what we’re doing in ministry. They are:

God is at work - This is true because God is sovereign as well as because He tabernacles within His people. Where we are, God is working. We don't always see how, but we can trust that He is. Even in the midst of our sin, He is able to redeem what we do.
Theology is present - Everyone has some belief about God. It may be a belief that He doesn't exist, but everyone has a theology.
The church - The Body of Christ is a shaping influence and should be considered, particularly in ministries outside of the local body. Personally, I believe that ministry should be tied to a local church. We were meant to function and serve (and learn to get along) in the midst of others.
Demographics - We must consider the "culture" in which we minster. We may consider demographics formally or anecdotally, but we must know to whom we are ministering and take into account who they are wholly.
Learning process - Everyone learns differently.
The individual - We must value the person. Everyone is created in the image of God.

There are many of these presuppositions that I have failed to factor into my ministry in the past. There were times in my ministry when I swung the pendelum toward relevance, and times when I swung it to far away from relevance. Often I focused more on the task than the person(s) I ministered to. Tasks are easier to quantify than relationships, and we (I) like to measure things. There have been moments in the "pressure cooker" of ministry that I failed to remember that God was at work. So this has been a helpful discussion for me, and my hope is that my ministry in years to come will better reflect not just what God expects of me, but who God expects me to be.