My Philosophy of Ministry (edited)

James Parks
8/13/09

Philosophy of Ministry

Ministry is not actions. It is not going through a list and checking them off and calling it a day. Ministry is about people. Ministry is meeting with people from where they are, and from where you are. This means that ministry is a series of relationships. Because I see ministry from a relational standpoint my philosophy of ministry is best explained by interacting with the different groups of people to whom I will be ministering. I have broken these relationships down to very basic level for the sake of simplicity.

Myself
I view myself as a sinner saved by grace. I have defiled the image of God which I bear. I have blasphemed the name and glory of God with both my words and my actions. I deserve to be punished for my insubordination. I deserve only death for my acts of cosmic treason. However, God the Father of mercies has been gracious to me. Though I directly opposed Him and all that He had to offer, He removed the veil that was over my eyes and allowed me to behold the wonder and majesty of His Son, Jesus Christ. The Holy Spirit enabled me to see the wonders and the riches of the gospel of Jesus Christ. My heart was made anew and my spirit was given life through the work of the Godhead. Through God the Father I was chosen, and predestined for glory. Through Jesus, the Son, I was redeemed and cleansed of all my unrighteousness. Through the Holy Spirit I was regenerated, and allowed to see the power and beauty of the gospel of God.

The gifts that I have been given, that of pastor being one of them, are not rightfully mine. I have not earned them; they too are a gift from God. Because I have not earned anything, I have no right to boast in anything. Since all is a gift, I receive all with thanksgiving to Him who has given so freely. Because I have received everything through the grace of God, I give myself by the grace of God to those to whom I have been called to minister. Like Paul, I don’t see anything that I do as deserving credit, but I do all things so that others can be built up to a knowledge of Him, who is the head, that is, Christ. I believe that it is the calling of my life to serve the other members of the body by teaching and preaching, by praying for them and with them, and by spending myself for the sake of their souls. Specifically, I am to raise the eyes of the people in my care to the great God who is bigger and greater than any of their particular problems.

The church
I see the church as the group of men and women who have been rescued from their miserable plight through the power of the gospel. Like me, all men and women have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Yet, God has been gracious to some and rescued them from their plight. Each individual member of the church has become a member in the same manner that I have. Through the work of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit in the work of redemption, through which God is reconciling members of the world to Himself. Within the body of Christ we have all been given gifts which are for the building up of the church which means that each of us has been given a service to render. As a member of the body I have been given the role of elder, overseer,and pastor. As Jesus has called me to this role He has also called me to serve a specific group within the body. I serve this group of believers in many ways. I pray for them. I teach them. I exhort them. I comfort them. I console them. I grieve with them. I correct them. I praise them. I honor them. All this I do so that Christ may be glorified through my actions. One of the ways in which I minister to the church is to encourage the members of the body to use the specific gifts that they have been given to build up and unify the church. For this purpose, I will call the people of God to strengthen their faith. I call people to stop taking and start giving, knowing that God is more than able to replenish and strengthen us when we are weak and tired. In fact, it is in our weakest moments that we recognize Him who is the strongest. Another way that I minister to the saints is to bring them to worship the one true God. I see this as my highest goal in ministering to the church, enabling them to live lives of worship through which they will see every event of their lives as an opportunity to praise God for His mercy and glory.

the world
I consider the world as those people who are not members of the church. I see them as I saw myself before Jesus gave me life. As I said above, I am a child of God due to God’s sovereign choice, not by any work that I have done. This means that, just as with the members of the church, I have no ability to boast before the members of the world. I was once the same as they. Due to remaining sin in me, and the image of God that we share, we are still similar in many ways. This means that I have no right to boast before them, and I have no right to criticize them for their actions. Much the opposite, because I have been shown so much grace through the gospel, I must in return show grace to them as well. It is my duty to the world to proclaim the wondrous mercies of God available to them through the gospel. I cannot condemn them for any of their actions. I can only share with them the truth of their situation, namely, that they are dead in their trespasses and in need of new life, which only comes through the gospel of Jesus Christ. Proclaiming the gospel to the lost is something that will invite much negative attention, and will draw much negative feed back. However, this does not give me the right to discontinue the work of evangelism. The gospel is not meant to make us chipper. Rather, the gospel brings us into contact with our true selves, the wicked people that murdered God. Because the gospel shows us who we really are, and of what we are really guilty, its proclamation can be very unpopular. But again, this does not give me the right to take away from the offence of the gospel. The people who need to hear the gospel the most are those who want to hear it the least. And again, I do all this from a place of deep humility, knowing that I have received this salvation through grace. So I pray for more grace and I preach grace. I live grace. It is my highest calling.

Memorization

I am working on memorizing Psalm 22.

After the Tenebrae service last Friday Psalm 22 has been on my mind. The way Jesus quotes it, the way the New Testament authors allude to it and quote it really affected me.

My hope in memorizing this Psalm is to be in the presence of the cross, to be in the presence of Jesus on the cross at all times. I hope that focusing my mind on this psalm will allow me to be aware of the sacrifice that brought me life. I hope that I will be more thankful for my blessings because I am more aware of the price that they come at. I hope that I am less downtrodden in my failures because I am aware of the painful victory that took place on the cross. I hope that this Psalm will bring me to an awareness of my savior, an awareness of my sin, and an awareness of my forgiveness.

It is alot to hope for, but He is more than capable

Psalm 22
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
O my God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and
by night, but I find no rest.
Yet you are holy,
enthroned on the praises of Israel.
In you our fathers trusted;
they trusted, and you delivered them.
To you they cried and were rescued;
in you they trusted and were not put to shame.
But I am a worm and not a man,
scorned by mankind and despised by the people.
All who see me mock me;
they make mouths at me; they wag their heads;
“He trusts in the LORD; let him deliver him;
let him rescue him, for he delights in him!”
Yet you are he who took me from the womb;
you made me trust you at my mother’s breasts.
On you was I cast from my birth,
and from my mother’s womb you have been my God.
Be not far from me, for trouble is near, and there is none to help.
Many bulls encompass me;
strong bulls of Bashan surround me;
they open wide their mouths at me,
like a ravening and roaring lion.
I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint;
my heart is like wax; it is melted within my breast;
my strength is dried up like a potsherd,
and my tongue sticks to my jaws;
you lay me in the dust of death.
For dogs encompass me;
a company of evildoers encircles me;
they have pierced my hands and feet-
I can count all my bones-
they stare and gloat over me;
they divide my garments among them,
and for my clothing they cast lots.
But you, O LORD, do not be far off!
O you my help, come quickly to my aid!
Deliver my soul from the sword,
my precious life from the power of the dog!
Save me from the mouth of the lion!
You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!
I will tell of your name to my brothers;
in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:
You who fear the LORD, praise him!
All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him,
and stand in awe of him,
all you offspring of Israel!
For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted,
and he has not hidden his face from him,
but has heard, when he cried to him.
From you comes my praise in the great congregation;
my vows I will perform before those who fear him.
The afflicted shall eat and be satisfied;
those who seek him shall praise the LORD!
May your hearts live forever!
All the ends of the earth shall remember and turn to the LORD,
and all the families of the nations shall worship before you.
For kingship belongs to the LORD,
and he rules over the nations.
All the prosperous of the earth eat and worship;
before him shall bow all who go down to the dust,
even the one who could not keep himself alive.
Posterity shall serve him;
it shall be told of the Lord to the coming generation;
they shall come and proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn,
that he has done it.

An Effort of Evangelism

Today while coming back from my lunch break I had a quick interaction with one of my coworkers.

He knows that I am a Christian and that I am studying theology among other things. Because of this he has given me the nick name theology major.( this is funny to him because he is a deist)

Today he decided that he would tell me what he believed about god and about religion. With a few brief and direct statements he let me know exactly what he thought, and told me that he had come to these understandings by reading a book by Thomas Paine. He then told me that I should read it.

I made some remarks about his statements nothing really for or against them, just remarks, but I didn’t really say anything about reading the book.

I have decided that I will read this book. It is called “The Age of Reason” by Thomas Paine

I will discuss the book here. It will probably be a whole lot of false reasoning called flawless logic, but I will try not to be critical for the sake of being critical.

Hope it is fun, but most of all I hope that it will lead to conversations with my coworker that lead him out of moralist darkness and into gospel light.

Be praying for me.

The New Perspective

recently I have started looking closely at the issue called the new perspective on Paul.

When I first looked at the issues or actions or whatever you want to call it I saw it as two sided. I saw heroes of mine like John Piper and D.A. Carson on one side and I saw other scholars like N.T. Wright and E.P. Sanders on the other side.

Without even looking at the topic being discussed I automatically sided with the people that I had listened to and had come to trust such as Piper. I found that I categorized the writings of Piper and Carson in the biblical or correct part of my brain and the writings of N.T. Wright into the unbiblical or incorrect section of my brain. Again I did this without any evaluation of my own.

I confess that this is a grievous error on my part.

I find myself sharing the sin of the Corinthians saying, “I am of Paul,” and “I of Apollos,” and “I of Cephas,” and “I of Christ.”1 Corinthians 1:12

I realize now that I was jumping on a band wagon and did not look to the issue in question or the biblical text itself. I only looked to the opinions of the men I trusted and idolized.

After listening to an interview with N.T. Wright on the subject I realize that I have group all together as if this where a two sided battle. I was wrong. There are many sides to this debate, many more than I can research at the moment.

But what I wanted to talk about concerning this topic, the new perspective, is the debate between Piper and Wright, among others. It seems to me that both of these men are on the same side of the argument. They both want to know what scripture has to say about justification, and though each one thinks the other is wrong they are not enemies.

These men are brothers and we should treat them as such. We can’t pit one against the other. They are both for the Gospel of Christ and because of this grace they are both on the same side. They, like the rest of us, have been unified through the death, resurrection, and reign of Christ and we should be reminded and remind each other of this fact constantly.

redeeming some time

I just received a really great Christmas present. The ESV bible audio version.

What I plan on doing with this is redeeming some wasted time, my commute.

I spend twenty minutes in the car both on the way to and on the way back from work, that is forty minutes that arr basically wasted.

However with this new bible I can make excellent use of this time.

The audio bible is 75 hours long or 4500 minutes. My commute time is 40 minutes. This means that I can easily get through the entire bible twice in one year just driving to and from work.

I am excited to start.