It’s a Go-to-Them Thing

From some folks looking at our story from the outside, it might look like we’ve left the ministry.

If “ministry” means an institutional entity that operates like a business, or a set-apart occupation that only focuses on activities considered “spiritual” rather than “secular”…then yes, we’ve left that kind of ministry.

But in the various things The Wild One and I have been involved with in recent days, I have to say that the heart of ministry (that is, the urge to genuinely bring help and love to others) still beats strong in us. It’s like everything we do ends up having something to do with that, without our trying to make it so. It’s like breathing. And I think that is so cool.

Take The Wild One, for instance. A couple of months ago, she got an idea for a fine art photo series on the topic of women and creativity–to photograph women artists as they do their art, to tell their story. The idea has literally taken on a life of its own. Everyone knows someone who would be interested in being a subject for the series. The ladies of Voca Femina have really resonated with it and have been brainstorming about how to implement it. The project has evolved into a soon-to-be art exhibit and a book. Most importantly, the ladies we talk to about it, especially the ones who are to be the photography subjects…well, let’s just say you can see in their eyes how passionate they are about the project, about having their stories told. It is…ministering to them. It is a healing thing; it is restoring the woman’s voice. And although we’re not preaching to anyone, power-selling Jesus to anyone, this is as much ministry as anything we did in the institutions, if not more so. And it’s happening just the way we had envisioned–not by some agenda, but simply by doing what we do. The Wild One had an idea for an art piece–that’s how this all started.

Then on my end of things…covering the local music scene with my blog and with Examiner.com is putting me in touch with some incredible people. Bands I’ve interviewed, musicians I’ve shot the breeze with…listening to their stories…it’s all building relationship. Some have turned out to be believers who are like-minded in that they don’t want to be associated with the subculture of Christianity, but they are very much Christ-followers themselves. Some are very much on the other side of the spectrum, and hurting as a result, and my heart breaks for my new friends. Sometimes I get an idea for how to help them, or some other way to offer advice, which so far has been well-received. Bands are now texting and emailing me, inviting me to their gigs or sending me their songs. Sometimes I feel just as much like a pastor in this environment as I did when I was holding meetings on Sunday mornings, or going to a church office every day. Maybe more so.

It looks nothing like “church” as most people know it. But in a very real way…this has become our mission field.

I compare this sense of ministry to what I used to see as ministry. I think back to the days when I would try desperately with what little resources I had to advertise an event and try to get people to come–or fervently pray that somehow God would supernaturally cause people to find our little house church so we could grow. It was the only thing we knew. Ministry did happen in that environment, people were helped…but I don’t think it was so much a sign of God’s approval of our methods as it was a sign of God’s love for people in general. He shows up when we ask Him to, when we truly desire Him to. He is faithful.

But I look at this situation now around me, and I see how this fits much more with the way Jesus told us to reach people. He never actually told us to try to get people to come to our churches. He never told us to put ads in the paper or bumper stickers on our cars, or anything else we try to do to get them to come to where we are. He taught us to go to where they are. I’ve truly come to see that real evangelism doesn’t happen very effectively by trying to get people to come to our gigs so we can tell them about Jesus. That worked for awhile in our culture, but the culture has changed, more to what it was like back when the church first began. We spend so much energy tyring to get them to come to our gigs–when we should be going to their gigs.

For me, covering the music scene, that is a very literal thing. 🙂 I go to their gigs.

So really what it boils down to is this: I think we’d be a lot more effective in touching people with Christ’s love if we focused less energy on trying to attract people to come to our churches, and more energy being the church and looking for ways to go to them. The Great Commission, as we so often call it, was never supposed to be a come-to-us thing. It’s a go-to-them thing.