Today I was out at a large missions conference in the Portland area - wow! It was a smorgasbord of amazing topics and seminars - 125 seminars total - how amazing is that? Like walking through a scrumptious buffet line, it would be easy to be overwhelmed by all the great choices. How in the world do you begin to decide what you want to go get a taste of? And - there was a throng of people in attendance - hard to walk from one side of the facility to the other. But would you believe it - out of 125 seminars, there was only 1 (at least from the titles and descriptions I read) on loving God. Why is that? Why is it that we spend so much time and energy talking about how to do ministry and merely assume that loving and being loved by God is happening? I know in my 21 years of ministry, it is assumed wrongly. It seems so much easier to measure "doing" than loving - and thus "doing" is emphasized and taught - it is the typical curriculum at most seminaries and conferences. Doing isn't wrong - but doing can be done in a loving manner, or not. It can sometimes be a clanging cymbal and noisy gong when it has not been done from and in love.
So my heart is a tad saddened today that once again, the emphasis on the 2nd command. I long to see ministry flowing from an overflow of intimacy with Christ...loving and letting ourselves being loved by Him and replicating that love to a loveless world.
Oh Lord, have mercy.
www.paulagamble.com
Saturday, January 17, 2009
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2 comments:
Hey Paula, you might enjoy this article about the scriptures and paradigms on which we base our ministries: "Is the Age of the Great Commission Over?"
http://www.kouya.net/?p=571
Thank for the link Marti - good stuff, yes. I'm not sure how non- Spirit-breathed mission measures "effectiveness" - or even how you measure "effectiveness" of mission...yes, as the author suggests "the work of the Spirit in the lives and ministries" of the sent ones. And, of course, if we have not love....
well - there's way too much clanging going on out there!
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