1
The theology of ministry for the follower of Jesus Christ, is shaped by the work of
reconciliation that God provided through Christ on the cross, in the power of the Holy Spirit,
which He has poured out on those who believe. 2 Corinthians 5:18 states that “God, who
reconciled us to himself through Christ, gave us a ministry of reconciliation: that God was
reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them…We are
therefore Christ’s ambassadors, as though God were making his appeal through us.” 1 I will
reflect on each person of the Triune God and his unique role in the reconciliation of God and
man through the cross. I will define ministry and place it in the context of community. I will
assess vocation, motivation, character traits, spiritual practices, righteousness, learning,
discernment, and reflection as a Christian minister of reconciliation in the church and the world,
in the shadow of the light of God’s multidimensional work on the cross.
Practical theology combines theory and practice.2 In its simplest form, ministry is the act
of serving. A minister is thus a servant, “one who serves others, especially one who serves the
person of a master.”3 Willimon describes how the New Testament Greek word for ministry,
diakonia, is the same root word for the English terms, “butler” and “waiter.” These, he suggests,
are lowly terms, but in the “ethics of the Kingdom, this is as high as anyone rises, a servant of
1
2 Corinthians 5:18 (New International Version, 1984). Unless otherwise specified, all
Biblical references from this point forward will be from the New International Version, 1984.
2
Terry A. Veling, Practical Theology, "On Earth as It Is in Heaven" (Maryknoll, NEW
YORK: Orbis Books, 2005), 161-164. Veling expounds on the practical nature of theology with
convincing evidence that theology is related to culture and context. He states that "no meaning
can be determined out of context, but no context permits saturation." In other words, one can
always learn more. No one context can "soak" up all the meaning or understanding about God.
Thus we are encouraged to remain open to God in the context of ministry.
"Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary,” accessed November 7, 2011, http:/
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ministry and servant.
3
2
those seated at the Lord’s table.”4 From a theological standpoint, Christian ministry is the act of
serving God as Lord and Master, manifest in service to others in His name and in His grace and
power. The theological center that is the basis for our practical theology is love for God and
love for others as Christ loved his disciples.5 It is this belief that will shape every action of the
saved called to serve.
As ministers, our ministry of reconciliation is performed in community.
God is three
beings is one. His activity throughout the Bible is performed with authority that ebbs and flows
between the three. Shaw describes it this way: “the Father sends the Son, the Father and the Son
send the Spirit, the Son sends us, empowered by the Holy Spirit. This “economy of the Trinity”
is not a form of one being inferior to the other, but an affirmation that each person of the
Godhead plays a different role in the divine work of redemption.”6 As Christians, we are not one
singular unit, but part of a collective whole. In the image of a three part God, we must live in
community. We must seek to bring about reconciliation between sinful man and God as well as
reconciliation amongst fellow Christians through discipleship.7
4
William H. Willimon, Calling and Character Virtues of the Ordained Life (Nashville,
TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), 17.
5
John 13:34 (ESV). A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just
as I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
6
Perry W. H. Shaw, "Vulnerable Authority: A Theological Approach to Leadership And
Teamwork," Christian Education Journal 3, no. 1 (2006, Spring): 120-121.
7
William H. Willimon, Calling and Character Virtues of the Ordained Life (Nashville,
TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), 60-94. Willimon expounds on this notion by suggesting that not
only do we serve in community of hearers and believers and ministers in our local congregations,
but in a larger collegiality of clergy.
3
The authority for genuine, empowered ministry is God the Father. God calls, ordains
(invests with ministerial authority8), and gives his people as ministers to build up his body, the
church. Ephesians 4:7-13 says that “to each one of us grace has been given as Christ
apportioned it…it was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be
evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God’s people for works of service,
so that the body of Christ may be built up.” God calls believers, as his agents or ambassadors,
to minister according to the grace he gives. Again in I Corinthians 12:27-30, the scripture says
that “God has placed in the church, first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then
miracles, then gifts of healing, of helping, of guidance and of different kinds of tongues.” No
one person is called to do all of these functions, not even the paid minister of the church, but to
work together with the body of Christ as God orchestrates.
I John 4:16 declares that “God is love.” Love is who God is. He cannot be otherwise.
Verse 10 of chapter 4 says that “This is love: not that we loved God, but that God loved us and
sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.
God’s love is perfect, unconditional, and
sacrificial. John 3:17 says, that “God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world,
but to save the world through him.” Jesus calls us to be agents of God’s perfect love in John
13:34-35. He says “A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so
you must love one another. By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one
another.” Ministry in the shape of God’s work on the cross, cruciform ministry, is grounded in
the perfect love of God. Shaw says the ideal model for leadership or ministry as shown
throughout Scripture is the model of theocracy, rather than democracy or autocracy. He says that
“leaders must see themselves as, first and foremost servants and followers under the authority
8
"Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary," accessed November 7, 2011, http://
www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/ordain.
4
and leadership of God, and from that position, lead others.” If leadership in ministry is perceived
as autocratic or democratic, it is ultimately shaped and controlled by fear.9
I John 4:18 says
that “perfect love drives out fear.” Only the love of God is perfect. Ministry must be performed
submissive to God’s perfect love manifest in those chosen to lead. Only God’s love in us is
capable of loving those who don’t deserve love, loving our enemies, and loving those who have
hurt us or others. From the example of Moses, an untrained orator and a reluctant leader,
Willimon, points out that often God’s choices of leaders throughout the Bible, “tell us more
about the quality of God than the positive qualities of the people who are called to lead.”10
Jesus’ work on the cross was humble submission to the call and will of the Father.
Agonizing in Gethsemane prior to his death, Jesus prayed, “Father, if you’re willing, take this
cup from me, but not my will but yours be done.”11 God the Son, Jesus Christ responded to the
call of his Father, to “make himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in
human likeness…and humbled himself and became obedient to death – even death on a cross.”12
He did this humbly, not holding on to his equal place in the Godhead.
Paul urges the Thessalonians, in I Thessalonians 2: 11-13, to “live lives worthy of God,
who calls you into his kingdom and his glory.” The question arises then for ministry, “How do
we know that we’ve been called and what we’ve been called to?”
Dr. Johnson reminded us of a
9
Perry W. H. Shaw, "Vulnerable Authority: A Theological Approach To Leadership
And Teamwork," Christian Education Journal 3, no. 1 (2006, Spring): 121-123. Shaw furthers
this thought stating that autocracy and democracy are products of fear. "Autocracy is built on the
leader's fear of control and is fed through the fear of the followers; democracy is built on the fear
of autocratic leadership and is equally fed by fear of the group."
10
William H. Willimon, "Back To The Burning Bush," Christian Century April 2002, 7.
11
Luke 22:42.
12
Philippians 2:6-8.
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quote by the theologian Fredrick Buechner in which he said, “Your calling is where your deepest
desires and the world’s deepest needs meet.”13 In light of I Corinthians 12:31, “we are to eagerly
desire the “greater” gifts.
The New Living Translation translates this passage, “So you should
earnestly desire the most helpful gifts.” .We are to be watchful, open, attentive to the particular
gifts that we are empowered (given the energy or grace to do) that can be the most helpful to the
body of Christ in the context of the greatest need. Every member of Christ’s body, the church, is
a minister, part of a royal priesthood, intended to be instrumental and influential in the ecclesial
work of God. God gives some to perform larger roles according to his grace, but each role is
vital. God provides order and leadership structure, but he often uses the least likely in the
kingdom to be vessels for His amazing love and mercy manifest in the church. Romans 12: 6
says that “We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. “ We are intended to use
these gifts in proportion to our faith.
We do this, according to verse 5, because we belong to
one another as the body of Christ. Willimon says that ministry is a vocation and ministers must
be called.14 Drs. Johnson and Thompson described an inner call, a sets of reflections and
feelings that we must attend to, and an outward call, which confirms the inner call by the words
of Godly people, circumstances, and attention to hermeneutical interpretation.
Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was costly. It cost him his human dignity at times, the
betrayal of family and friends, even his life. I Peter 2:21 reminds us “To this you were called,
because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in his steps.”
According to Matthew 16:24, Christian discipleship costs the minister her very life as well. “If
13
Fredrick Buechner, Wishful Thinking, A Theological ABC (New York, NY: Harper
And Row, 1973), 95.
14
William H. Willimon, Calling and Character, Virtues of the Ordained Life (Nashville,
TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), 33.
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anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For
whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it.” “For
Paul, the cross is the pattern for Christian life.”15 It is the pattern of sacrifice, self-denial,
suffering, rejection, and betrayal that Christ navigated that shows us how costly and difficult the
crucified life can be. Our goal is not to make everyone happy, not to meet everyone’s individual
needs, but to display Christ’s forgiveness, justice, grace and mercy in our flesh.16 Willimon
reminds us that, for the sake of the gospel, we may be called to “provoke division, call names,
condemn, accuse and judge. Paul reminds me as a preacher and pastor that I must be tethered to
something more significant than peace and harmony if I am to be faithful to my vocation.”17
The character trait that defined Christ on the cross and should define ministry is humility.
Jesus had more rights than any human being that has walked this planet earth. Branson and
Martinez say that our Western culture is defined by what Americans perceive as an unalienable
right to the pursuit of happiness.
The Western individualist society says that the right to
happiness ensures that the greatest number of people will then, in fact, be happy.18 In John 13,
however, Jesus gives us a different display of the use of his “rights.”
Jesus modeled the ultimate display of humility in the washing of his disciples’ feet, a
humble act of service. He did this because he had confidence in the authority of God that had
15
Ibid, 97.
16
Gil Rendle, "The Illusion Of Congregational "happiness"," The Alban Journal 23, no. 3
(1997, May 1): 14-17.
17
William H. Willimon, Calling and Character, Virtues of the Ordained Life (Nashville,
TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), 97.
18
Mark Lau Branson and Juan F. Martinez, Churches, Cultures, and Leadership, A
Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities (Downers Grove, ILLINOIS: InterVarsity
Press, 2011), 157.
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also been placed in him. He had nothing to prove and was sure that his future was secure, so he
was able to perform the lowly task of a house servant. We too must approach ministry with
confidence in the authority of God, let go of pride and insecurity, and serve humanity’s most
basic needs.19
Jesus also provided us the example apprenticeship in his ministry of reconciliation. Jesus
learned from the Father as he experienced an incarnational body on the earth. John 12:49 says
that Jesus did not speak of his own accord, but the Father who sent him commanded him what to
say and how to say it.” In John 15:15, Jesus says that “everything I have learned from my
Father, I have made known to you.” On the cross, he laid his own selfish desires aside, and
conformed to the will of His father.
In the Garden of Gethsemane, Matthew records in
Matthew 26:38-39 that Jesus was “overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death”, yet he
prayed in his anguish, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I
will, but as you will.”
As believers, we learn from one another, as we each follow the example of Christ.
William F. Hanks say in the forward to Situated Learning, Legitimate Peripheral Participation,
that “meaning, understanding, and learning are all defined relative to actionable contexts, not to
self-contained structures.”20 The words of scripture are invaluable, but even Paul says in I
19
Craig Dykstra and Dorothy C. Bass, Practicing Theology Beliefs and Practices in the
Christian Life, ed. Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass (Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge,
U.K: William B Erdmann’s Publishing Company, 2002), Location 228, Kindle Edition.
"Christian practices, theologically understood, are directed to humanity's most basic needs, needs
that arise out of the very character of human existence. They address conditions fundamental to
being human - such as embodiment, temporality, relationship, the use of language, and
mortality.”
20
Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, Situated Learning, Legitimate peripheral participation
(New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 15.
8
Corinthian 11:1, “Follow my example as I follow the example of Christ.” Again in Philippians
3:17, Paul calls on Christians to “join with others in following my example, brothers, and take
note of those who live according to the pattern we gave you.” We learn by observing and living
out faith in the presence of others. When this learning takes place in the context of family
(considering the church a family of believers) it assumes a level of consistency of Christian
practice lived out in daily life that transmits subliminal and foundational knowledge of practice.21
As ministers, we must seek out mentors in our family of faith to walk alongside, spend time with
and “watch” with spiritually attentive eyes.
Jesus was the perfect sacrifice for our sin on the cross, yet scripture tells us in Hebrews
4:15 that he was “tempted in every way, just as we are, yet was without sin.” Jesus Christ
provides an example of facing the difficulties and temptations of ministry to include fatigue,
stress, betrayal, disloyalty, persecution, family discord, and ultimate physical, emotional and
psychological turmoil. He provides us with a rhythm of living that we, as ministers, can emulate.
He tempered active ministry with the spiritual disciplines of solitude, prayer, meditation, Sabbath
rest, fasting, and an inner circle of close spiritual friendships.22 Jesus used spiritual disciplines to
set his priority on the mission of reconciliation on the cross that he was sent to do. Willimon
21
Jean Lave and Etienne Wenger, Situated Learning, Legitimate peripheral participation
(New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1991), 67-72. In the example of the
apprenticeship of Yucatec Midwives, the authors describe a legitimate peripheral participation
occurring in the relationship of a family, where young girls watched their mothers as midwives at
home, and thus were asked to take over more and more of the work load, routine and advanced
based on their base of knowledge.
22
Ruth Haley Barton, Sacred Rhythms, Arranging our Lives for Spiritual Transformation
(Downers Grove, ILLINOIS: Intervarsity Press, 2006), 1-168. Barton highlights many spiritual
disciplines that create space in the life of a minister for the transforming work of God through
the Holy Spirit to take place. Practices from this work that I find most helpful to my personal
ministry are weekly silence and solitude, Sabbath, and daily examen.
9
reminds us that as ministers, “priorities must be set, time not wasted, talents not squandered. If
pastors do not know what is absolutely essential in their ministry, they will do the merely
important.” 23
The final person of the Godhead present in the reconciliation of God and man on the
cross is the Holy Spirit. Bedford contends “The conception of the Eternal Son was by the Spirit
(Matthew 1:18); the incarnation took place in the Spirit; the resurrection was in the power of the
Spirit. (Romans 8:11)” The Spirit was part of the plan of salvation from the very beginning,
before time began. I Corinthians 2 highlights the Spirit’s work as the very thoughts of God.
The Spirit gave Jesus a heavenly perspective on the cross, and will be the “wisdom” given to
every true believer from that moment forward.24 I Corinthians 2: 16 says, “For who has known
the mind of the Lord that he may instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.” The same
Spirit that empowered Jesus on the cross now empowers our mind for ministry.
It was the Spirit of God that gave Christ the power of discernment as he took on a
physical flesh and human nature on this earth.
The Spirit of God led Jesus into the desert where
he would fast for forty days before starting his earthly ministry. Luke 4:1 says that Jesus was
full of the Holy Spirit when he was led into the desert. The Spirit enabled Jesus to recall words
of scripture as he battled with Satan in his encounter in the desert. After his time in the desert
23
William H. Willimon, Calling and Character, Virtues of the Ordained Life (Nashville,
TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), 114.
I Corinthians 2:7-11 (New International Version, 1984). “We speak of God’s secret
wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began.
None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the
Lord of glory. However, as it is written: “No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has
conceived what God has prepared for those who love him” but God has revealed it to us by his
Spirit. The Spirit searches all things, even the deep things of God. For who among men knows
the thoughts of a man except the man’s spirit within him? In the same way no one knows the
thoughts of God except the Spirit of God.
24
10
4:14 says he returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit. Luke 10:21 records Jesus being full
of the joy through the Holy Spirit.
The Holy Spirit continues to enable discernment through theological reflection in the
lives born again believers. Bedford defines discernment as “figuring out what to do, all together
as a church, with the help of God’s Spirit.25 She describes the Spirit using many elements to
guide and direct discernment in individuals and collectively as a group. These include, but are
not limited to, academic and practical theology (what the group believes at the head and heart
level about God – my definition,) Biblical hermeneutics, experiences, culture, prayer, discussion
and experimentation. I define wisdom as “seeing things, people and circumstances the way God
sees them.” Pursuing discernment in ministry enables the Holy Spirit to give the minister the
“eyes to see” and the mind to perceive what God’s unique perspective is as related to his context
and our calling.26
Individual and communal theological reflection and ethnographic perspective are crucial
pastoral practices to allowing the Holy Spirit to provide discernment in ministry. Theological
reflection is defined as “the discipline of exploring individual and corporate experience in
conversation with the wisdom of a religious heritage. The conversation is a genuine dialogue
that seeks to hear from our own beliefs, actions, and perspectives, as well as those of the
tradition. It respects the integrity of both.”27 The tradition is further defined by Killen and Beer
25
Nancy Bedford, Practicing Theology, Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life, ed.
Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass (Grand Rapids, MI/CAMBRIDGE, U.K: William B..
Erdmann’s Publishing Company, 2002), Location. Essay entitled "Little Moves Against
Destructiveness: Theology and the Practice of Discernment".
26
I Corinthians 2:8-10.
27
Patricia O'Connell Killen and John De Beer, The Art of Theological Reflection (New
York: Crossroad, 2004), viii, 22-45. The authors further define a process for theological
11
as based on Scripture, historical and current interpretation and theological literature, church
history and perspective and academic instruction. Willimon says the pursuit of competence in
ministry is a moral matter. As ministers we seek competency by study, working hard, mastering
the material in our academic pursuits, but at the same time we pay attention to our character,
formed by experience and our reaction to it.28 The art of theological reflection is a process by
which to attend to competency and character as means to authentic learning and praxis.
The Holy Spirit has guided discernment throughout history. Dr. Thompson emphasized
hermeneutics as a means to theological reflection. As we seek to apply the Wesleyan
Quadrilateral to our understanding of God, we place the scripture in the context of ministry. We
examine scripture through historical and contextual criticism, tradition by looking at the history
of the church, reason by applying logic and rational thinking, and experience by embracing our
personal and communal journeys as a means to understand God and discern our vocation.
Ethnography is another tool that opens the minister to the insight, perspective and the
empowerment to action by the Holy Spirit. Ethnography is a way of” immersing yourself in the
life of a people in order to learn something about them and from them.”29 A minister studies and
immerses herself in the context in which she is practicing ministry to gain an emic or insider,
reflection that starts with experiences, defines experience with imagery, and seeks insight that
leads to action in the context of prayer, planning and the support of other people.
28
William H. Willimon, Calling and Character Virtues of the Ordained Life (Nashville,
TN: Abingdon Press, 2000), 41.
29
Mary Clark Moschella, Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice (Cleveland, OHIO: The
Pilgrim Press, 2998), 4.
12
perspective.30 This perspective then shapes the experience, imagery and insight necessary for
theological reflection and enables her theology to grow and change in different ministerial
contexts.
According to Moschella, this pastoral practice is “communal and contextual and
draws from narrative models of theology and care.”31 Thus, this practice enables the critical
skills of listening, observation, and self-awareness that are vital for authentic and effective
leadership.
My theology of ministry is that God calls every believer to a ministry of reconciliation
shaped by the work of the triune God on the cross. For my ministry to bring glory to God and be
God’s work on earth with a prioritized purpose to embody God’s perfect love, it must be a
vocation, evidenced by sacrificial and costly action in the pattern of Christ, and performed in the
power and discernment provided by the Holy Spirit.
30
Mark Lau Branson and Juan F. Martinez, Churches, Cultures and Leadership, A
Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities (Downers Grove, ILLINOIS: Intervarsity
Press, 2011), 174.
31
Mary Clark Moschella, Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice (Cleveland, OHIO: The
Pilgrim Press, 2998), 5.
13
WORKS CITED
Barton, Ruth Haley. Sacred Rhythms, Arranging our Lives for Spiritual Transformation.
Downers Grove, ILLINOIS: Intervarsity Press, 2006.
Bedford, Nancy. Practicing Theology, Beliefs and Practices in Christian Life. Edited by
Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass. Grand Rapids, MI/CAMBRIDGE, U.K:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2002.
Branson, Mark Lau, and Juan F. Martinez. Churches, Cultures and Leadership, a
Practical Theology of Congregations and Ethnicities. Downers Grove,
ILLINOIS: Intervarsity Press, 2011.
Buechner, Fredrick. Wishful Thinking, a Theological ABC. New York, NY: Harper and
Row, 1973.
Dykstra, Craig, and Dorothy C. Bass. Practicing Theology Beliefs and Practices in the
Christian Life. Edited by Miroslav Volf and Dorothy C. Bass. Grand Rapids,
MICHIGAN/CAMBRIDGE, U.K: William B Erdmann’s Publishing Company,
2002.
John 13:34 (ESV). A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as
I have loved you, you also are to love one another.
Killen, Patricia O'Connell, and John De Beer. The Art of Theological Reflection. New
York: Crossroad, 2004.
Lave, Jean, and Etienne Wenger. Situated Learning, Legitimate peripheral participation.
New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1991.
Moschella, Mary Clark. Ethnography as a Pastoral Practice. Cleveland, OHIO: The
Pilgrim Press, 2998.
Rendle, Gil. "The Illusion Of Congregational "happiness"." The Alban Journal. 23, no. 3
(1997, May 1.)
Shaw, Perry W. H.. "Vulnerable Authority: A Theological Approach To Leadership And
Teamwork." Christian Education Journal. 3, no. 1 (2006, Spring.)
Veling, Terry A.. Practical Theology, "On Earth as It Is in Heaven". Maryknoll, NEW
YORK: Orbis Books, 2005.
Willimon, William H. "Back To The Burning Bus." Christian Century. (2002, April.)
14
———. Calling and Character Virtues of the Ordained Life. Nashville, TN: Abingdon
Press, 2000.
15