Relational Ministry

To know me is to know that I am a relationship addict.  To ask if I'm a relational kind of guy is like asking the Pope if he is religious.  (There's a satirical dig in there somewhere)  Over the last four weeks (today marks four weeks since I've been on staff with Elevation Church) I've been doing a lot of soul searching and internal questioning.  This has been a very healthy process for me and has made me appreciate my home church even more.

The conclusion I've come to is that there is a lot of truth in a lot of things.  I think we're all trying to to the best with what God has given and charged us to do and that applies to ministry, friendships, marriage, and parenting just to name a few.  For me the most important thing I can do as a Minister is build relationships.  At the Orange Conference last week Craig Jutila, former Children's Minister at a small church in California, said that if he could go back to the beginning of it all he would be more relational and less driven.  A profound statement considering where he comes from.

I honestly believe that relational ministry is the way to spread the Gospel.  I know that the details and deadlines are a part of ministry but when we lose the initial component that Jesus himself used to preach His message than we have drifted from the core of why God created us in the first place.  Yes, making small groups the most important piece of your ministry is difficult.  And yes, structured relationships are awkward and many times fail but if we just go about life and ministry hoping and waiting for relationships to encourage our faith it's like flipping open the Bible, blindly pointing a finger and thinking "this is what God wants to teach me today."

I've had four adult small groups.  One was far too structured, one was far too "friendly," one was "because we're supposed to," and the other was real.  Relationships are sticky, difficult, challenging, inconvenient and frustrating.  That's why they teach faith so well.  Faith is sticky, difficult, challenging, inconvenient and frustrating.  But both relationships and faith are there when you need them, as real as you allow them to be, loving, true to life, more rewarding than you could ever imagine.

God is relational; He created us for a relationship.  Jesus is relational; He gave His life to keep a relationship possible.  So I am relational.  My ministry is relational.  My life is relational.  As Daryl Worley puts it, "It's an awful beautiful life."  (yep, that's a country song)

Comments

[Randy Loveless]

Awesome post! I've been that real and insightful before... but I can hardly remember when! "Yay" on the great entry!! "Boo" on quoting a country song!! I love ya man!

[Erin H]

Hey man, that was my breakout.