Tuesday, September 8, 2009
The Ministry of Free Choice
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After several years of teaching in the Christian education system, a contraction became glaringly clear to me, namely that we (teachers, school administration, etc.) were requiring students to participate in distinctly Christian activities and behaviors. For example, students were required to take a Bible class every year, attend chapel once a week, and complete a certain number of community service hours.
Here is the contradiction: God never requires or "forces" any human being to do anything. At all. Ever.
The way God works is that he gives us many options - some good, some bad - along with the freedom to choose between these options. We live and operate within the choices and the consequences. Miraculously, God works alongside of our decisions and inhabits our lives. But there is something fundamentally contradictory when a person is required to do spiritual things such as worship, serve, or believe - all actions which are rooted in a personal choice and cannot be forced.
I tried to point this out during a meeting with my colleagues, suggesting that we should make some of these requirements optional, specifically the weekly chapel services. Granted, my "pitch" was less than refined, and my logic was coming from my typical "lets-do-something-crazy" side of my brain. Nevertheless, the suggestion of letting students choose whether or not they wanted to worship that week was quickly dismissed.
I remembered those discussions this week because I read a brilliant section of Dallas Willard's Divine Conspiracy. He is discussing Matthew 7:6 in which Jesus says, "Do give dogs sacred things to eat, nor try to get pigs to dine on pearls." Willard rejects the common interpretation that there are some people who are just "unworthy" of the sacred treasures, but rather he points out something fundamentally important that Jesus is explaining: Pigs cannot physically digest pearls, nor can dogs eat a Bible. So it is a waste to "force" these sacred things upon the animal who has no benefit from them. Willard states,
Ministry is not about forcing, manipulating, or shoving the "pearls" of Christianity down the throats of those who are unwilling and can't benefit from them anyway. My role in ministry is to be there, and let the individual make the choice on their own.
Kind of like how God is here now, and lets us choose. Every day.
After several years of teaching in the Christian education system, a contraction became glaringly clear to me, namely that we (teachers, school administration, etc.) were requiring students to participate in distinctly Christian activities and behaviors. For example, students were required to take a Bible class every year, attend chapel once a week, and complete a certain number of community service hours.
Here is the contradiction: God never requires or "forces" any human being to do anything. At all. Ever.
The way God works is that he gives us many options - some good, some bad - along with the freedom to choose between these options. We live and operate within the choices and the consequences. Miraculously, God works alongside of our decisions and inhabits our lives. But there is something fundamentally contradictory when a person is required to do spiritual things such as worship, serve, or believe - all actions which are rooted in a personal choice and cannot be forced.
I tried to point this out during a meeting with my colleagues, suggesting that we should make some of these requirements optional, specifically the weekly chapel services. Granted, my "pitch" was less than refined, and my logic was coming from my typical "lets-do-something-crazy" side of my brain. Nevertheless, the suggestion of letting students choose whether or not they wanted to worship that week was quickly dismissed.
I remembered those discussions this week because I read a brilliant section of Dallas Willard's Divine Conspiracy. He is discussing Matthew 7:6 in which Jesus says, "Do give dogs sacred things to eat, nor try to get pigs to dine on pearls." Willard rejects the common interpretation that there are some people who are just "unworthy" of the sacred treasures, but rather he points out something fundamentally important that Jesus is explaining: Pigs cannot physically digest pearls, nor can dogs eat a Bible. So it is a waste to "force" these sacred things upon the animal who has no benefit from them. Willard states,
"The point is not the waste of the 'pearl' but that the person given the pearl is not helped...Our children or others do not know what else to do with us pearl pushers. And even though they love us...they simply cannot take any more of our 'pushy irrelevance' as they see it, or possibly our stubborn blindness.I remember I used to get really frustrated when students would not respond in chapel. I would just want to "shake them out of it" and so my preaching would deteriorate to blaming and manipulation. After a few years of close ministry to individual students though, I started to take a more hands-off approach. I realized that it wasn't my job to save them, and I didn't really care if they "engaged" or not - or more accurately, if they made an outward show of their spiritual connection in that moment (who can know what is happening in a person's heart or head at any given time?) I slowly came to understand that my responsibility was simply to always be an available resource, whether that meant leading worship, teaching from the Bible, or just being an open ear and offering some encouragement or simple advice.
"What we are actually doing with our proper condemnations and our wonderful solutions, more often than not, is taking others out of their own responsibility and out of God's hands and trying to bring them under our control...God has paid an awful price to arrange for human self-determination. He obviously places great value on it. It is, after all, the only way he can get the kind of personal beings he desires for his eternal purposes."
Ministry is not about forcing, manipulating, or shoving the "pearls" of Christianity down the throats of those who are unwilling and can't benefit from them anyway. My role in ministry is to be there, and let the individual make the choice on their own.
Kind of like how God is here now, and lets us choose. Every day.
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2 comments:
right on
Hey Jesse,
As always fascinating thoughts. I agree with your "pitch." I've found myself in the same boat with youth ministry- also now working primarily with adults.
I also remember that quote from Dallas Willard. Have not made it through all the book yet, but a good one so far.
For me, I made many assumptions when ministering to teens- forgetting that their life is drastically different than mine, and their position with the Lord may be different as well.
Nice to glance over your blogs.
Of course, I'm always down for Bible class... it wasn't until I sucked it up and started focusing myself that the Bible became such a reality and eye opener for me.
Hope all is well bro.
Paul
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