Real Ministry..!

Something to ponder...

I was in a discussion the other day about our current affiliation with a local group of believers (some call that a church ;) - we were discussing whether or not we could be a benefit to this group.  What is it that we could offer to make things better, this assumes that things are not where they need to be. In recent weeks, the church leaders have been discussing their future, the pastor recently left to take a position at another group of believers (a different church).  This has left this group somewhat vulnerable as they wrestle with their own future.

I said all that to say this; everyone recognized we could do better.  Everyone acknowledges our impact on the community around us is not where it needs to be.  Everyone sees the lack of results and has been offering a variety of ideas to remedy the results.  As I was asked the question "what do you think the real problems are here Mike" - I had a moment of clarity, not just about this church, but a moment of insight into THE CHURCH prophetically and I wanted to capture that insight here.

I will only report what I saw.  If you're offended, not my problem.  If you and I can find a way to sit in His seat, and see what He sees, recognizing that vast numbers of people are dying daily, we would be astounded by this insight.

There is a large portion of 'the church' that has no clue what 'real ministry' is, by and large, because deep in their hearts they want nothing to do with it!  (selah)

Combine this fact with the reality that we see around us, large, popular 'preachers' and 'ministries' entertaining 'the church' every week with their 'feel good' orations that have no real biblical basis (of course the people don't know this because they don't study their Bibles) and what you get is a very real effort undertaken by the kingdom of darkness to deceive the people of God into believing that what they are doing is just fine; when in reality they are all distracted by the glitz and glimmer of 'churchianity' and its entertainment value to the degree that they never enter into 'real ministry'!

What is real ministry you may ask?  I would point you to the Bible, and in particular the Book of Acts, but you would counter with something like, yeah I read it, so what?  Ok, fair enough (I get that you can't see it although its right in front of your eyes), so let me put it in today's vernacular.

When we had our intense ministry to the homeless and street people of Virginia Beach several years ago (about a 3 year run), we started that process by physically carrying our derrieres down to where we knew hurting people would be.  We personally met them and talked with them face to face.  We took the risk of getting to know them and allowing them to get to know us.  Once the relationship was originated (the first few minutes of meeting them), we recognized that we were now somehow responsible for their welfare and on some level their lives.  We immediately recognized what a major burden this would be, and what a major commitment in time and resources we would be called to levy against this challenge of helping people regain their lives; starting with the Gospel, so that we would have something to work with - a right heart before the Lord.

We voluntarily took on the burden of praying a lot, making phone calls, driving to pick them up, holding teaching and ministry sessions ad nauseum, rescuing them out of jail, crack houses, and hospitals as needed, visiting them when they were in crisis, paying a lot of money out of our own pockets to take care of them, yada, yada, yada - times about 200 people.  For that we were able to get about 16 people actually off the streets and see them get their lives back for real.  We also saw a lot of progress with many others.  I was a member of the executive board for homelessness in Virginia Beach, listening to 54 other agencies rehearse their efforts for those we were ministering to - mostly with very little results, and no other agencies could claim they ever got anybody totally off the streets and back into real life.  So much for your tax dollars in the hands of career bureaucrats, or your gifts in the hands of poor church leaders...

This is just a snippet from our lives as we've been doing this kind of thing for many years.  'Real ministry' is getting your hands dirty, its effect invades your life and takes it over, it means living uncomfortably regularly, it means giving beyond your means, it means believing God on someone else's behalf until you see the results that you were asking for.  'Real ministry' consumes you!  It takes over your life because it is born out of a revelation that you and I are no longer our own - His will, not our will be done!

Most in the church don't want this type of lifestyle.  They want the entertainment process, they want to feel like they did their duty each week, they want their conscience's soothed weekly to make them feel like they are 'living right' and 'blessed' without paying the price to really enter into what those terms really mean.  And if you approach them and challenge them to live their lives for Jesus, they use excuses like "Jesus did all that for us", 'Jesus wants me to be blessed and have lots of cool stuff", "Jesus drank so I can drink myself into oblivion anytime I want to", etc, etc, etc,...

Don't kid yourselves dear readers.  What passes for ministry these days is a great deception sold to the Church at large, perpetuated by 'famous TV preachers, traveling preachers and others who really only want your  money at the end of the day, and use the Gospel to make themselves and their families very comfortable at your expense.  They are the proverbial 'white washed sepulchers filled with dead men's bones' that Jesus addressed in the spirit of the pharisees and scribes.  DO NOT FOLLOW THEM OR THEIR MESSAGE!!!

They are deceived and in their deception, not only do they keep 'real ministry' from happening, but they rob the resources that are supposed to go into 'real ministry' in order to feather their own nests.  They will keep you from fulfilling the will of God for your life if you follow them.  They have no interest in equipping the saints for the work of the ministry, because at the end of the day, they don't know what 'real ministry' is, nor do they care to.

I know a lot of brothers and sisters who are carrying out 'real ministry' daily.  It sickens me to see the 'entertained church' giving its vast resources to the wolves in sheep's clothing weekly while those that are carrying out 'real ministry' get stuck with little to no resources.  I was recently made aware of a Baptist church that spent 1.2 million to construct a overhang on their building so the older folks wouldn't get wet when it rained.  This church is the largest church in a small community that is very poor and has great needs - this is pathetic!

For the Record, the churches' entire reason for existing is simple.  Show forth the Glory of God in the earth by converting lost souls and saving them from eternal destruction.  We've been given the power and the authority to carry out this great commission and we can do this because He said we could.  Any other efforts outside of this purpose for being, are most likely a waste of your efforts and hinder the process in most cases.  Don't pretend to be a part of this Kingdom, be hot or cold, but don't pretend.  We need 'real ministers' of the Gospel out there doing the work day and and day out, the rest of you just need to get in or get out of the way in my humble opinion...  ;)

Our dilemma with our current situation is simple.  We can recommend all kinds of ideas to help these folks be more relevant and have a greater impact in their community, but I suspect at the end of the day, they will default back to what they know and what they are used to.  Status quo!  Because the reality folks, is that most don't want anything to do with 'real ministry'!  MM