How We Do What We Do Matters

Though I had been trained with a theologically sound philosophy of ministry, I’ll never forget the experience that shaped my life and ministry. Blessed with friends running student ministries, I was invited to speak at youth retreats and camps. What a joy … and what a temptation to gauge my value by the wrong things. I young lady came up to me years later and told me she had trusted Christ at one such event I had preached at. I was blessed to hear this and asked if there was a particular passage or Gospel truth that the Spirit used to save her. She said, “I don’t remember”, but I remember that funny story you told. I walked away truly rocked to the core. So much so, that some thirty years later my heart still grieves over that. “Pragmatism is an approach to ministry that foregrounds whatever methods most effectively grow the church. It follows trends, borrows wisdom from the marketplace, and accepts strategies that prove to produce more people on Sunday mornings. More people = a greater opportunity for the gospel.” (Taylor Hartley) I was preaching truth. I truly cared about these students trusting Jesus for salvation and I would never have told you I was looking to entertain them or make a name for myself … but that’s the slippery slope of pragmatism. The How matters along with the What. And now, haunted by that story, I aim to be as simple and clear as possible. I share this after preaching yesterday on deacons in the local church. It felt odd, old school, and not very ‘cool’ at all … and I had to fight those feelings. It also felt right and true … and I trust doing church How the Bible clearly lays out will in fact yield the fruit He promises. These days I want more Gospel opportunities than ever to see lost people find satisfaction in Christ the Redeemer … I also feel more driven than ever to the How of doing church along with the What of the Gospel.