I believe an important question we must ask ourselves before entering ministry is this: "How am I going to get plugged into a ministry, and what fellowship will I enter? As most of you know, I am a young life leader and most of you and my friends are fellow young life leaders. But there is a certain purpose of it in my life and there are certain things it doesn't serve in my life. I love Young Life, as it is a major part of my life but it has a certain purpose in my life and other parts of my life are not fulfilled by it, which is completely okay because Young Life has one goal- ministry.
Young Life is not a fellowship. This may seem simple enough or you may not agree with me and that is okay but hear me out. This is just my humble opinion based on my own observations and conclusions. I used to believe that Young Life was my fellowship and can see why others would to so I understand the thought behind that assumption. When I first started, I believed a goal of mine in leading and ministry was to grow in Christ. I believe ministry does force us to grow and seeing Christ work in others' lives does help one to grow but it only does so much. It took me awhile to realize that doing ministry is not the same as a fellowship. I hope that anyone that is seeking for fellowship and community to help them grow closer to Christ is not expecting all of this to come from ministering to others. Both are equally important.
Young Life has a mission and that is to reach high school kids and bring Christ to their lives and to help them to advance their personal relationships with Christ. Young life's mission is not to create a fellowship of believers of college-age to post-college adults. Young life can encourage and facilitate us to be a part of a fellowship but I believe ministry thrives from people who are active in church and fellowship.
Please note that I want this to be taken as an encouragement to seek other means of fellowship. However, I do believe Young Life can help you to be introduced to people who believe the same things as you do and have the same morals, values, and beliefs. But, this is not Young Life's responsibility to plug you into a small group or a bible study. It is our responsibility as Christian adults to seek this out. Young Life assumes before you are placed that you have a growing relationship with Christ, and a part of this is to have fellowship of believers.
Young Life is great at what it was intended for: to bring Christ to kids' lives. I believe this is similar in other ministries as well. Ministry is good at exactly that- ministry. In other ministries, a fellowship may grow out of the friends and people you meet in your ministry but this is not the organization's fault if this is not happening. In fact, it could be very draining if one's ministry and fellowship are mixed for one person. If one person has no other group of believers that are pouring encouragement, accountability, and love besides the people that person is ministering to then I believe they could quickly be drained. We all need peers and other people to pour into us and feed us spiritual milk sometimes.
Yes, I thoroughly believe fellowship is extremely important for Christ-followers. That is easily evident from scripture. I just encourage all of us to be accountable for ourselves to seek that out. Young life is not intended for a fellowship and should not be to blame if that part of our life is not fulfilled. Just as I used to believe that Young life was my source for fellowship, I learned not so easily that I need to be searching for more. We are responsible ourselves for it to happen and thrive. Fellowship is vital for ministry. We all need it to continue to drive and outpour our love to others. Also, I and I believe many others need an older adult to mentor me so that I know what I may be missing or what I am doing wrong. So if anyone is willing and able let me know.
"Bear one another's burdens, and thereby fulfill the law of Christ. So then, while we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, and especially to those who are of the household of the faith."
Galatians 6:2,10
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
What Young Life is to me and what it isn't
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2 comments:
Hi again.
The difference between ministry and fellowship has become very apparent to me lately, so it's an interesting coincidence that you wrote about this.
I'm church homeless, meaning that I haven't found a church. A big part of this is because I'm a church orphan, meaning I don't have anyone to go with on a regular basis. I've managed to go to church services, say hello to the people around me, worship, pray, listen to a message, and leave, sometimes with my heart moved and with something new to think about. That's ministry. I think it's a minister's job (and though I only went to one Young Life meeting when I was in high school, possibly your job) to try to "move hearts" or give something new to think about.
My heart craves fellowship. I'm learning this means (and this is hard for me) trusting people. Meeting new people. Opening up to people. Discussing deep things, sometimes joyful things, and sometimes things which make us hurt, with people. Can't I just do it with God? Can't I be ministered to, and then foster my own relationship with Christ?
I'm beginning to understand that the answer is plainly, "no." Paul used the word "member" like we would use "organ." You can go to a church and be ministered to, and walk away enlightened, without being a member. But if you are a member, you become like an organ of a body. You have your own place, your own function, your own dignity, your own structure. But you work with the other organs, and particularly with the head of the body, to cooperate into a Church worthy of being a bride.
It's pretty easy to be ministered to, if you have an open heart. (I do not think it is easy to do the ministering, as you have to find effective ways of moving those hearts, often which are just barely open and will snap shut at the first sign of movement.) But like you said, forming real fellowship with others takes effort on each individual's part.
Good luck with your ministry, and with your own fellowship.
Thanks for sharing and for encouraging me to stay on top of my blog, its easy to forget when you don't think anyone is reading. I fully agree with you that its easy to be ministered to and not to minister. I also liked what you said about being an organ. It is so true that after God calls you, you now have a role to play and must not forget that.
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