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Ohio Report
Sep 5, 05:40 AM
Dear Friends,
I know many of you were praying about the ministry in Ohio so I want to give you a full report of what occurred. I am thrilled to say that my report is quite positive as God opened the door for me to speak deeply into the lives and ministries of the pastors who gathered for the retreat.
Those present were about seventeen pastors of significant churches in the West Ohio Conference of the United Methodist Church. One of my classmates from Asbury arranged the meeting and also asked me to speak to them. They want to take their ministries to higher level. They also recognize that there is little or no support and encouragement coming from their denomination – thus they are trying to come together and create more of their own opportunities for enrichment.
I was profoundly impressed by the pastors, all of whom happened to be men. They will take steps to diversify by asking two of the women pastors in their conference to join them. None of them put on airs; none of them were trying to impress each other. I noticed that there was none of the guarded, artificial relating that is so often characteristic of pastor’s meetings. How refreshing! I also sensed these men were hungry for God, even though there was a great diversity in how they approached the faith.
They were quite receptive to me and since I understand the pastor’s life very well, I was able to speak to them at a deep level. I began by sharing some of my own story, focusing first on how in 1986 God had led me to significantly change the way I conducted my own ministry. I told them that at the end of the day, each of us is ultimately accountable to God. Thus, we have to do ministry the way God leads us and not the way others expect us to do it. I related another instance where in the midst of great difficulty God delivered me from fear. I believe a lot of pastors are imprisoned by fear. There was lively discussion as they responded from their own perspectives about what I was saying.
In another session, I talked about what they want most from their ministry. I believe that many pastors who are serious about their work and are zealous to do God’s will are very frustrated. They are frustrated because their passion to see God’s glory manifested in their churches is often swallowed up by the demands of building and maintaining the organization and constituency necessary to support the ministry itself. Pastoral ministry is a great and high calling – it is also one of the most difficult tasks emotionally. I have no doubt that many good pastors live on the edge of despair. We talked at length about what they want most: big churches or more of a manifestation of the Kingdom of God. The two are not always mutually exclusive, but each of us must choose what we want most. These men did not seem to be political animals climbing a career ladder. They are not like those who have little spiritual passion and who function more as church managers than spiritual shepherds. The ones who are sold out to denomination and not to Christ do not face the same struggles. My hope was to encourage them – I pray that they were!
In the last session, I shared with them something I am working on at present and that is about what Kingdom churches look like. The ingredients are:
Generosity – the church gives itself away continuously; it seeks to give more than it receives; it is generous with people, resources, buildings, all of its life. Great churches should reproduce rather than endlessly growing bigger.
Kingdom Life – the Kingdom church looks, feels, and functions in accordance with the pattern of life set forth in Scripture.
Worship – the church worships God passionately, but also worships missionally; it does not worship just to satisfy its own needs but worships to release God’s purpose for those who are new, for the city around them, and for God’s purposes to be released all over the world.
Community – a Kingdom church develops and sustains a strong, healthy, and real sense of belonging to one another.
Incarnational Ministry – the church sees itself as sent to minister to deep, painful, and often ugly individual and social realities of real life.
Faith – the Kingdom church believes God, believes God’s Word, and is unwavering in its conviction that God can and will do what He has promised.
At the end of the last session, they let me pray for them. I anointed each one as I laid hands on them and prayed for God to bless and encourage them, guard their marriages and families from counter attacks of the evil one, increase their faith and spiritual authority, and revive their joy for serving the Lord.
Thank you all for praying for this event. It was an important occasion and I was profoundly honored to participate in it. I am greatly encouraged by what I experienced with those precious servants of God.