Thursday, August 11, 2011

It's all open

What is community ministry?  What does the Bible say about community ministry?  It seems to me that the ministry of the disciples was a community ministry.  I'm trying to imitate that with the work that I do.  I am going about them and if I'm not received I shake the dust and move on.  Curiously, the rudest guy was the one living next door to the church.

I am faced with the challenge/opportunity of defining and creating a community ministry on the northwest side of South Bend.  This is a huge area filled with needs and I am challenged to discern and define this ministry.  A blessing and curse of this is that I have no one I have to answer to and no one to turn to for guidance.  I don't know anyone who has done this sort of ministry and I'm feeling sort of at loose ends.

I think I need to re-read Acts because I feel a lot like Paul and what those original disciples dealt with as they began those first churches.  I don't know what to write because I'm still sort of reeling from this experience.  This is what I have asked for and I do approach ministry differently than the presbytery does usually.  For example, I asked the churches for a commitment to pray and that is part of my position description.  I am surprised that this was such an unorthodox thing to say when designing a ministry.

Pray for me.

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