Ministry Involvement and Boy-Girl Relations

I don't know if anyone reads this anyway, but here goes some thoughts I have had lately. I don't want at this stage to dwell on them deeply, but they probably need to be said.

1. Boy-Girl Relationships are hard work
The apostle Paul even says so in 1 Corinthians 7:32-34.

The unmarried man is anxious about the things of the Lord, how to please the Lord. But the married man is anxious about worldly things, how to please his wife, and his interests are divided.

2. Ministry is purposeful hard work

And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, the pastors and teachers, to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

3. Boys are often task focussed

4. If the task does not indirectly involve their girlfriend, there is a risk of the girl feeling neglected
This is probably especially so when the couple are both active in ministry, but in different gatherings. What may often appear to be a God-centred decision is not necessarily honouring him in our relationships.

4A. There is not always a simple fix to this problem.
The Lack of "real" commitment in dating relationships does no-one any good. The primary commitment to home and church can lead to awful tensions while you still live under your parent's authority. For a relationship like this to work, both sets of ministry need the support and informed consent of the other partner. - Maybe once again the easy/correct answer here is sadly going to be singleness if you want to maximise current ministry effectiveness.

5. Please pray for young leaders in our gatherings, they need great wisdom in managing their time and involvement.

6. Holiness and faithfulness should trump involvementness
The temptation to be a "super-minister" who can be helpful at any time and in every way, hopefully building others up, is quite strong when you have time, energy and limited responsibilities (ie. When at Uni). Unfortunately, this is not a good model for a lifetime of service. As much as it hurts to consider it, the bible is clear that leaders need to do things like

He must manage his own household well (1 Timothy 3:4)

and

if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church? (1 Timothy 3:5)

7. I am struggling with this issue a lot
I am not really sure what is needed here... If our "involved" people are in relationships, and I am sure this should include ones not yet at marriage, should we simply let them see how it all works? Would it not be great for wiser and older counsel within our University groups and churches (especially those of our leaders who are married) to assist them, and to ensure that they are balancing their responsibilities.
In the end, I am sure this will have a much greater benefit to the uni ministries, and to the lives of the servants, than simply having more relationships fail because the girls felt neglected as their guys did too much ministry.

What happened to just proclaiming the gospel?

Christian ministry is hard. The challenges and the time involved do not always lead to a great reward right now. The temptation is always to find an easy fix, a quick solution, a way to make things happen without trying very hard.

The struggles and the temptations can lead to seeing despair in the midst of hope, can lead to faithful servants abandoning their post feeling ashamed of their arguments, and sick of defending orthodoxy.

The falling away of friends into the hands of theological liberalism, or even them just not caring as much anymore is also tragic.

Churchianity has deep roots in every denomination, but since I started university, (and obviously before that time too), not long has gone by without a major announcement that someone somewhere has misapplied the scriptures. Whether it is the preacher who suggests that not seeking riches is a false and defeatest mindset for a Christian, the preacher whose own personal unrepentance of certain obvious sins did not disqualify him from becoming a bishop, or the clerics who have been so swept up in modernist rationalism, feminist activism and hedonistic feel-goodism so as to be washed away from a solid biblical base.

As the writer to the Hebrews said

Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever. Do not be led away by diverse and strange teachings, for it is good for the heart to be strengthened by grace, not by foods, which have not benefited those devoted to them. (Hebrews 13:8-9)

If anyone out there reading this finds the pressure too much, and wishes to give up; just remember that Jesus Christ has died and rose again. He has given us an eternal inheritance, undefiled, unfading and kept in heaven. We need to be continually strenghtened by the grace of God.

Why Be Anglican?

I don't know who is reading this blog, but one thing stands out starkly from what Rowan Williams said last week, the Archbishop values denominational unity above gospel unity.

A similar thing happened to the now effectively defunct Student Christian Movement about 100 years ago. The battles are outlined in the book pictured on the left.

But there has now been time for a response on the issues at hand.
Nigerian Bishops Respond

The Archbishop says we “have tried to be a family of Churches willing to learn from each other across cultural divides, not assuming that European (or American or African) wisdom is what settles everything, opening up the lives of Christians here to the realities of Christian experience everywhere”. He then goes on to suggest that the genuine concerns expressed about orthodoxy and the need to contend for the faith once entrusted to the saints, have made the debate harder, and “reinforced the lines of division and led to enormous amounts of energy going into ‘political’ struggle (!) with and between churches in different parts of the world.” The idea that these genuine concerns have degenerated to the “politicization of a theological dispute” instead of “reasoned debate” is very sadly patronizing. One would have expected that those who had embarked on this religious misadventure would be encouraged to judge their actions against our well-established historic tradition.

A prominent Sydney man responds:

Christian unity is not forged in constitutional structures. Christian unity is a unity of mind and understanding. It is “being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind” (Philippians 2:2).

It is ridiculous to pretend that the Anglican Communion has such unity. A new non-theological covenant of constitutional unity, created by the bishops who have caused so much of our present unhappy divisions will inevitably be a new tyranny.

If the Archbishop wants a theological covenant – we have one already called the 39 Articles of Religion. It was agreed upon “For the avoidance of diversities of opinions and for the establishing of consent touching upon true religion.” Rather than getting the bishops to write a new one, why not call them back to the observing the old one. It is called repentance. It is something that the Episcopal Church has repeatedly refused to do.

I guess the title once again reflects my frustrations. There is a reason to be Anglican, but unfortunately, if being Anglican is the main game, the gospel will be ignored.