This article is SATIRE, however... it hits a little close to home if you ask me. What are your thoughts on the Church's new habit of calling everyday activities that all Christians are called to do "ministries"? Are there good things about doing this? Can you think of examples of regular activities that Christians have dubbed "ministries" which are really just supposed to be us, living life as we're called to?
Church Declares Every Possible Activity A Ministry | The Babylon Bee
Hey Grace
!
Wow, is this article really a satirical piece? It sounded dead serious... and not very far from what we see everywhere in society today--including churches.
This subject is tough because I've been in some churches that had a clear, if unspoken, "Hierarchy of Ministry and Importance," based on how "spiritual" your "work" was. If you planned to be a pastor or teacher within that denomination, you were top dog. However, if you were a businessman, you were seen as someone in dangerous need of being "kept within the fences", lest you be tempted by the love of money. However, if you were giving a good portion of that money to the church, you were definitely more highly regarded and the fact that you had a "worldly" profession was more generously overlooked.
There has to be a balance in which every Christian holds value. Surely the Christian parent who fights the battle every day of raising his/her kids against the world's standards has an all-important ministry at home. After all, Paul said, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God." (1 Cor. 10:31)
But like all things in life, where is the line? When is someone who sleeps in all the time, or doesn't want to change out of their pajamas... just plain lazy, and needs to be held accountable for their behavior? (I'm not saying all people who oversleep or want to stay home are lazy--I don't oversleep but more often than not, I want to stay home--but I think you know what I mean.)
This article reminded me of another one I read recently about a man who was participating in a group for sex addiction. The longest relationship he'd have with a woman was maybe a week or however long it took for him to become bored with that person. At the group meeting, he was told that he "did not have a problem, but rather, a sickness he couldn't help," and that "there wasn't anything wrong" with him, but that he was someone who was "trying to get better", and should receive a lot of pats on the along the way for his efforts.
This mindset embodies today's "entitled" culture: "I'm not at fault. There's nothing wrong with me, and I'm fine just the way I am. At most, I might have a sickness, but that's not my fault either, and I deserve a lot of credit and constant praise for even trying to improve", even if that means "getting help" and never putting it into practice.
I am all for finding ways to make use of everyone's talents, but there is a fine line between social groups as ministries and social groups that have no foundation in faith. I was envisioning a "Let's Go Grab a Beer After Work 'Ministry'", and while I have nothing against someone having a beer, anyone can see how this could go downhill very quickly, especially if they think they're participating in "ministry work" that justifies social drinking.
I'm not saying social drinking is wrong (though I choose not to in most cases), but for my own personal convictions, this would probably cross a line. (I'm envisioning being turned into the Designated Driver of the group who is expected to get everyone home safely because they all got "caught up" "in the ministry" that night.)
However, the culture today (and the church along with it) is losing any sense of discernment. This article seems to say, "Do whatever you want," which eliminates any need for sacrifice, picking up our crosses and denying our flesh, and obeying God even when we don't want to.
So not only is it saying, "Go ahead and do (or don't do) whatever you feel like doing (or not doing), because we'll just slap the word 'Ministry' on it and you can believe you're doing great things for the Lord", which easily fits the culture of the day, but not the God of the Bible.
*Just read Shour's post.* This article actually felt all too real to me... in some of the churches I've attended and people I've spoken to.
