Every job has its ethical gray areas, even Christian
ministry. Also, every generation of
worker, including ministers, faces new challenges due to changes
in technology, political climate, training, and other factors. Being ever vigilant in one’s calling means
not only receiving adequate (and ongoing!) training, but also being aware of
dangers particular to one’s calling and context. Here are five dangers hat I believe are the most
pressing in current Christian ministry contexts. I know there are many more. See what you think.
1. Technology:
This is an obvious one for many, but there are various dangers inherent in
technology. The most obvious are
probably the misuse of technology. Misuse of technology occurs in various ways in ministry, including: accessing sites that may
be spiritually detrimental and physically addictive (i.e., pornography),
substituting technological communication for face to face time with parishoners
and family, allowing technology to become a waste of time (i.e., replacing time better
spent doing more important things), and making use of the ease of communication
provided by technology to fire off an ill-advised e-mail or post a thoughtless reply on
social networks. These abuses have
already caused difficulty for thousands of Christian ministers by harming
relationships and reputations.
Technology is a tool, and like all tools, they can be misused to the
point of great danger.
Having said all of that, the
upside of this tool is that it can further the cause of the message of
Christ! So, another danger associated
with technology is to completely ignore it altogether. Churches who fear technology or do not engage
members and potential members with technology are failing to speak an important
language in our culture. Just as Jesus
used contemporary stories and metaphors to communicate, so too can we as
ministers of Christ use the contemporary tool of technology for good. Moderation is the key, as I stated above, but
neglect of this great tool can have crippling effects on the future of one’s ministry.
2. Politics: The
rise of technology and worldwide access to ideas and events has brought about a
kind of political revolution. Politics
is the key talking point of the day, with people taking their cues from their
favorite network and/or political pundits and then spreading versions of arguments
(some well thought out, some not so much) all over the web. Prominent church leaders court jobs at Fox
News, Huffington Post, or MSNBC as future career goals, rather than taking more
difficult and nuanced stands on the issues of the day as spokespeople for Jesus
Christ and His Kingdom. One’s political
positions are much more highly valued among most Christians today than one’s
theology, and consequently, the language of politics has often replaced the
language of theology in church life. The
danger for the minister is one of falling into a simple political category
instead of allowing the message of Christ to do what Christ has always done: transcend
and redefine categories! This is not to
say that one’s theology and one’s politics are unrelated, of course. Our theology should indeed affect and
transform politics. However, the danger
remains that in most of American church life, it is politics that transforms
theology. As one mentor of mine once said: If you are equally aggravating the Left and Right, you're probably coming close to the message that Jesus wants you to proclaim!
3. Marketing:
Like the other two, marketing is really just a tool. However, when the tool becomes the focus, as
has happened in the past 30 years or so in much of American church life, a
monster is created that is not recognizable as far as biblical Christianity is
concerned. It is very tempting for
Christian ministers to simply do things based upon demographics and personal
preferences instead of basing decisions and approaches to ministry upon sound theology. The results are obvious: hundreds of
declining churches and denominations who are dying because the marketing approaches that produced numeric gain produced little if any depth in their theology - or their loyalty! They lived by the sword of marketing (to
paraphrase Jesus) and are now dying by that same sword. By making parishoners into simple consumers,
we have turned Jesus into just another competing commodity. Again, marketing can be a useful tool if it is
used to connect people to the good news of Jesus and to extend the message of
Christ’s love further into the world.
However, it becomes a danger when churches are based simply on mass
appeal instead of the deep truths of Scripture and of Christ.
4. Neglecting the
Marketplace: Being honest about the dangers of marketing does not allow us
to neglect the marketplace: the place where a majority of our parishoners spend
over 1/3 of their time! To worship and
preach as if the business world and the day to day jobs of working class people
do not exist is to miss out on the very mission field we are called to
penetrate as Christian ministers.
Learning the language and priorities of business is important in order
to demonstrate that we take seriously those who are serving Christ in various
professions, whether they be teachers, nurses, entrepreneurs, or construction
workers. By demonstrating that we deem
these jobs important in the work of the kingdom, we earn the credibility to
assist them in modeling Christlike ways of measuring things like success,
wealth, and relevance.
Of course, if we are busy
simply trying to emulate a business model in our churches, we are not teaching
or discipling. Indeed, we are buying
into the very dangers that our marketplace parishoners are struggling
with. Demonstrating to them the biblical
value of where they are called to serve opens them up to discipleship, which
will not only benefit their own sense of satisfaction in the workplace, but
will also allow them to see opportunities of service within the local church as
connected to what they are doing at work.
One further word of
caution here: if we are going to connect with professionals, we must be
professional in the way in which we approach our callings. I do not mean “professional” in the cold,
stereotypical sense of that word, though.
I mean that we must take our sense of calling and work as seriously as
they do in regard to our preparation, continuing education, and consistency.
5. Busy-ness:
This may be the most difficult danger to address. Eugene Peterson once wrote that certain kinds
of busy-ness is sinful, especially for the minister (see Peterson’s now classic
work called The Contemplative Pastor). This is because, as C.S. Lewis once remarked,
it is the lazy person who often becomes the busiest, since he or she becomes
too busy because of lack of planning and foresight. We know from Scripture that too much idleness
can be harmful. However, ultra-busyness
is our culture’s new form of idleness!
As backward as this may sound, what I mean is this: Busy-ness is often
our society’s means of avoiding more important pursuits and interactions. Filling our schedules to the brim often leaves
out meaningful time for prayer, for service to others, and for deeper
interaction with our families and loved ones.
This “idle busy-ness” attacks our health, our creativity, and our
relationships, especially our relationship with the God who often says: “Be still,
and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). This idle busyness may make us appear important, but it actually belittles the more contemplative and relational aspects of our lives and ministries in the long run.
The Remedy
The good news about all of these contemporary
dangers is that the remedy for combatting them remains the same as it has always been:
Christ-centered, Spirit-led, devoted, theologically-sound service of God. This puts God’s priorities above all else,
whether it is in the use of technology, in politics, in reaching out, in
connecting others with the mission, or in prioritizing our schedules. When God’s priorities become embodied in our
approach to ministry and to life, we become His voice to a world that longs for
better priorities, fulfillment, and peace.
