Pastor of Desperation
Mark Labberton
January 1, 2006
A man once appeared at my office door asking for some bullet points on Christianity to help make sense of the dinner conversations he was having with his wife, a recent convert. He made it clear he was very busy, very successful, and didn't really have time to study her beliefsHTBjust bullet points, now, please. It would have been easy to hand him a book or pamphlet. That can be good. But instead, I said, "I can see you are a very busy, successful person, so I don't think this is a good idea." "Why?" he asked, frustrated. "Because," I said, "if I were to give you the bullet points, and you were to really understand them, they have a way of working into a person's life so significantly that your life could really get messed up. You would have to rethink the meaning of success, of time, of family, of everything, really. I don't think you want to do that, do you?" It was an effort to raise his thirst, not to give him answers. In his case, it worked. The pervasive models of ministry in North America are those whose popularity comes in part from their extraordinary ability to meet needs. Remarkable programs service every nuance of middle class American life. From megachurches to country parishes, as needs present themselves, the church seeks to provide answers. It's true, of course, that at a profound level, God meets our needs: for redemption and re-creation. We are called to an incarnational ministry that literally embodies the love of God. We worship a God who came among us as one who serves and who calls us to imitate him. What, then, could be more obvious than that churches do everything in their power to meet needs? It might be this straightforward, except for one notable thing: Jesus did not seem especially or consistently inclined ...
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