Previous Post – Facing the Realities of Pastoring

Living and working in our neighbourhood has meant that we are regularly surrounded by systemic poverty, injustice and even dire crisis situations.  In the face of such realities there are times when fast acting, immediate aid is essential and therefore, inevitably less personal. After all, there is a time to “give a man a fish”.

However, the longer I live how I live, the more I realize that it is far too easy to depersonalize the “issues” of our broken world.  In the face of big challenges that can often (and accurately) seem beyond our ability, looking at statistics and considering sweeping solutions can often be an escape.  Again, these approaches can be very helpful and often necessary.  They cannot, however, be our default.  After all, we called to love our neighbour.

Pause there for a moment.  Love.  We have to love people.  Love requires vulnerability.  Love takes time.  A great deal of time.  Perhaps this, above most other dynamics, is why large scale fixes seem to conflict with missional ideals.  It is not that they are inherently bad in and of themselves, but they ultimately fail insofar as they rob us being and discovering Christ in the other.

Remember, as you seek to be a missional community to the world around you, beware of the “ease” and “efficiency” of the impersonal approaches.  We face the risk of positioning ourselves as saviours with the solutions when we should be recognizing our own frailty in the brokenness of others.

When it comes to being missional, don’t simply think big, think deep.