THE JOURNEY SO FAR

Andy Stanley was asked to address the issue of ministry focus during the Willow Creek Association's Leadership Summit yesterday. There he suggested that our love for progress and achievement in ministry combined with fear of failure caused by an over-inflated view of our own importance in the process of ministry drives many of us to cheat our families, thrusting them into God's hands as we head out the door, pleading with him to fill in the gap in our absence.

At one point early in ministry Stanley had to admit there simply weren't enough hours in the day for him to succeed in building up the church and meeting the needs of his family. He went on to explain that the most important ministry decision he has ever made was to clarify his roles in those two spheres of responsibility.

As Stanley understood Jesus' promise that HE would build the church (Matt. 16:18) while in Eph. 5:25 that Andy's responsibility was to love his wife as Christ loved the church, he realized he'd reversed the roles. And so he made the hard decision early in ministry to limit his involvement to 45 hours a week at the church, trusting God to "fill in the gap" he had already promised to fulfill. This freed him up to assume the responsibility only he was commanded to assume, learning to love his wife (and children) with the same selfless love Christ has for the church.

I think Stanley's point is valid, but I think he's missed an even more far-reaching benefit to recognizing God's role to build His church.

Jesus actually sums up the most important of God's commands to us by charging us to "Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind (and to) love your neighbor as yourself.' Matt 22:37,39

We're not only too busy in church matters to be part of our family. We neglect our neighbors as well. Who couldn't stand to profit from more time to share life with those living around us, being salt and light in today's society. By learning to limit our hours in "working at the church" (or our business for that matter) and re-engaging in the life of our home and neighborhood we will find that the church's mandate; the Great Commission, will find fulfillment.