Transcript Can the church tolerate the separation of the theoretical task from the concrete situation of its own existence? Will theologians be permitted.

Can the church tolerate the separation of the theoretical task
from the concrete situation of its own existence? Will
theologians be permitted to do their work in cool absentia
while pastors sweat out their own existence in the steamy
space of the Church in the world? When theological
thinking is practiced in abstraction from the Church in
ministry, it inevitably becomes as much unapplied and
irrelevant as pure. When the theological mind of the
minister is educated primarily through experience, an
adhoc theology emerges which owes as much (or more) to
methodological and pragmatic concerns as to dogma. The
task to work out a theology for ministry begins properly
with the task of identifying the nature of and place of
ministry itself.
Ray Anderson (Theological Foundations for
Ministry)
The Achilles Heel of Pentecostals
Pragmatism
 Leviticus 10:1 – “Strange fire”
 “Aaron’s sons Nadab & Abihu took their
censers, put fire in them and added incense;
and they offered unauthorized fire before
the Lord, contrary to His command.”
 A divine task attempted with reliance on
human design alone.
Zechariah 4:6 – “Not by might, nor by power,
but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.
Might – human resources
Power – human resoluteness
Spirit – divine initiative and power for God’s
eternal purposes
The temptation to offer our resources to the
service of God believing that they are an
adequate substitute for God’s eternal
resource.
Matthew 7:21-23 – “Not everyone who says
to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the Kingdom
of heaven, but only he who does the will of
the Father who is in heaven. Many will say
to me on that day, Lord, Lord did we not
prophesy in your name and in your name
drive out demons and perform many
miracles? Then I will tell them Plainly, I
never knew you. Away from me you
evildoers!”
Success is rejected by the Lord as having no
kingdom legitimacy.
 Human efforts don’t even get a pat on the
back.
 We can actually think our usage of strange
fire/might-power/sign ministry carries with
it God’s seal of approval. Success is viewed
as self-authenticating.

So What?
How do we counteract bifurcation?
 How do we resist pragmatism?
 How do we challenge our culture’s
immunity to the Gospel?

Biblical Clues
God is at work! (John 5:17)
 God continues to empower His redemptive
mission (Acts 1:6-8)
 Pentecost is the guarantee that the Jesus of
the Gospels is the Jesus who continues His
ministry empowered by the Holy Spirit.
(Acts 2:22-24)
 Our ministry is the continuing ministry of
Christ working through us by the presence
and power of the Spirit of Christ.
II Cor.5:20

Discernment as an act of Church Leadership is the
minimal expectation for our 21st century church
leader (Acts 2:11-21)
Discernment – spiritual maturity to know the difference
between works of human effort and the continuing
ministry of Jesus empowered by the Spirit.
 Discernment assumes the present tense of Jesus
redemptive ministry.
 Discernment assumes that Christ’s Kingdom rule extends
over all human structures and efforts.
 Discernment strives to “see” the presence of Jesus in all
ministry actions & structures. (Not as an act of piety, but as
a biblical necessity.)
Discerning true ministry requires:
 A connectedness to the life of Jesus (John
15)
 An affirmation that holiness and ethics are
never mutually exclusive (II Cor. 5:20)
 A willingness to exegete ministry contexts
with the same rigor we exegete biblical
texts (Mt. 7:21-23)
 A commitment to evaluating ministry
methodology by whether or not it facilitates
Jesus continuing redemptive ministry.
Discernment of Ministry
Key Considerations
 Ministry action as “poiesis”.
 An action that produces a result.
 The end product of the action completes the act
regardless of what the future of the product may
be i.e. a ministry action can be viewed as effective
simply because it added more people or people
were supportive (fiscally) or people were
“blessed,” or it most effectively facilitated a
program’s success.
Ministry action as praxis-telos (discernment
of ultimate purpose.)
 A ministry action that includes the ultimate
purpose of that action as part of the action.
i.e. no ministry action, program or ministry
structure is incidental. It either reveals the
redemptive purpose of Jesus or it has no
contribution to make to God eternal
concerns. (Mt. 7:21-23)

Challenges Facing Ministry
Effectiveness
Pragmatism is the result of a willingness to be
tempted like Nadab & Abihu to substitute
our “stuff” for God’s design.
Pragmatism in ministry is a function of a
culture where consumerism is accepted as
normal and choice is a divine right.
Dissonance between a missional heritage and
a plateauing present reality.
Pentecost As A Compass
Pentecost orients us biblically to the inner logic of God’s
revelation of Himself in the world through Jesus Christ and
experientially to the eschatological vision of redemption of
the world.
Pentecost is the pivotal point from which we can look back to
the incarnation of God in Jesus of Nazareth and look
forward into our contemporary life and witness to Jesus
Christ in our world. Pentecost is more than a historical and
instrumental link between a theology of the incarnation
and a theology of the church. Pentecost is more than the
birth of the church, it is the indwelling power of the Spirit
of Christ as the source of the church’s life and ministry.”
(Ray Anderson, The Soul of Ministry, p.111)
The pragmatic demands of day to day ministry often tend to
overwhelm our vision (the capacity to see what God has
done in Jesus Christ II Cor. 5:17-20) and dull our
discernment (the capacity to see the congruence between
the Christ of Scripture and the Christ as work in current
ministry John 5:17)
A Pentecostal theology for ministry affirms the context and
activity of ministry is not merely the place for the
application of abstract principles or professional skills.
Ministry is the habitat of Jesus’ continuing ministry that
requires a spirituality nurturing both vision and
discernment as necessary for ministry effectiveness.
The Baptism of the Spirit and
Recovering a Muted Voice
“The Baptism of the Spirit in Pentecostalism is rightfully seen
as empowerment for service impacting the believer deeply
by giving him/her a tremendous boldness, a heightened
sense of personal holiness and a new sense of self worth
and personal power. Yet, the narrow individualistic focus
and purpose implies the dissipation. . .of so much energy
and spiritual power that can and should be “tapped” for the
broader missional objective of the church. The challenge
which remains for Pentecostals is to catch the vision of the
broader prophetic and vocation role of the Baptism of the
Spirit.”
(Eldin Villafane)