I just finished reading a truly excellent book by Ajith Fernando entitled Jesus Driven Ministry. If you are in ministry in any role and in any capacity, you should definitely read this book. It's helpful, challenging, and encouraging. Most importantly, it is steadfastly biblical.
Fernando has many helpful things to say throughout the book, but I wanted to highlight one particularly poignant section. In his chapter on "Ministering to the Sick and Demon-Possessed," he shares the following insights:
"We are seeing more and more people today who are moving to churches 'where they feel most comfortable.' When did comfort become such a high value in ministry and church life? Was it when we left the path of biblical Christianity? The gospel is too radical and the needs of the world too urgent for us to ever be comfortable! But many Christians today have come to think that a major goal of the church is to entertain people and supply them with services that they want, such as a good youth program or music program. In such an environment, we are going to see people moving to churches where they are comfortable. The result will be that churches are going to miss out on some vital sources of enrichment through discomfort. They will become unhealthy by missing out on biblical wholeness. Biblical churches always are uncomfortable places because they are always looking for biblical wholeness."
As someone who has a sinful tendency to idealize comfort, I find this challenge convicting. I also find it encouraging, because it shows us that the goal is not to please people but to please God. And thankfully he is a patient and forgiving God! May we take Fernando's words, based as they are upon Scripture, to heart.
The quote is from Ajith Fernando, Jesus Driven Ministry (Wheaton: Crossway, 2002), 197.
Curtis, does Fernando's use of "comfortable" specifically mean entertainment, good programs, etc.? Or does it extend to what people individually perceive as comfortable? For example, would it include a reform person being comfortable only in a reform church or a charismatic in a pentacostal church?
ReplyDeleteI think more the latter, but the main idea is that we want to surround ourselves with people who look and think just like us instead of those who might challenge us. But there’s also a sense in which we prioritize entertainment and physical comfort and so don’t want to follow the Lord in ways that might take us away from these comforts. I know that’s a big temptation for me. And it’s not that comfort and entertainment are bad things, just that they can become idols.
ReplyDeleteThx!
DeleteI also think he’s saying that many choose their church home based on entertainment value and if they have programs and things that meet their “needs,” rather than being guided by Scripture. Again, it’s not that those things are wrong, but they can become idols.
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