where they are

Today I’m thinking about incarnational ministry. For the longest time I had no idea what that phrase meant. Honestly, it wasn’t until my senior year of college that I could tell you the definition of “incarnation” without having to think about it for a minute. It’s one of those church words I don’t think many people us outside of talking about Jesus. It’s a great word to pull out if you want to make people think you’re a deep theologian though. Give it a try sometimes.

Incarnation just means “in the flesh.” It’s used to talk about Jesus as he was God in human form. Jesus was God “in the flesh”, or God “incarnate” if you’re looking impress the women at church. Really, I can’t help but think of a nice juicy steak when I hear the word.

When we talk about this we’re normally talking about how awesome it is that God loved us so much that he came down and lived as one of us to teach us the way back to his Kingdom. Today, I want you to think of “where the people are” when you think of the word “incarnational.” Incarnational ministry is ministry alongside the people in your youth group or congregation. It’s a participation in their rhythms outside the walls of the church.

Incarnational ministry is ministry that is out “where the people are.” Incarnational ministry takes us outside the walls of the church and into the world around us. It takes us beyond church programming and into people’s homes, into sporting events, and into people’s “normal” rhythms. In youth ministry, this looks like coaching sports, spending time with families during the week, attending recitals, plays, etc. Incarnational ministry gets us out of our church bubble and makes us better ministers and communicators.

I spend a lot of time with other ministers, reading ministry books, and doing ministry things. But while I’m doing that, people are living lives where they aren’t thinking about theology and aren’t reading Karl Barth or Francis Chan. If I minister from my ministry bubble I won’t connect with anyone except for the 1% of super Christians that are probably better people than me anyway. But, if I’m out of my bubble and in other people’s bubbles throughout the week then I know the things they’re thinking about and the questions they’re asking. I’m able to speak into their situations and lives.

To be successful ministers we have to be incarnational ministers. We have to be where the people in our congregations are. Our ministries, our teaching, and our congregational culture will be a lot more relevant if we break out of our bubbles and into the bubbles of our people. I can’t tell you how much I’ve learned this year and how much better I can connect with our students because of incarnational ministry.

If you’re in professional ministry – get outside the walls of the church. If you aren’t a minister. Invite your pastor into your bubble.

What are your thoughts on incarnational ministry?

from the overflow

It’s interesting that students at Christian colleges and seminaries don’t go to chapel. More to the point, most of them despise chapel. It’s a funny thing really. You would think we would jump on chapel like a soccer mom on a Black Friday TV, but for some reason it’s just not our thing.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not too keen on taking the time out of my schedule to go to chapel unless I have to. As I write this post please understand that I’m not standing on the other side of the room pointing fingers, I’m right in the midst of all the other heathens. As I write post I’m reminded of the tension I feel when it comes to chapel services. Am I less of a Christian because I don’t value chapel?

Probably.

Even when we go to chapel we’re quick to critique things and think of ways we would have done differently. I truly feel bad for campus minsters and chaplains at Christian Colleges and Seminaries. They probably have the toughest audiences of anyone. I imagine that being a campus minister/chaplain of a Christian college or seminary is a lot like being a musician in Nashville. They say Nashville is a hard place for musicians to play because they’re playing for other critical musicians, I think being a campus minister/chaplain has to be a lot like that.

All this being said, the campus ministers/chaplains I’ve had have been amazing, this is not a slight against them. I think this says more about the student/minister than the worship leader.

In a larger sense, ministers (for the most part) aren’t very good at participating in worship services they aren’t leading and aren’t good at being lead in spiritual disciplines. Again, I’m in this boat, but I think our ministries suffer because of this. If we’re not being spiritually led and fed by others, how can we lead and feed our congregations, small groups, students, etc?

The older I get the more I think we can’t, or at least, I can’t.

Youth Ministry guru Duffy Robbins recently wrote a book called Building a Youth Ministry that Builds Disciples. In this book, Robbins talks about ministry “from the overflow” of our personal faith formation. Robbins says our most effective and life changing work in ministry comes from the overflow of personal spiritual lives.

Not from knowledge, not from skill, not from charisma, but from the overflow of our spiritual lives. If our spiritual lives are rich and fruitful then our ministry will most likely follow suit.

I’ve found this to be true in our middle school ministry at FCC. My lessons hit a lot closer to home and are a lot more effective when I’m speaking from personal experience than they are when I’m speaking in generalized truths. We can’t lead people without knowing where we’re headed. We have to be lead and fed before we can feed and lead others.

So we need to get better at going to chapel!

Today, take a second to evaluate your spiritual life. Once you’ve done that, think about the connection between your spiritual life and your ministry. Are they strongly connected?

and we’re back!

It feels like a century since I last sat down to update the daily proffitt. After several months of spotty updating and lackluster posts I decided it was time to step away from the blog, re-evaluate, and store up some new ideas. I wasn’t sure whether or not to kill the blog in October, but after a few months off I’m ready to jump back in.

You’re reading this post on January 1st, but I’m actually writing in December. I want to get a head start on bringing the daily proffitt back up to speed. I’m using December to build a platform from which I can get a jump on 2014. I have some big plans for the coming year and I’m getting started on them early.

So much has happened since October (and before)! Seminary has given me a lot to think about, I’ve learned a lot about ministry through some pretty trying situations, and I’ve learned a lot about myself through Allison and I’s wedding preparation. 2013 has been a great year, and I’m excited for what 2014 has in store. There have been gleaning galore and I look forward to sharing those with you.

I hope you’ll join me on this new chapter of the journey.

If you’re new to the daily proffitt, welcome! I hope you’ll benefit from my reflections on life, ministry, and God’s kingdom (there might be a few soccer posts that slip in as well). If you’re returning to the daily proffitt, welcome back! I look forward to hearing about your stories and experiences as I share mine.

To give you a sneak peek, here are a few things I’m going to be writing about in these first few months back

– ministry from the overflow: the role of personal spiritual formation.
– ministry in the troughs: our lows dictate how high our “highs” can be.
– earning your stripes: the importance of staying put
– discipline: the power of routine
– living a new rhythm: when faith and action collide

Those are a few things I’ll be writing about in January and February. My intention is to offer new content every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. I would love for conversations to be started from my writing here so please feel free to comment, or send me an email at thedailyproffitt@gmail.com.

Here’s to a new year!