It is easy to forget in a day of unprecedented technology - email, blogs, twitter and the like that the best ministry is relational - face to face. It may take longer but it is certainly more effective.
Think of the difference between Old Testament days when God communicated in various ways but rarely face to face to the incarnation when God, in the form of the Son, Jesus, came and dwelt among us. It was that deeply relational connection with Jesus over three years that prepared the disciples for their future ministry.
In our driven and out of control schedules we often miss the importance of relationship or even of face to face communication. Even in my world of having staff around the world Skype makes it possible to talk face to face where one can see one another, look into one another's eyes and read one another's faces.
God is a personal God and we are in a personal ministry of representing Him. Given the choice choose personal communication and face to face over emails and impersonal communication.
2 comments:
Point well said and well taken. It is also true that the Holy Spirit is the one we have to be relating to for it to matter. I often think humans cling too strongly to merely human relationships and churches often make demands of leaders' personal time that are outrageous. Jesus never allowed his time to be preoccupied by the agendas of anyone but His Father in heaven.
In the list of spiritual foundations, community is not the cornerstone, Jesus is. Know Him, know life. True fellowship is added to faith.
I could not agree more - all the commands (especially in Jesus mouth) are relational - love, do unto others, 100% relational. And we have made it rule and matrix based, what % to give, how long to pray, how long to study. Yet the commands require only love.
Thanks TJ - this has been on my mind a bunch, and this helps.
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