My answer to a friend: There is no success in ministry, only service and moments of celebration. If you choose to minister, expect to be misunderstood. All of the pain people carry will fall upon your brow, and you shall be the stand-in for every ignorant statement...
According to the gospels, Jesus wasn’t married. Jesus didn’t have children. People have still allowed him to lead their entire lives. The same is true for the apostle Paul and countless others in the Christian tradition. Should Joan of Arc have her sainthood revoked...
How can we be the church of Jesus unless we reflect the ministry of Jesus? Is the church a radical incarnation of the ministry of Jesus or a private social club? from Where the Edge Gathers: Building a Community of Radical Inclusion
My biggest regret in 53 years of ministry is that I didn’t do my own personal exegesis sooner on the 4 passages used to restrict women. Shame on me. I wasted those 4 yrs of Greek in college & seminary. When I finally did my proper “due diligence”, laying aside 50...
A young minister asked me today for my philosophy of ministry in a nutshell. Before I could even think, this came out of my mouth: “If love can’t win it, it can’t be won; if love can’t do it, it can’t be done; in the end, love is the only answer.”
If awe for what God does through us surpasses awe for what He has done for us, ministry is our idol.
We're on this constant search to identify who is right and who is wrong. But Christ throughout his entire earthly ministry was seeking those who hunger and thirst. They are not the same thing.
The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us. from The Prophetic Imagination
God is not a belief-system. Jesus is not a religion. Christianity is not a check-list. Church is not an address. The Bible is not a book of doctrines. Community is not a meeting. Grace has no exceptions. Ministry is not a program. Art is not carnal. Women are not...
Let’s make a habit of believing women who are called to ministry. Before we say: “She lacks discernment or has selfish ambition”, look at the fruit in her life. Allow her to be a credible witness to the outworking of the gospel in her own life story.