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Tag: Community

The Ministry Of Proclaiming

Published by Jeff Kennon on October 22, 2014

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The highest service to perform, according to Dietrich Bonhoeffer, is the proclamation of the Word. This ministry of the Word is the fourth and final service in which Bonhoeffer believes the Christian community owes to each other.

Though Bonhoeffer does believe the proclamation of the Word is the most crucial service, this does not negate the others. He writes that “where the ministry of listening, active helpfulness, and bearing with others is faithfully performed, the ultimate and highest service can also be rendered, namely, the ministry of the Word of God.”

It is only when we listen, help, and bear with others that the door is opened to speak the word into their lives. Bonhoeffer writes:

If [speaking the word] is not accompanied by worthy listening, how can it really be the right word for the other person? If it is contradicted by one’s own lack of active helpfulness, how can it be a convincing and sincere word? If it issues, not from a spirit of bearing and forbearing, but from impatience and the desire to force its acceptance, how can it be the liberating and healing word?

Don’t Fear!

We must not fear this responsibility to speak the Word to one another. If we cannot bring ourselves to speak God’s Word, then we need to reexamine our view of our Christian brother or sister. Regardless of “how old or highly placed or distinguished [a Christian brother] may be,” writes Bonhoeffer, “he is still a man like us, a sinner in crying need of God’s grace. He has the same great necessities that we have, and needs help, encouragement, and forgiveness as we do.”

One thing that helps us in speaking the Word to others is allowing others to speak the Word to us. If we humbly accept reproof from God’s Word spoken by others, then “the more free and objective will we be in speaking ourselves.” Bonhoeffer writes that “the person whose touchiness and vanity make him spurn a brother’s earnest censure cannot speak the truth in humility to others; he is afraid of being rebuffed and of feeling that he has been aggrieved.” But let humility reign and we will speak the word because the humble “seeks nothing for himself and has no fears for himself, [so] he can help his brother through the Word.”

Speak It In Everyday Life

What Bonhoeffer means by speaking the Word to one another is important to understand. It is not necessarily done in a formal gathering but in the day to day activities with one another. He writes that “what we are concerned with here is the free communication of the Word from person to person, not by the ordained ministry which is bound to a particular office, time, and place.”

“God has put His Word in our mouth,” writes Bonhoeffer. “He wants it to be spoken through us. If we hinder His Word, the blood of the sinning brother will be upon us. If we carry out His Word, God will save our brother through us.” Fairly strong words for us to speak the Word. But we must remember that it is living and active, sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing to the division of soul and of spirit, of joints and of marrow, and discerning the thoughts and intentions of the heart (Heb. 4:12).

Let’s not back away from speaking the Word to others today. For all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work (2 Tim. 3:16-17). But let’s do so only as we listen, help, and bear one another’s burden.

 

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The Ministry Of Bearing

Published by Jeff Kennon on October 21, 2014

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What does it mean to serve one another? This is the question that I have been thinking through as I have been highlighting a portion of Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together (chapter 4). Bonhoeffer writes of four acts of service in which he believes the Christian community owes each other. So far, I have posted about the ministry of listening and the ministry of helpfulness. Today, we discuss the third act of service, the ministry of bearing.

The Ministry of Bearing

Paul wrote that we should bear one another’s burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ (Gal. 6:2). “Thus,” writes Bonhoeffer, “the law of Christ is a law of bearing. Bearing means forbearing and sustaining. The brother is a burden to the Christian, precisely because he is a Christian. For the pagan the other person never becomes a burden at all. He simply sidesteps every burden that others may impose upon him.”

For Bonhoeffer, “the Christian must bear the burden of a brother” for “it is only when he is a burden that another person is really a brother and not merely an object to be manipulated.” It is our duty as believers to bear with one another and therefore show to the world that we are Christ’s disciples. Jesus said: A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another: just as I have loved you, you also are to love one another. By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another (John 13:34-35). Is not love exhibited as we bear with one another?

What Does It Mean To Bear With One Another?

Bonhoeffers lists two things that we bear for one another. The first is freedom. We do not “play God” in the brother’s life and seek to control or manipulate, but we let “God create His image in him” instead of us “stamping our image upon him.”

“The freedom of the other person,” writes Bonhoeffer, “includes all that we mean by a person’s nature, individuality, endowment. It also includes his weaknesses and oddities, which are such a trial to our patience, everything that produces frictions, conflicts, and collisions among us.” But we bear with them. We are not quick to judge or coerce but instead, walk with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love (Eph. 4:2).

The second thing we bear is sin. Sin is much harder to bear than freedom for “here the Christian suffers the rupture of his fellowship with the other person that had its basis in Jesus Christ.” However, “it is only in bearing with him that the great grace of God becomes wholly plain.” Did not Christ welcome and receive us in the midst of our sin? Did he not bear our sin and forgive? How much more should we forgive one another?

It is the bearing of sins that should lead one to self-examination instead of judgment. Bonhoeffer writes that “when does sin ever occur in the community that he must not examine and blame himself for his own unfaithfulness in prayer and intercession, his lack of brotherly service, of fraternal reproof and encouragement, indeed for his own personal sin and spiritual laxity, by which he has done inure to himself, the fellowship, and the brethren?”

The Strength To Bear With One Another

The power to bear with one another is to know that “he who is bearing others knows that he himself is being borne, and only in this strength can he go on bearing.” It’s humbling to realize that someone is “bearing our burdens” and that we stand in continual need of forgiveness for our offenses.

The Christian community forgives, however, and accepts us in all our quirkiness trusting that God is transforming us. So when we are quick to judge and wish to push off bearing with our Christian brother or sister, may we remember that first, Christ has borne our sins, and second, so have many in our Christian community.

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The Ministry of Helpfulness

Published by Jeff Kennon on October 15, 2014

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As I continue to expand upon Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s 4 services/ministries in which the Christian community owes to each other (found in his book Life Together), I am continually made aware of the life-giving nature of each. And I’m also amazed at the simplicity of them. Each service can be and should be performed by each member of the body of Christ.

The First Service

The first service that Bonhoeffer mentions and in which I expounded upon earlier was the ministry of listening. When we listen, we “listen with the ears of God,” writes Bonhoeffer. And with the fast-paced, information saturated, social media-driven world in which we live, listening has become lost. But if we will decide to perform the ministry of listening, as has been given to us by God, it will be much like giving water to a parched man or woman.

The Second Service

The service that is being highlighted in this post is the second of the four. It is the ministry of helpfulness. Bonhoeffer writes that helpfulness is “simple assistance in trifling external matters.” It’s important to notice that Bonhoeffer sees that the helpfulness we give to others is in the ordinary day to day needs that come about. It’s not that we don’t help one another during crisis times. Those are quite apparent. What might not be readily recognizable are the “trifling” matters.

Just as was true for the ministry of listening, our tendency towards busyness, as well as our bent towards making everything about ourselves, can make it hard for us to sometimes see and help with the needs of those around us. However, Bonhoeffer writes that “we must be ready to allow ourselves to be interrupted by God as He will be constantly crossing our paths and canceling our plans by sending us people with claims and petitions.”

To have our day or plans interrupted does not always bring a joyful response from us. And such negative attitudes reveals our heart of selfishness. This is why Bonhoeffer says that we need humility. “It is the part of the discipline of humility,” he writes, “that we must not spare our hand where it can perform a service and that we do not assume that our schedule is our own to manage, but allow it to be arranged by God.”

Though Bonhoeffer writes of the ministry of helpfulness as that which we owe each other as a Christian community, helping those around us who are outside the church is also needed. So we must look around us to see the needs. And once again, these are not necessarily the huge crisis moments. It could be that someone just needs help carrying his/her paperwork to the office.

Bonhoeffer wants us to remember that helpfulness, most importantly, opens the door for God’s Word to be shared. He writes: “Only where hands are not too good for deeds of love and mercy in everyday helpfulness can the mouth joyfully and convincingly proclaim the message of God’s love and mercy.” Many of us have heard the saying that “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.” Bonhoeffer would agree.

So let’s do life today with open eyes, hearts, and hands that are willing to be interrupted!

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The Ministry Of Listening

Published by Jeff Kennon on October 14, 2014

images If there has been one book that has been helpful to me in understanding service and ministry in the church community, it has been Dietrich Bonhoeffer’s book Life Together. Though the entire book is worth the read, I have found that his chapter on ministry (chapter 4) to be one that I continue to reread from time to time. It is in this chapter that Bonhoeffer highlights four acts of service that believers owe to each other and to which I would like to expand on for the next few posts.

A Quick Look At Bonhoeffer

Before we look at Bonhoeffer’s list of services we owe each other, it’s important to know a bit about Bonhoeffer himself. He was born in Berlin in 1906 and was a theologian, a churchman, and led an underground seminary during the Nazi regime. Most importantly, Bonhoeffer took up the pen of which his work, The Cost of Discipleship, has been widely read. Bonhoeffer was hanged in 1945 by the Gestapo on charges of conspiracy to kill Hitler.

A key to understanding Bonhoeffer is his Christology. For Bonhoeffer, Christ and the cross were central in his thought and dictated his understanding of the church and its ministry to others. Therefore, Life Together is Bonhoeffer’s understanding of Christian community in which Christ is at the center.

For more biographical information on Bonhoeffer I suggest Bonhoeffer: Pastor, Martyr, Prophet, Spy by Eric Metaxas. For a good  understanding of his theology and thought, Bonhoeffer on the Christian Life by Stephen J. Nichols is valuable.

The Ministries We Owe Each Other

As Bonhoeffer begins to write of the ministries we are to perform for each other as brothers and sisters in Christ, he is aware that there is no greater service than to proclaim God’s word to one another. However, he writes that “a Christian community does not consist solely of preachers of the Word.” Other ministry must not be overlooked for if they are, “we can go monstrously wrong.”

The services that Bonhoeffer writes that we owe each other, and of which we will examine a bit more closely, are: the ministry of listening, the ministry of helpfulness, the ministry of bearing, and the ministry of proclaiming.

The First Service

The first service that Bonhoeffer writes of is the ministry of listening. He writes that “just as love to God begins with listening to His Word, so the beginning of love for the brethren is learning to listen to them.” We are often quick to want to contribute a word (especially preacher-types), but we must not “forget that listening can be a greater service than speaking.”

We must realize that there are many people who are in need of a listening ear. This is especially true in the busy and hurried culture in which we live. But because we also are caught up in living such fast-paced lives, we don’t have time to listen to those in need. But Bonhoeffer writes that “anyone who thinks that his time is too valuable to spend keeping quiet [listening to others] will eventually have no time for God and his brother, but only for himself and for his own follies.”

I feel that listening however, is not just a ministry to our Christian community. It is something that we as Christ-followers should give to the world around us. Consider sharing the gospel with others. Is not listening a vital ingredient?  Jonathan Dodson writes:

The work or calling of an evangelist isn’t to drop names, recite presentations, or campaign politics. Rather, the work of the evangelist is to listen patiently for minutes, hours, days, weeks, and years in order to wisely show others how the gospel is actually worth believing.

Let us remember the need to listen. “Christians have forgotten,” writes Bonhoeffer, “that the ministry of listening has been committed to them by Him who is Himself the great listener and whose work they should share.” We must therefore, practice the ministry of listening for as we do, we “listen with the ears of God in order that we may speak the Word of God.”

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Does True Fellowship Involve Mission?

Published by Jeff Kennon on June 23, 2014

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As I have been reading through Philippians, my idea of what it means to have “fellowship” or “community” with other believers has deepened. Paul writes:

I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. It is right for me to feel this way about all of you, since I have you in my heart and, whether I am in chains or defending and confirming the gospel, all of you share in God’s grace with me (Philippians 1:3-7).

In this passage, “partnership” and “share” is the word koinonia,  which is often translated as “fellowship.” Today, we sometimes equate fellowship with the idea of enjoying coffee or a meal with fellow believers. It is warm friendship.

However, koinonia is much more than that. D.A. Carson writes that “the heart of true fellowship is self-sacrificing conformity to a shared vision. There may be overtones of warmth and intimacy, but the heart of the matter is this shared vision of what is of transcendent importance, a vision that calls forth our commitment.”

Christian fellowship therefore, is “self-sacrificing commitment” to the gospel. The reason Paul was thankful for the church in Philippi was because they, like him, had a deep commitment to the gospel and as a result, longed to see it spread. This is why they supported Paul financially and gave sacrificially to him along with the believers in Jerusalem (see 2 Corinthians 8:1-5).

For both Paul and the Philippians, the “fellowship” they experienced was due to their commitment to the spread of the gospel. They shared in the grace of God together and such grace pushed them outside of themselves to the mission of God in which they experienced true fellowship. And I might add they experienced true joy as well.

So the question we must ask ourselves is: Can true fellowship or community exist outside of mission? Kent Hughes does not think so. He writes:

But if you are looking for true fellowship, give yourself to the gospel at home and around the world. Serve together with others in women’s Bible studies, children’s ministries, youth ministries. Do short-term missions. Join mercy work to alleviate suffering in places like the vast area devastated by Katrina. Take the good news to the poor. Join a band of brothers and sisters to pray for the world. This is how you will experience genuine Christian fellowship. 

I hear many Christians today longing for community and I wonder if we might be pushing them in the wrong direction? We make sure everyone is in a small group hoping that fellowship will emerge when maybe we should be helping people understand how they can work with others in carrying out the Great Commission.

I am not against small groups as I think they can serve as a catalyst for true fellowship in the gospel. Jesus led a small group and it ended up changing the world.

Bottom line: I think we need to examine what it means to have true community. If we have divorced it from the mission of the gospel, I think we are missing out on the vibrant fellowship that Paul experienced with “all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi.”

 

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