Ministry is messy. I was pondering that reality anew this morning as I ministered with and among the congregation I serve. Sometimes we leaders would like to be able to tidy things up, survey our ministry world and discover order and efficiency, to feel like we have a handle on things, that everything is in its place. Ministry is not like that; ministry is messy. It's messy because people are involved. In fact, not only are they involved, people are the point! Ministry is about people, for people, and with people. Because we're fallen human beings, each coming to church complete with foibles and imperfections along with gifts and beauty, then all that we do will be graced with messiness. Messy things are often slippery; they wriggle free of our grasp, they remain in disarray; as soon as we find order they revert immediately to chaos. Ask my son, Joe - there is great inherent beauty in messiness! It's a thing to be celebrated!
When you, as leader, find yourself frustrated with the messiness and chaos of ministry, ask yourself this question: Am I committed primarily to tasks or to people? As one among The Company of the Committed, this is a crucial query. I consider myself to be "whole-brained." That means that I utilize both sides of my brain in my thinking and creative processing, and indeed I intentionally tap into both. The "left brain" is logical and analytical - it likes systems and processes; it likes tasks and to-do lists - it likes to define process and accomplish tasks. It likes closure. From the "right brain" flows creativity and imagination. The right brain is much more comfortable with chaos, infinite possibility, abstraction, and ambiguity. It loves freedom and mystery and messiness. Each of you are primarily right or left-brained or whole brained. If you are primarily left-brained, or if you find yourself operating most often from that orientation, then it's easy to fall into the trap of valuing tasks above people. The left brain becomes easily frustrated when best-laid plans go awry, when tasks aren't completed on time, when other people inhibit or compromise progress, when you've communicated something "500 times" and people still don't get it or respond according to instructions.
When I look at the ministry of Jesus as presented in the Bible, I don't see him creating lists, running programs, managing systems, and becoming frustrated at an endless to-do list. I see him hanging out among the people, sharing Good News, healing the sick, encouraging the downtrodden, sharing table fellowship, praying . . . and being incredibly long-suffering. Indeed, as a leader, his relationship with his mentees - the disciples - was one of journeying together, sharing life and touching a needy world as they went. I'm not saying that systems and processes and programs and tasks are all wrong - they have their place for sure in 21st century ministry. The bible even tells us, "Let all things be done decently and in order" (1Cor. 14:40).
Here's the crux of the matter for me - if I as a leader become committed more to tasks than to people, then ministry becomes drudgery and I fall prey to anxiety, stress, depression, fatigue and discouragement; AND I wind up running over people and wounding them in the process. Conversely, when I maintain my focus on people, then ministry becomes cast in a colorful hue like a child's water color - it's messy, the colors are outside the lines, it's unpredictable, it may even at times seem undefinable. But the beauty lies in the people whom God calls us into community alongside. When I see people and ministry for what they are - imperfect, unpredictable, "slippery" - and when I tap into my sense of humor and am able to laugh at the quirkiness and craziness, then I begin to see people the way God does (dare I say I begin to see myself the way God does). God sees the mess and loves us just the same. God delights in bestowing love, grace, mercy, and good gifts upon his children. As one among The Company of the Committed, can you too become more loving, more merciful, more gracious, more giving, more long-suffering? I pray it be so this day in ever-increasing measure.
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