publication of a well-known evangelical organization a statement of purpose that
said in essence, we see our mission to be the promotion of innovation and
change. It went on to note that before a book describing the most recent ministry
innovation can be digested, it is obsolete and another innovation has already
taken its place. This simply underscores the fact that it is sometimes a tricky
business to find a place to stand from which to observe and assess the shape of
evangelical ministry.
We need to note that observations made here largely concern evangelical
ministry in the West--especially North America. While acknowledging that the
center of gravity of Christianity has dramatically shifted to other parts of the world
over the past quarter century, time will limit our scope here.
What follows in this paper is a brief examination of the fundamental contours of
ministry in terms of the theological foundations which mark its evangelical
character. Since our scope must necessarily be limited, we will specifically
examine three critical boundary markers, considering how we might strengthen
the evangelical integrity of ministry by cultivating it in the soil of sound theology.
The Theology-Ministry Disconnect
Our fundamental proposition is this: Authentic evangelical ministry is inextricably
linked to and shaped by sound theology. Sadly enough, in our day this is not a
given. The lack of a clear and necessary linkage of ministry and theology has
been thoroughly documented. It became glaringly evident to me a few years ago
in a conference for seminary deans and mega-church pastors facilitated by
Leadership Network. The issue at hand was a discussion of the many and varied
ministries being offered by these huge churches. As one mega-ministry pastor
was describing the vast array of "niched" ministries his church made available,
someone raised his hand and asked, "Could you talk to us a bit about the
theology underlying your strategies?" His immediate answer was striking. He
said, "This is not about theology; it's about ministry." The disconnect was blatant.
It is this disconnect which should trouble us. When Thomas Oden's Pastoral
Theology was published in 1983, he was then calling attention to the lack of any
systematic, scripturally-grounded work laying out pastoral theology in
contemporary ministry terms. He observed that throughout the prior century we
had somehow lost touch with the biblical and theological foundations necessary
for authentic ministry. He pointed out that "we do not have in our time what was
so widely available one hundred years ago: a cohesive, systematic discipline of
pastoral theology that integrates [the] otherwise disparate pastoral functions into
a single theory of ministry."
massive social and cultural upheaval.