like a fire

Lately my ideas in youth ministry have been challenged by a phrase I heard somewhere in a blog. It goes something like this:

“People don’t go to a hardware store and buy a 3/4″ drill bit because they need a 3/4″ drill bit. They go get the bit because the need a 3/4″ hole.”

I have been thinking long and hard about the way I do ministry. Often I will put together a proposal for a new event with certain objectives and outcomes to justify what I am trying to do. This is necessary, of course, because we always need to justify change (that’s another blog). It is very outcome based. I program events to reach x number of people, so that y number of people will hear the gospel, and z number of people will respond to the gospel. While this is a general practice of ministry, it falls far short of ministry from a kingdom perspective.

I have been thinking instead of Philippians 3, where paul talks about pressing on. What if we focused on the process of glorifying God instead of an outcome that we can’t achieve ourselves? We can water, plant, weed, but we can’t make it grow.

Enter SOAP. Or the Service-Oriented architectural pattern.

SOAP is based on a standardized way of making resources available to others through a network. Think peer-to-peer in Web 2.0. Actually, for ministry, think creating a process that met people where they are, provided them with what they need and the resources and tools to fulfill those needs. Sound like the church? Well, at least that’s what it could/should be.

So my challenge to myself is to focus on and develop a process that will accomplish this. I would love to hear thoughts about this. I am even dedicating a forum to it. You can find it here.