Thursday, April 3, 2008
Perspectives, 733 Assignment
Please read and respond to the article, "Tentmakers Needed for World Evangelization," by Ruth Siemens, beginning on page 733 in your Perspectives on the World Christian Movement book. You will be required to respond to at least one other student's comments to successfully complete this assignment. Please ensure that you put your name in parenthesis if you post anonymously.
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7 comments:
I agree whole-heartedly with what she said. Quite frankly no longer can people look on the ministry as a job. The ministry is a ministry. They should not see the ministry as an 8:00-4:00 or an 8:00-5:00 profession. Call me between certain hours or don’t call me. Certain hours are “ME” time and I should not be interrupted.
This will certainly present certain inconveniences and problems that will need to be worked out but what doesn’t have problems? This will also solve many problems of taking to long on deputation and “numbers” of missionaries too. It will open up many doors for ministry and witnessing too.
She also laid out the cultural, practical and scriptural arguments real well too. It goes back to the old saying that if you can do anything else in the world and be happy then do it.
Mark. A
Mark, I liked the way that you tied it all together with the wuote, " if you can do anything else in the world...do it" It is so true that ministry is not run on a time card like a gas station shift work schedule. We are here to serve and that is (or should be) far more than it is. (Bethany)
I will begin this by saying I am probably biased in my thoughts on this due to the way I was raised and the instruction in missions I have received. I cannot agree with this article. Tentmakers sounds like a good idea, but I cannot see it working very well. Of course if this is what God has planned for a purpose it is going to work, but I wonder if this should be our approach to missions. Siemens said that tentmakers could reach the 80% of the world that missionaries cannot reach. My question is when will they find the time to do so if they are working a fulltime job? I am not sure about this idea. I wish I had more time to invest in studying this idea. I will not make a blanket statement that this will not work. I have my doubts though of this being the ideal way to evangelize the world. (Meisha Deane)
Ruth E. Siemens' article on tentmaking is really a commentary on the life and ministry of Paul, as well as what I believe is the right way to do missions. Tentmaking is using a secular job to support yourself in world evangelism. It's the only Biblical standing for the way missions should be done. 80% of the world population lives in countries where professional missionaries have no access. So, wha-la! Tentmaking is needed. It's a lot less stress on a missionary due to the fact that he does not have to spend forever trying to gain support. When it comes down to it, tentmaking missions can be done anywhere, but not everybody wants to put the extra effort into working hard in a secular job. In America, who comes into contact with more lost people? A church worker or a person in a secular environment? The answer is the person in the secular job. So, if it is true here, you can bet your bottom dollar that it's going to be true in the foreign field. If anybody can support any other way of missions Biblically, let me know. Truth stands, that's the Word of God. And in the Word of God, I only see tentmaking missions.
John Hyman
Mark, I agree that ministry is not an 8 to 5 job. It is a life work. Ask any Pastor if it is an hourly job. I also agree with the saying, “if you can do anything else in the world and be happy then do it.” However I cannot see how the 8 to 5 job on the mission field can be seen as the best way to do ministry. I agree with what we have been talking about in class that we are all missionaries no matter what we are doing. This is true for those that work in foreign countries, but is it the way to evangelize? Does not the fulltime work of a missionary on the field work better? They can devote all their attention to the work. (Meisha Deane)
Mark-
You're right about ministry. It isn't an 8am-4pm kind of job. It's an all day, everyday calling on a person's life. But, I also think that if you don't treat it as a job, you'll abuse it. I've seen sometimes, at other churches, where the staff has been paid for hours that never physically got put in. They are taking advantage of a paycheck that is guaranteed by the tithes and offerings of faithful church members. I'm not at all saying that ministry is a set time profession, but you get a paycheck for the work you do. In that aspect, it is a job.
John Hyman
John
You are absolutely right the ministry is not a job. However, neither is it a hobby to put in spare time.
I suppose in smaller type churches that may be a temptation to stay at home and read a magazine, playing on the computer, or what ever might pass the time. As I wrote this I suppose it may be a temptation in larger churches too.
Just for myself, I wish I could do this though. I am at times a driven person and people accuse me of being a perfectionist. I tend to make things harder than they need to be and look at the hard parts of things before looking at the advantages.
For me in this situation, I could never just take off. Trust me I wish I could, at times, I tend to see what more I could do, instead of saying “That’s the best I can do”, and live with it.
That is why I stay up all day and night instead of working for an hour or so and stopping for sleep. Good enough is never good enough, and don’t worry about it means I have to worry about it because no one else will, and telling me something is not my job just made it my job.
That is why the idea of “tentmakers” agree with me I am always looking for what else I can do. In the ministry there is always more we can do, more to organize, more people to see, more studies to do etc, etc.
That is why need to stop here.
Mark
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