Incarnational Ministry?

Some good thoughts here from J. Todd Billings in an article in CT called “The Problem with ‘Incarnational Ministry’”:

“Because they take the Incarnation as their “model” of ministry, these evangelicals often assume that they—rather than the Holy Spirit—make Christ present in the world. In these circles, one often hears the slogan that “you and I may be the only Jesus that others will ever meet.” Youth leaders are admonished to go out and “be Jesus” to youth, wherever they are. Church planters are told to “be Christ” to the people they meet. The burden of incarnation—and revelation—is on the shoulders of the individuals. Such a theology often leads to burnout. In spite of its motive to be relational and evangelistic, this approach functionally denies the adequacy of Christ’s unique incarnation and the Spirit’s work as the supreme witness to Christ (John 15:26). We forget that we are not equipped to represent Christ to the world without being united, as a community, to Christ through the Spirit.”

“We do need to be learners of other cultures, with patience enough to listen, be present, and display love with our actions. Yet, in contrast to “incarnational ministry,” we need not pretend to “incarnate” into that culture or to “be Jesus” to that culture, for this displays a lack of trust in the Spirit’s work, which mediates the presence of our living..”

“The church is not only sent but also gathered by the Spirit to worship the Father. This is a weakness of many “incarnational ministries”—individuals reach out to youth, city-dwellers, or foreign cultures, but because the metaphor of “incarnation” is about sending, there is little emphasis on gathering. Many youth reached through incarnational ministry do not join a multigenerational community in worship; indeed, some advocates of incarnational ministry treat corporate worship as a distraction from real ministry—which is to walk alongside individuals in their various contexts.While this relational emphasis has value, focusing only on the dispersed church ends up promoting individualism and devaluing the ways in which Jesus presents himself by the Spirit through word and sacrament in corporate worship….Communal worship is essential if the church is to display its reconciled yet differentiated oneness as a witness to the world (John 17:23).  Continue at Michael Krahn