Causes & Contexts

I have been thinking a lot recently about causes and contexts and how important they are to the doing of useful ministry. How much of what we think of as useful ministry is determined by our agenda, our objectives, the subconscious need to satisfy a need in us rather than the needs of those we are called to be the servants of. When I read the accounts of Jesus' miracles I can not help but be struck by the fact that he did what he did not to prove who he was but because of who he was. It caused me to reflect on how much of the motivation behind the things we do in the 'name' ministry stems from an effort to prove who we are rather than because of who we are.

If we do the things we do out of some kind of unconscious need to prove something to ourselves or others more often than not we play lip service to context. If ,however, we do what we do because of who we are then the context (the needs of those we are called to serve) will shape the agenda, determine the objectives and always be our primary concern. When it comes to mission we always need to keep before us that our constituency is the World not the Church.