Page 20 - Empowering Missional Artists - Jim Mills.pdf

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context of culture. Bob Briner pointed out the urgent need for church leaders to mentor and

empower a new task force of society’s leaders for Christ sake:

The young people of the church should be made to see that their careers, whatever they
maybe, are just as vital, just as much a concern of the congregation, and just as much a
part of the mission of the church as those of the foreign missionaries the church supports .
. . typically, the young people ...who are called to the professional ministry are singled out
for special attention, special counseling, special prayer and special financial support. Why
shouldn’t talented young people . . . who hope to enter medicine or teaching or journalism
or writing . . . or any other world of work be given at least the same kind of attention.”
(Briner 1993, 48)

There is no question that a new generation of church leaders is also greatly needed, but there is

an enormous need in our world for God’s leaders in every arena of society. As pastoral leaders,

our real responsibility is to empower God’s agents to penetrate the real world and do the “work of

the service” (Eph. 4:12) of leadership in our cultures.

Through the years, I have observed the struggles that many friends in full-time Christian

ministry in the state churches here in Europe must endure. They are often overwhelmed in

simply meeting the demands of serving the system: infant baptisms of families who are never

involved and rarely actually in attendance; funerals of people that have never met before; and

hundreds of the aged who flood the hospitals. Some parishes in major cities have 30 in

attendance on Sunday morning with 30,000 on the role to care for socially. Many of the activities

certainly present opportunities to love and serve people, but the workloads are increasing as less

and less young men and women are going into the ministry. Though certainly somewhat

different, the plight of career ministers is not dissimilar throughout the rest of western world.

Many in leadership succumb to the pressure of simply filling the roles of service for the survival of

the infrastructure of the church.

By our actions we have taught that serving God has only to do with serving in the church.

A few examples might be helpful here. What about the Christian business executive in our

churches: do they only serve God when they become a deacon or are appointed on the

committee for financial matters of the local church? Does a musician only begin to serve God