Brief Summary of My Theology of Ministry

Brief Summary of My Theology of Ministry

It's funny. In my senior year at seminary I had to write a theology of ministry, looking forward to see what my approach to ministry would be. If I remember correctly (lost my only copy, unfortunately) it was about thirty pages long.

Now I'm in a situation where I've got about thirty years of track record, such as it is, in a variety of ministry settings in both religious, social service and business organizations.

Looking back at what I actually do (as compared to what I had planned to do) and why I do it can be easily summarized in less than a page. I've either become very concise or don't remember much of what I learned in seminary or maybe just don't have much of a ministry (maybe some combination of the three :-).

But, for what it's worth...

My theology of ministry is rooted in the Bible and the broad mainstream of the Christian tradition. I've been involved in a number of different churches (including Roman Catholic, Methodist, American Baptist and last and most exotic, the Unitarian Universalist church) but my "true" church home would probably be in the Episcopal church. (As we used to say, all the religion of the Catholics with half the guilt. :-)

Putting it in simple (if mythical) terms, its center is in the death and resurrection of God in Christ, an event which defeats the Power of Death (the atonement) and is available in the ordinary life of all the world (the incarnation).

The notion that the catastrophe of Jesus' death on the cross is the very ground of victory is ironic on its face and the irony extends to how we encounter, share and respond to the experience of the death and resurrection of God in Christ in our own ordinary lives.

Because I've come to realize that the very foundation of hope is most clearly (and, again, most ironically) revealed in the heart of our darkest despair.

It is when all ordinary connotations of hope are gone that the hope which remains is most trustworthy, the least likely to be based in some false hope placed in some false idol or god.

My particular ministry appears to be centered in the communication of hope not just in moments of deepest despair but in all the events in our ordinary lives. Many events do not come to a happy ending on this earth but such legitimate hope as is found functions, I believe, as a sacrament: an outward and visible sign of an inner, invisible, but very real hope for the consummation and completion of all creation in Jesus Christ.

It would appear I have strong communication skills (verbal and written) that I use in this communication, specifically an ability to use humor (which is often based on irony), an ability to provide service, an ability to teach, and – on rare occasions – an ability to be persuasive.

As I've put together my resume for the job hunt and tried to discern some order in the wild riot of jobs I've had, it seems these are the common threads in each and I suspect they'll continue to be significant aspects of such contribution as I can make in either employment, volunteer work or just plain social interaction with others.

Five Simple Steps: Rules of Engagement

Five Simple Steps: Rules of Engagement

The point of posting this is to explicitly state what Bill Bekkenhuis intends to do when he converses online. If you are not also doing this or something very similar, then Bill may or may not have any interest in engaging you as we are doing two different things.


There are three legitimate points of civil discussion.
1. Entertainment
2. Education
3. Persuasion


There are five core principles enabling informed, civil discussion:

1. Presumption of Positive Intent: Presume positive intent by all unless you can substantiate otherwise
2. Civil Discussion: Be civil (presumed by number one)
3. Cards on the Table: Be explicit regarding one's database of information
4. Assertions Supported by Evidence: Back up all factual assertions with links to the database
5. Assertions Supported by Reason: Use valid reasoning.


Links

Rhetoric (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhetoric

List of Fallacies (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_fallacies

Persuasion (Wikipedia) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persuasion

Five Simple Steps: True Value

Just a quick list I wanted to capture of the things I consider to be of true value. The goal would be to prioritize and target these items for both my consumption and as the values I wish to support in the way of my personal production.

Security / Peace
Medical care (urgent, long term, preventative)
Shelter
Clean Air
Clean Water
Safe Food
Education (including access to quality media)
Work (fulfilling and productive)
Culture (music, art, entertainment, etc.)
Environment (pleasant and in-balance)
Family / Friends / Community
Personal Meaning / Significance and Encouragement

I find it thought provoking that even though satisfying the world's population with these seems to be beyond our current reach, still, it's really not a very large list. I mean, it's not like there are hundreds and thousands of items on it.

Thankfully, I have a least a survivable portion of most of these at the moment.

How You Can Change America in Five Simple Steps

How You Can Change America
in Five Simple Steps
Bill Bekkenhuis
September 5, 2010

1 Become selectively and creatively unhappy about things.

We recognize the great good in America despite its serious flaws. Hating everything will paralyze our ethics and make us bores at cocktail parties. So we pick and choose where to focus our efforts. We allow our unhappiness about the state of the world to trigger a creative response to whatever portion of America's problems, large or small, we're capable of putting on our plates rather than falling prey to apathy, silence, conformity, scapegoating and complicity.

2 Insist on quality information.

Everything – and I mean everything – in the media is designed first and foremost to entertain us and sell us something and only secondarily designed to inform us, to teach us to think critically or to encourage us to become better and more humane people. So we intentionally choose which media sources we allow to direct our attention and to inform our participation in the great national conversation.

3 Commit to producing true value and consuming true value.

A life-affirming culture, economics and civil society cannot be built on a foundation of garbage. Much of what we uncritically accept as value has been force-fed to us by the media in its promotion of consumerism. So we thoughtfully consider every investment of our time, our talents and our money as votes for the values America should embody. In America, we vote every day, not just on Election Day, for our security, our food, our health care, our education, our housing, our arts and music, and our economic opportunities - for ourselves, our families and our communities.

4 Reach out to others with respect and charity.

Having begun the process of getting our own lives realigned with what we thoughtfully and intentionally determine to be of true value, we reach out to and enlist our family, friends, neighbors and co-workers as allies. We photocopy and distribute this message to those who are interested. We admire and emulate those with greater commitment than our own, we are patient with those with a lesser commitment than our own and we seek the positive intent behind the thinking of those with a different commitment from our own. We organize potlucks and discussion groups using the best articles, books and DVDs we can find. We help build stronger neighborhoods and communities.

5 Invest in like-minded voluntary associations.

Voluntary associations are the mediating institutions between individuals and the Powers That Be. We invest our time, talent and money to support those institutions we determine to be aligned, however imperfectly, with our values knowing that groups working together to share information and values and to deliver the money and votes that come from large organizations can change things in America.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: There is no more information. This is the program. What we do with it is up to us.