I was at Missions Fest all weekend. My organization had a booth right at the entrance of the church (it was held at Broadway Tabernacle, the warehouse and the Italian Cultural Center this year because of the Olympics…it’s usually held in Canada Place). So I’ve been going to Missions Fest throughout my life, I know the drill. There’s a whole bunch of organizations doing a lot of good across the world. Now that I’m a grown-up actually working in Ministry though, you know what I can see? There’s a whole lot of entitlement and ego in ministry. A WHOLE lot. And this blog can’t be long enough to discuss the ugly side of missions and ministry that I’ve seen in the past 6 months of being in it. Can’t even begin. What I’m talking about is a problem that a lot of Christians seem to know about and accept as “the way it is”, but I don’t. I can’t. It’s a priviledge to be able to get paid to further God’s Kingdom, a HUGE priviledge. But all around me it seems like people have forgotten that. Pastors can’t make time to meet with people who have different ideas than them…Organization heads won’t answer the emails of those too subordinate to them…funds are squandered over unnecesary trips and dinners and luxuries that are not important rather than going to the people who need them the most…women like me are forbidden to speak in some churches because of our sex. I’m ot even kidding, this is actually how it is! This is not one organization or one church we’re talking about, this is most. We’re Christians, and we’re forgetting how blessed we are to be in a position to help others! We’re forgetting the Jesus challenged the church of his day! We’re forgetting that he was radical!
Well I haven’t forgotten yet, and for some reason he has placed me in this Christian world that doesn’t make sense to me, that doesn’t actually work. More and more I think my job is to challenge what I see going on. Do you? Do you have a problem with the status quo? Do you think we need to do better? Do you think this is the next big revolution? Tell me how you feel we’re doing as Christians…because there is nothing more important than this.
Brianna Carson's Blog 
Well….I’ll try to be brief, or I’ll go on forever. But one of the biggest things that has hit home for me since returning from my trip to Israel recently is reading scripture – the old and new testament – and noting that over and over and over again, the LORD telling His people (and that means everyone, but He often addresses the religious heads) how they’ve missed the point of His commands, the spirit of the Law. Instead of feeding the hungry, clothing the poor, procuring justice, extending mercy, freeing the chained, healing the broken, we get so caught up in “rules” and rituals, and make up so many more that we end up doing the opposite of what He has called EVERY ONE of us to do. It’s this dichotomy in our lives that turns others away from the very God who we say we want to draw them to. And it saddens me that this still happens today, thousands of years later, when we think we should have learned by now. And it humbles me because where does my life fit with what I SAY I believe.
I think we all need to wake up to reality and the responsibility that we’ve been given, keep ourselves and each other in check with great humility and sensitivity -be constantly willing to have God change us, no matter what “level” we think we’ve reached.
Thanks, Brianna, for bringing this up. I’m seeing a lot more of what you’ve pointed out. And yes, we need to do something about it.
Thank you Jenny! I love what you said about the Spirit of Law…it really confirms what I believe about our job here. If there’s two of us getting angry about this, that’s a start, right?
Hope 🙂