Programs vs. Ministry

Earlier this evening I (Joe) told our newest confirmation class and their parents that confirmation is not a program but that it is a ministry. I told them that confirmation is how we minister to 6th, 7th, and 8th graders and their families. I also told them that unlike most "programs" that we encounter in life, like weight lifting programs, diet programs, debt relief programs, etc. that a ministry (and therefore confirmation) is not about specific steps that lead to a designated goal. But rather, ministry is about relationships. It is about being the church together or being the body of Christ. Most simply put, it is about "doing life together." Doing life together within the context of our shared Christian beliefs, which means that we don't necessarily know where it is going to lead. It's about struggling together, laughing together, working together, and playing together.

I'm not sure what the group got out of my talk. Maybe not a whole lot. It can seem like mere semantics at first. But the more I think about it, the more I want to take it even further. You see, not only is something like confirmation in danger of being seen as a mere program and not a ministry, but church, itself, can also be in such danger.

Here's what I mean. I went on to say this evening that depending on what you expect to get out of confirmation, you will get different results. If a family and a child look at confirmation as a program of study to get through in order to reach the day of confirmation in which one affirms their baptism, then that is exactly what they will get. There will, no doubt, be hoops through which to jump along the way. These can be jumped, checked off, and left behind. But, if a family and their child look at confirmation as an opportunity to get to know other people better and explore the Christian life together with them, then that is what they will get. They will be engaged in the life of the body of Christ by coming together with others. They will find friendships. They will find meaning. They will find life. Not in the tasks completed, but in the journey together.

Similarly, for those who approach church as something of a program, something to do on a Sunday morning, part of a devotional regimen, perhaps, or merely a religious component of a larger life, then that is exactly what they shall get. They will get some religion in their life. They will get some of the Christian religion. But, if they engage church as something more, if they engage it as being about relationships--with, first and foremost, Christ, but also with one another as the body of Christ--and put effort into nurturing those relationships, then that person will get so much more. That person will get not just some religion in their life, but life of a whole new sort. They will receive the sort of life that Christ talked about and that he came to share. You see, this is no small difference, as if the second person merely has a greater share than the first. No, the second is getting what Christ actually came to bring--Life in him--while the first gets something of a completely different nature--mere participation in an institution, mere program...

So what would you like? Some religion in your life or some true life out of your religion?