{"id":869,"date":"2002-09-08T09:08:18","date_gmt":"2002-09-08T17:08:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2002\/09\/08\/why-are-there-so-many-different-ministries\/"},"modified":"2002-09-08T09:08:18","modified_gmt":"2002-09-08T17:08:18","slug":"why-are-there-so-many-different-ministries","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/archives\/2002\/09\/08\/why-are-there-so-many-different-ministries","title":{"rendered":"Why Are There So Many Different Ministries?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I recent\u00adly received an email from a stu\u00addent ask\u00ading me why there were so many dif\u00adfer\u00adent cam\u00adpus min\u00adistries at Stan\u00adford<\/a>. I think a lot of stu\u00addents have sim\u00adi\u00adlar ques\u00adtions, so I\u2019ve decid\u00aded to tweak my reply and post it here.<\/p>\n

Do The Var\u00adi\u00adous Cam\u00adpus Min\u00adistries Com\u00adpete?<\/b>
\nOnly in intra\u00admu\u00adrals.<\/p>\n

Seri\u00adous\u00adly though: I sure hope not! Ide\u00adal\u00adly, we should each view our\u00adselves as hav\u00ading a small role in accom\u00adplish\u00ading what God is doing on cam\u00adpus.<\/p>\n

Then Why Don\u2019t They Merge?<\/b>
\nThere are at least two sig\u00adnif\u00adi\u00adcant rea\u00adsons: we believe slight\u00adly dif\u00adfer\u00adent things and hav\u00ading dif\u00adfer\u00adent groups max\u00adi\u00admizes min\u00adistry.<\/p>\n

Why Should Dif\u00adfer\u00adent Beliefs Lead to Dif\u00adfer\u00adent Min\u00adistries If You Agree On the Essen\u00adtials?<\/b>
\nBecause beliefs dri\u00adve behav\u00adior, and at some point dif\u00adfer\u00adent beliefs will call for dif\u00adfer\u00adent behav\u00adior. Let me give you a con\u00adcrete exam\u00adple: some groups believe that you must cel\u00ade\u00adbrate com\u00admu\u00adnion at every week\u00adly meet\u00ading and oth\u00aders don\u2019t. In a giv\u00aden group, only one of those prac\u00adtices can pre\u00advail. By hav\u00ading two dif\u00adfer\u00adent groups, both sets of believ\u00aders can flour\u00adish.<\/p>\n

OK, Maybe. But How Does Hav\u00ading Dif\u00adfer\u00adent Groups Max\u00adi\u00admize Min\u00adistry?<\/b>
\nIn the same way that hav\u00ading mul\u00adti\u00adple church\u00ades max\u00adi\u00admizes min\u00adistry in a town. Sup\u00adpose there was only one church in a town of 10,000. Even if the church build\u00ading can accom\u00admo\u00addate 500 peo\u00adple, it would take 20 ser\u00advices a week to accom\u00admo\u00addate every\u00adone if they all decid\u00aded to come!<\/p>\n

Sup\u00adpose, on the oth\u00ader hand, that you have 10 church\u00ades each of which can accom\u00admo\u00addate 250 peo\u00adple. If each church had 4 ser\u00advices a week every\u00adone could attend.<\/p>\n

In the same way, there\u2019s lim\u00adit\u00aded meet\u00ading space on cam\u00adpus (and we\u2019re not allowed to build our own build\u00adings). We need to have dif\u00adfer\u00adent groups sched\u00adul\u00ading meet\u00adings at dif\u00adfer\u00adent times in dif\u00adfer\u00adent places.<\/p>\n

Also, since each group devel\u00adops its own fla\u00advor, per\u00adson\u00adal pref\u00ader\u00adences can be accom\u00admo\u00addat\u00aded. There are some peo\u00adple who would nev\u00ader con\u00adsid\u00ader attend\u00ading a reli\u00adgious group that wor\u00adshiped God by means of 45 min\u00adutes of con\u00adtin\u00adu\u00adous light rock. There are oth\u00aders who would nev\u00ader con\u00adsid\u00ader attend\u00ading a group that wor\u00adshiped God by means of incense and hymns. By hav\u00ading mul\u00adti\u00adple groups, there is a greater like\u00adli\u00adhood of a per\u00adson find\u00ading a group that they click with.<\/p>\n

But Should\u00adn\u2019t We All Be In Uni\u00adty?<\/b>
\nAbsolute\u00adly! But that does\u00adn\u2019t imply that the groups should merge into one. Just as you can be in uni\u00adty with oth\u00ader Chris\u00adtians with\u00adout becom\u00ading the same per\u00adson as them, groups can remain dis\u00adtinct and exist in uni\u00adty.<\/p>\n

We are in uni\u00adty in that we pro\u00adclaim the good news of Jesus Christ and con\u00adsid\u00ader one anoth\u00ader a part of God\u2019s plan for expos\u00ading stu\u00addents to the gospel. We encour\u00adage one anoth\u00ader on to love and good deeds, and we pray for one anoth\u00ader. We rejoice at one anoth\u00ader\u2019s suc\u00adcess\u00ades and com\u00admis\u00ader\u00adate over one anoth\u00ader\u2019s fail\u00adures.<\/p>\n

We do not, how\u00adev\u00ader, merge. To do so would be a bad strat\u00ade\u00adgy for reach\u00ading the cam\u00adpus. <\/p>\n

Don\u2019t You Ever Do Any\u00adthing Togeth\u00ader?<\/b>
\nYeah. There are some spe\u00adcial prayer meet\u00adings and wor\u00adship services\u2013you\u2019ll find out about those as the school year pro\u00adgress\u00ades.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I recent\u00adly received an email from a stu\u00addent ask\u00ading me why there were so many dif\u00adfer\u00adent cam\u00adpus min\u00adistries at Stan\u00adford. I think a lot of stu\u00addents have sim\u00adi\u00adlar ques\u00adtions, so I\u2019ve decid\u00aded to tweak my reply and post it here. Do The Var\u00adi\u00adous Cam\u00adpus Min\u00adistries Com\u00adpete? Only in intra\u00admu\u00adrals. Seri\u00adous\u00adly though: I sure hope not! \u2026 Con\u00adtin\u00adue read\u00ading \u201cWhy Are There So Many Dif\u00adfer\u00adent Min\u00adistries?\u201d<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wp_typography_post_enhancements_disabled":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-869","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-reasonable-answers-to-honest-questions"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6Ded-e1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=869"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/869\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=869"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=869"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/glenandpaula.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=869"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}