I spent five days in Princeton, NJ. Professors of the Princeton Theological Seminary and 12 pastors, 12 laity from all over the country came together to discuss how to change our churches.
We do not keep people in a church building, but send them out into the world for them to change the world. To this traditional ministry model, they add a new idea. We “intentionally” bless all the people and “purposefully” claim what they do in the world as our ministires.
Martin Luther already said that all vocations are God’s calling and all laity are ministers. We expand this concept and make purposeful and intentional effort to bless the works that they do as our ministries. In this sense, we have 80 billion church members and cover the whole world as our parish. We have multi-intenational ministry projects with thrillions of dollars budget! We just need to claim them as our ministries!
Peace in Palestine, Peace in Stockton, Well-being of the homeless, immigrants, children, elderly, young adults, families, couples, singles, LGBTQAI+, and mentally ill people are all our ministry projects. Which one do you want to claim as yours?