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Social Ministry as Part of an Integrated Mission Strategy

Social Ministry as Part of an Integrated Mission Strategy. By Bob Munson. Don’t Think of Spiritual and Social as Distinct Areas. Think of One Region that has more or less spiritual and social aspects (or eternal and temporal).

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Social Ministry as Part of an Integrated Mission Strategy

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  1. Social Ministry as Part of an Integrated Mission Strategy By Bob Munson

  2. Don’t Think of Spiritual and Social as Distinct Areas

  3. Think of One Region that has more or less spiritual and social aspects (or eternal and temporal)

  4. Think of one area as “Real Needs”. This is what God knows we need. It involves spiritual, physical, mental, and social things. However, it is centered on “Spiritual”. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God…”

  5. Think of one area as “Felt Needs”. This is what people think they need. It involves some spiritual, but mostly physical, mental, and social things.

  6. Transformation of Lives involves (in part) moving man’s priorities to God’s.

  7. Types of Ministries

  8. Attitudes regarding social ministry (from Harvie Conn) • Spiritualist. Believes that our call as Christians is to carry out forms of ministry that are considered “spiritual”. Other forms of ministry have no value. • Social Gospel. This is the other extreme. Christian ministry is fully carried out when one is involved in meeting human temporal (as in “non-spiritual”) needs.

  9. Attitudes regarding social ministry (from Harvie Conn) • Convenience. “Spiritual ministry” is the only real Christian ministry… but it is still nice to do nice things for people when one can. • Ulterior Motive. We will do social ministry as a way of opening the door to “spiritual” ministry… which is the only REAL ministry. • Wholism/Holism. God cares for the whole person and the whole community… so ministering to the whole person and community is true Christian ministry.

  10. Attitudes Affect Ministry

  11. COMBINING MEETING NUMEROUS NEEDS IS USEFUL IN MANY THINGS CONSIDER COMDEV TRAINING. TO BE EFFECTIVE, ONE WOULD WANT TO TRY TO MEET: • Mental/Educational Needs • Physical Needs • Spiritual Needs • Social Needs

  12. Plans/Methods Should Integrate “Secular” and “Spiritual” also… In fact, one should not think of them as separate….

  13. WHY? It implies that some methods (“spiritual”) are blessed by God, while other methods (“secular”) are not.

  14. “SPIRITUAL” Praying Meditating Fasting Seeking Godly counsel Performing miracles Studying God’s Word Preaching “SECULAR” Planning Organizing Researching Promoting Fund-raising Analyzing Evaluating However, we traditionally do separate some things as spiritual and others secular

  15. But did Jesus separate between “Spiritual” and “Secular”? How did Jesus decide what towns to go to? Read Luke 10:1-11 In the list on the next slide, decide if each item is a “Spiritual method” or a “Secular method”.

  16. SpiritualSecular Verse 1 Go out in 2s _____ ______ Verse 2 Pray for workers _____ ______ Verse 4 Go directly without provisions _____ _____ Verses 5-7 Seek man of peace _____ _____ Verse 9 Heal the sick _____ _____ Verse 9 Preach God’s word _____ _____ Verses 10-11 Leave town if rejected _____ _____ Verse 1 Visit if good response _____ _____

  17. Luke 10 The fact is that many could be looked at as spiritual or secular or both. Perhaps it is artificial to separate methods this way.

  18. Suggested Viewpoint NOT… but…

  19. “Spiritual” methods empower the “Secular” methods, and vice versa.

  20. Separation of “Spiritual” and “Secular” is extremely Common in Church. We often think that way without knowing it. Examples: • Spiritual gifts versus Talents versus Skills • Faithhealing versus medical care versus natural healing • Miracle versus the Mundane

  21. Praying, studying God’s Word, Seeking God’s leading and so forth are important!! They are vital to any Wholistic Community Development work.

  22. However, so are planning, formulating, implementing, and evaluating.

  23. Exercise: Using “Secular” Methods • Observe • Analyze • Identify • Research • Formulate

  24. Can we ignore spiritual methods? • Just because we know what we CAN do, do we know what we should do? Do we know what God is blessing? • Even if we know what to do, do we know what the underlying spiritual problems are? • Do we know how to attack the spiritual problems and bring people and communities to long-term transformation? • Are we prepared for the counterattack of the Evil One?

  25. No!! However… praying, fasting, and reading the Bible, without observation, analysis, research, and planning, will rarely prove productive. Why? Because God reveals truth to those who seek truth, not those who seek ignorance. God blesses the faithful servant, not the foolish slacker. Praying does not replace Planning. Planning does not replace Praying. Seeking godly counsel does not replace Seeking technical experts. Seeking technical experts does not replace seeking godly counsel.

  26. Therefore: • Think of people and communities in wholistic (rather than spiritualistic or secular terms). • Focus on ministry in terms of integrating the “spiritual” and the “secular”. • Use Christ as our guide.

  27. Social Ministry as Part of an Integrated Mission Strategy By Bob Munson

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