Ministry should be a joy, not a burden

I don’t know about you, but I find that I’m fairly effective doing the things I want to do, and somewhat less effective doing those things that I “have” to do. In Exodus 21:2-6, we find legislation permitting a slave to say to his master, “I don’t want to serve you under the oppressive burden of obligation. I love you and want to serve you willingly. I want to do this for the rest of my life.” This makes a useful analogy for officership in The Salvation Army. When God calls a person to serve as a Salvation Army officer, he isn’t imposing on that person an intolerable burden of slavery. He is inviting that person to enter officership willingly and joyfully-with thanksgiving, humility and grace.

Officership has been a great adventure for me and, with Christ’s help, I have never considered this calling to be an unreasonable burden. Yes, I have had to embrace a continuous learning curve as each appointment presented new challenges in unexplored territory. Yes, it has been hard some days. Yes, we have deconstructed the Army and put it back together again many times as we looked for ways to be more effective and productive. But the blessings-faithfully expected or delightfully surprising-and the profound joy have more than compensated for any sacrifice on my part. Whether sharing, laughing, crying, supporting, feeding, helping, challenging, accepting or walking alongside, ministry with people is never boring. And whenever the journey has seemed difficult I just needed to get over myself. God raised up an Army to suit himself, not to please me.

Our Army is an excellent expression of the gospel, both theologically and ecclesiologically sound. If I didn’t believe that I wouldn’t be here. I find myself constantly motivated by our high view of Scripture, our high Christology, our gospel of salvation for the whosoever, our Wesleyan doctrines of full salvation and social holiness, and our calling to do something about the poor and the marginalized. It is a privilege to be part of something so authentically like Jesus and his Kingdom.

At the recent Discipleship Forum held at Camp Ladore, U.S.A. Eastern Territory, a great Salvationist by the name of Cotton Pressley imagined life for Jesus growing up in the Roman garrison town of Nazareth. Mr. Pressley envisioned a teenaged Jesus being forced to carry the burden of a Roman soldier for the legally obligatory 1,000 paces (a Roman mile, see Matthew 5:41).
But at the thousandth step, Jesus doesn’t throw the burden down on the ground as any other Jew might reasonably have been expected to do. He keeps right on walking, steadfast and sure. And at this point the Roman soldier is no longer in charge. Jesus is now expressing his authority. Jesus is only going to set this burden down according to the agenda of a higher authority, reflecting the attitude of a different sort of Kingdom. In serving willingly, Jesus is seeking to serve well.

This is the sort of officer The Salvation Army needs. We are God’s people and we are seated with Christ in t
he heavenly realms (see Ephesians 2:6). We need people who will serve from above-from the vantage point of the willing. Serving from underneath-from the vantage point of the obligated-is depressing and ineffective. The Army needs people who will “do everything without grumbling or arguing” so that they will “shine” in their community (see Philippians 2:14-15).

by Major Kevin Metcalf, Secretary for Music and Gospel Arts, THQ Corps Ministries