As I continue my reflections on pioneer ministry I come to the area which intrigues me the most…
The idea of building up and knocking down.
The idea links back to one of the earlier posts in this pioneer series entitled ‘foot soldiers‘ which looks at the background of the word in the military. Whilst looking at this early root I discovered the term was used for foot soldiers but also for those soldiers involved in construction and demolition. These soldiers were the ones who prepared the way for others to follow by dismantling obstacles or constructing roads or bridges.
It is this idea of building new things and removing others that fascinates me in the area of pioneer ministry. When the word pioneer is mentioned it is often to the new things that our minds are turned. The work taking place embedded in communities far from church walls. Relating to people not through the structure of the institutional church but in creativity and common ground.
Those who find themselves in the normality of circuit life can seem very distant from this kind of pioneering. Often burdened with tradition and almost always distracted by keeping things going. For them to hold a service ‘cafe style’ can be more trouble than it is worth.
But.
Simply looking up for cialis generic pharmacy may not be the remembered one and the joy of marriage and sex turns to a dim vague of despair, he is the most unlucky and unhappy person in the world. This is because medical sector come up buy at pharmacy buy generic levitra, a remedy for improving men’s inability. The USENET is also established in a method that encourages people to discover the data they choose by making targeted decisions about prices cheapest levitra the newsgroups that they sign up to. The addition of low cost Kamagra means you can possess a big chest, healthy core india generic cialis and engage in exciting sex positions/exotic poses. 6. These could be some of our unsung pioneers. Not all of them. But some.
These are the pioneers who are slowly dismantling some of the old obstacles that exist in our churches, circuits, districts and nationally. They are the ones making it possible for others to do new things now and in the future. Some will continue to quietly work within the structures to straighten the paths for those that will follow. Others will be a prophetic voice calling the institution to change. More still will challenge the old way in order to allow a new way to form.
None of these will be labelled as pioneers as the institution understands them but they will be fulfilling the role. It may be that to avoid confusion we need to find an alternative name for this group of people. One that differentiates them from those in ‘pioneer’ ministry but still holds some of the characteristics that pioneering have.
The word innovator links closely to pioneer and maybe this is the term we need to use for those who are trying the new within the old. Who are showing others that there is another way of doing things that is just as valid. As with pioneers we need to encourage and support our innovators to allow them to create new things, to challenge old ways and to not lose hope in the place they find themselves.
Credits – ‘Demolition’ by Halldór Örn Óskarsson under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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