EDITORIAL
Discern the Times | Amy Orr-Ewing
A little while ago I received messages from two different church leaders checking in to see if I was OK. One had a specific concern and felt prompted to write with an offer of help and advice; the other wrote to encourage me. The impact of both messages was so much greater than the sum of their parts. The words mattered, of course, but the thing that had the greatest impact was the love they conveyed.
Love matters greatly in church life, ministry and mission. We can look at some situations and see how obvious this is. Evangelism that is technically proficient, intellectually accurate or even practically impactful, but ultimately loveless, will not bear any fruit. In the same way pastoring that is administratively efficient, theologically correct or practically consistent but is impersonal and lacks love will not heal wounded hearts or deeply disciple God’s people.
Jesus’ statement in John 13:34, “As I have loved you, so you love one another,” is a manifesto for Christian leadership, work, life and service. The as/so dynamic gives us an insight into how we are to love. In the life of Jesus, love looks like self-sacrifice not self-realization. Our faith is only as good as our love. Without love, all our accomplishments, efforts and breakthroughs are just noise.
Love in the life of Jesus in practical terms looks like time with the Father, time with the disciples, time with the poor and others deemed inconsequential by the wider culture.
By contrast, the disciples wanted greatness and even had disputes over who would get to sit where. The competitiveness, insecurity, self-centeredness, desire for prestige, and obsession with positional authority that are so familiar to us today was exactly what they were after. But Jesus sought to show them that seeking power is the antithesis of love.
This generation needs a revolution of love. And the church is where we should be able to see, taste, test and feel it. Jesus’ love is personal, granular, specific and hands-on. This kind of love flows in healthy Christian communities, but it doesn’t happen by accident. Love needs to be intentionally modeled, demonstrated, cultivated and nurtured. And it starts with the leaders and the core of the church.
If you did an audit of where you spend your time and energy, how much of it is taken up with administrative tasks or managerial priorities, and how much by nurturing and activating love? We need to spend time with people, eat together, talk, listen, laugh and serve them in practical ways.
Jesus’ love meant that he emptied himself of his power. Love in the way of Jesus means following his example—going out of our way to give ourselves away—so that love can flow through the community we are a part of from top to bottom.
That is how we are to lead and love—in weakness and fragility on human terms but full of the glorious love of God burning in our hearts. Have you got caught up in the tasks and responsibilities of your position and neglected love? Is it time to center love as the priority that shapes and empowers your ministry?