Friendship and Ministry

The strength of friendship

In the world of ministry, many of us have responded to the call to “forsake all to follow Jesus.” This has often meant moving away from our friends and family firstly to attend a training college, and then to serve as a parish minister which is usually no where near anyone we know. And that’s ok.

But what if . . .

What if we worked with a different paradigm? What if I could travel back in time and instead of leaving my group of close friends, what if we committed our lives to the ministry of Jesus together? We could use the strength of our friendship and the different skills that we have, and a common love for Jesus to build a ministry that might be far stronger than anything we could do on our own. I am now in my mid-forties, and every time I have moved to a different church or a different ministry setting, it has meant forming new friendships – which has been great – but it takes time to build deep friendships.

So if I try to imagine the last twenty years in ministry but now in those thoughts include two or three of my closest friends through those years, I can’t even conceive how different it might be.

I’m not sad about the ministry experience I have had, and I’m grateful for the many friends I have as a result of this; but what if . . .

What if you and your two best friends began to consider how you could impact the world around you in the name of Jesus Christ? What would you do? What could you do together that you couldn’t do on your own?

What could you do together that you couldn’t do on your own? (Repeat this sentence a few times, but read it slowly.)

I think I need to sit and wonder about this a bit more.

A couple of final points. Firstly, I am incredibly grateful for my wife who is my greatest friend, and who has been a part of this ministry journey for nearly 21 years now. Secondly, I acknowledge that anything we can do is by God’s grace.