From the Fringe
Quoting Fred Peatross, "Jesus' ministry was a fringe ministry." By "fringe ministry" we mean that the ministry of Jesus did not function from the center of the "religious" sector.
The overwhelming testimony of the gospels reveals that Jesus associated with those who were considered outcasts by the ardent practitioners of Judaism. It was from these "unbelievers" that Jesus received the most promising response to his message.
If Jesus is the prototype, the one we are being conformed to, the one we are to learn from and be disciples of, should not our ministry also be a fringe ministry?
And what about Paul? Was his a fringe ministry?
Why do we continue to minister primarily from the center when we see the greatest results come from the fringes?
It appears that our whole approach to ministry has been skewed. We've been doing it backward all these years? Why? Have we been blind, or has it been fear?
Can we be incarnational and not function from the same perspective as Jesus did?
The overwhelming testimony of the gospels reveals that Jesus associated with those who were considered outcasts by the ardent practitioners of Judaism. It was from these "unbelievers" that Jesus received the most promising response to his message.
If Jesus is the prototype, the one we are being conformed to, the one we are to learn from and be disciples of, should not our ministry also be a fringe ministry?
And what about Paul? Was his a fringe ministry?
Why do we continue to minister primarily from the center when we see the greatest results come from the fringes?
It appears that our whole approach to ministry has been skewed. We've been doing it backward all these years? Why? Have we been blind, or has it been fear?
Can we be incarnational and not function from the same perspective as Jesus did?
Carm,
I can only speak for myself but your article is intriguing. In hindsight, I came from the fringe. I never grew up in church. When I came to the Lord I lead many people to Christ who were not in the inner circle of church life. It was powerful and exciting.
When I left the fringe and started moving toward the center that ministry changed into something quite different.
I view the fringe of our American culture not as a bad place but a place where real life is occurring and not plagued with pseudo religious life styles. No wonder Jesus loved the fringe. He found open hearts there.
Thanks for posting this Carm! It has actually opened my eyes to some things.
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Excellent questions Carm,
If we are truly disciples of Jesus we would also be on the fringe. It has only been in recent years I learned or had my eyes opened to being incarnate. What do I mean by that? Well I wrote a thesis on it which is not a well adhered to one these days. It requires a practicing of His presence which I fail at myself. I think it is because it requires a Kingdom view different from the traditional one taught over the years and takes more time and space then allotted here. Jesus had this view and encourages us to have the same. Jn14:12
If we do we will certainly be on the fringe. If we don't, well .... look at how it's not working for the most part today?
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