I'm fairly new to ministry, but I’m beginning to see a pattern amongst ministers and those placed in roles of spiritual leadership. To keep from getting hurt, ministers put up "walls" (they call it experience) and these walls are keeping them from accomplishing ministry. This is the benefit of my newness to ministry. I have yet to build up walls that tell me, "Oh that person says they will change, but they really won't", or "Lets plan an event for 150 people, but we will probably only get 50-70", or "He said he would help out, but I wouldn't but much stock in that." Sometimes, as ministers, we limit people based on our own experience. The problem, however, is that people are not all the same, and people CAN change. Situations might look similar on the outside, but they are most often different.
What if Martin Luther King Jr. or Rosa Parks built up walls during the Civil Rights Movement? Would the fight for equal rights have as effectively moved forward? What if these leaders thought, "I have experienced horrific things and people don't change." What if they had let their vision or passion fade because of circumstance or past experiences? We would have lost a lot more than just names of streets!
I’m scared as I hear some ministers talk about the walls they have built up and their lack of faith in people as if these walls are a "badge of honor." To be honest, it sounds less like wisdom and more like a fading faith. And furthermore, we live in a culture where we are expected to "coexist", to not stir the pot too much because everyone is entitled to do as they please. So when a person DOES pursue their God-given vision, they are labeled as "small minded" or even "prideful". No one wants correction or discipline from anyone or anything else and we become horrible listeners, never accepting correction, even when it is grounded in truth. This leads to ministers and spiritual leaders using their walls as an excuse to not speak truth into peoples lives. We have become spiritually neutered.
I recently finished a teaching series with my students; we talked about extreme urgency. It is funny what the Bible says about youth and how it often contradicts what is said of youth today. When Solomon wrote Ecclesiastes and Paul wrote to Timothy they used language like “be the example to older people because of your youth, passion, and focus.” Paul tells Timothy to “be a leader to the older generation, teach THEM what the scriptures say and encourage THEM.” There seems to be an underlying idea that as a person gets older they may lose focus on what life is all about because of their experiences or "walls".
Now in saying these things... protecting yourself is very wise and learning from experience is very important. Seeking counsel from elders is biblical, but God must be the filter of all things. Because in doing kingdom work, and in preparing and teaching people for eternity, using experience learned in a broken world might not always be the best filter for decision making. Maybe taking a risk on people is the wise choice. Maybe we should let God be the counselor and not our past and present circumstances. Of course I'll end on a Braveheart Quote..."All men die, but few men really live!"
