wfn.org | Robert Shelton Addresses Small Church Breakfast

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

GA99090 
24-June-1999 
 
         Robert Shelton Addresses Small Church Breakfast 
 
FORT WORTH-"Never lose the joy of ministry" was Dr. Robert Shelton's 
message to those attending Thursday morning's Small Church Breakfast.   He 
cited John 15:11, " so that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be 
complete."  The joy in the Christian life, he said, is broader and deeper 
than a sense of happiness.  It is the sense that what we are about has 
deeper meaning, the deep meaning of being the people of God today.  Without 
joy, Shelton said, we lose our passion and commitment. 
     Christianity is a personal religion, he continued.  It is personal 
both on God's side and on our side.  It is personal on God's side as God 
cares for us as if God had no other children.  All the way through the 
Bible, from Genesis to Revelation, it is personal as God repeats the 
promise to be our God and charges us to be his people.  At the heart of 
worship is the meeting between God and God's called out people. Worship, he 
said, is not simply a meeting of individuals.  We should go to church on 
Sunday morning with tingling fingers and shivers of excitement because we 
are going to meet God.  The smaller membership church has a real advantage 
with respect to the personal because all members have a chance to 
participate and to have their gifts for ministry discovered.  In the 
smaller membership church, he said, each one is called by name.  It is 
almost impossible to exclude anyone, and that's good.  There can be more 
flexibility because there are fewer levels of bureaucracy.  Shelton shared 
the story of the deacon who declined nomination to the session of his 
church because as an elder he would have to give up ministry.  The point, 
he said, is that joy comes not in talking about ministry but in being in 
ministry.  He concluded by saying, "If you find your joy in ministry 
slipping, find a way to recover it.  Joy and love cast out fear and anger 
and judgmentalism.  Joy allows you to engage in the vocation of being the 
people of God in the world today." 
     Shelton is President of Austin Theological Seminary where he is also 
Jean Brown Professor of Homiletics and Liturgics. 
 
Nancy Rodman 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
  This note sent by Office of News Services, 
  Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)
  to the World Faith News list <wfn-news@wfn.org>.
  For additional information about this news story,
  call 502-569-5493 or send e-mail to PCUSA.News@pcusa.org

  On the web:  http://www.pcusa.org/pcnews/

  If you have a question about this mailing list, 
  send queries to wfn@wfn.org