Total Church, Gospel Ministry and Adoption

 

I posted the other day about what moves people to great acts of service. Today I came across this quote by Tim Chester and Steve Timmis in their book Total Church and it hit me as very true – 

“Most gospel ministry involves ordinary people doing ordinary things with gospel intentionality.” – p.61

Now apply that to something like caring for orphans. It is interesting that the act of adopting, doing foster care, or going overseas to care for orphans is often seen as a “great act of service” involving great sacrifice. I think in light of this quote and in light of God’s heart and the Gospel that these acts for the church ought to be seen as “ordinary things.” God has called us and commanded us to care for orphans. Our obedience to this surely ought to be the “ordinary activity” of our lives as His people. Now, if you want to argue that caring for orphans really is “great” then it is not not because they involve great sacrifice but because they are great manifestations of a great Gospel and there is great joy involved in living this way. If that is what we mean by “great” then I will accept that.

This is incredibly encouraging because I have met so many people who think that in order to do something like this they need to be some sort of extraordinary kind of person. Absolutely not. What is required is an extraordinary Gospel and Holy Spirit empowered Gospel-intentionality. That is what changes us and through us changes the world for God’s glory.