Ministry

Dane and I were talking today about ministry. In particular we were talking about ministry at Southern. Southern is definitely a young family seminary. It honestly seems like it is an unwritten rule here (not really but if Paul could use hyperbole then so can I). This conversation pretty much sparked from a comment made by one of our professors in class today. He was talking about ministry to the family, and said that the first half of our class we were going to talk about "what the family ought to look like." And he made a comment about "the single people" just listening in because we would find ourselves in that situation one day. Now for those who are married this seems to be a running theme. However, as I thought more and more about that comment in particular, but also how many times I have heard that said in the context of small group or corporate worship. Know this from the start, I don't think ministry to the family is bad in any way. The problem I have is that our church culture has become one of ministering to families alone. The fact of the matter is I don't have "a family" (that is to say that I'm not married), but also I have never had my immediate family attend church with me. So many times we wonder why there is becoming such a disconnect between high school grads and college students when it comes to church, and I feel (and I stress the fact that this is the way I feel) that this could be why. There is so much discussion of things involving the family, which IS NOT a bad thing. The bad comes in when you have people who can not relate to that message. For the most part ministers assume that, "you will be in this situation one day." I feel as though this creates a disconnect for some, including me at times. I feel as though in this culture of "married church" we forget those who aren't in that situation and honestly only God knows when they will find themselves there. It seems like the single people just get tagged on at the end. It really becomes difficult to connect with a church that just tags you on at the end of the message. I pray that God would use this to shape the minister that I am becoming. I pray that I would not forget and just tag people on when it is convenient, but that I would preach in such a way that it ministers to the whole congregation no matter how difficult this may be. I pray that this makes sense.