Creating critical mass

We have been reflecting on the role of culture in your ministry. Ministry culture is the way that the people in your ministry live their lives rather than the activities they engage in. As a leader you work hard to create the right ministry culture in your setting. The hope is that there would be a core group of people who live out the values and teaching of the Gospel in your ministry. Once you have this core group the culture of the ministry infects everyone because it is lived rather than taught. This core group becomes a critical mass through which the entire group is transformed.

Recently in the Broken Bay News, Bishop David Walker wrote an insightful article called “Living our Faith in a Mature Way”. There are a number of issues in the article which you should read, but the two sections quoted below link in with this discussion of ministry culture:

There are five million Catholics and millions of other Christians in our society today. Yet, our society does not feel, in a significant way, the love that God has shown us in Jesus. We have a majority of Christians in Australia, but our country is not a Christian society. Is the implication that we need more Christians? No! The implication is that we do not have a critical mass of disciples of Jesus that is capable of transforming our society. How do we achieve this critical mass? . . .

. . . To achieve the task outlined above, we need a critical mass of mature disciples of Jesus. This maturity is not simply achieved by going through the practices of our faith, but by a conscious and deliberate effort to work at transforming our own life by the power of the Gospel. The critical mass that we need is sufficient mature, committed disciples who can make the Gospel present effectively within our society. Then the power of the Gospel will be more operative and effective.

As a leader in your ministry you can only have so much influence. The key to making your ministry successful is to equip others with the Gospel values so that they can also influence others with the way they live their life. Your ministry culture the “conscious and deliberate effort” to pass on the values you want others to pick up. Your ministry should be an environment where people can transform their lives not just engage in a lot of Christian activity.

We hope that this series on Ministry Culture has helped you look at the lives of the people in your ministry, not just the activities you run. As an intern or ministry leader your focus should be on creating a culture of transformation rather than a culture that is driven by activity. We hope that this has assisted you to create a culture in your ministry where Gospel values are highly regarded and people feel loved by God.