Comfort and Challenge

I am taking a class on Congregational Renewal with a different topic for each month. This last month we discussed the difference between a “Comfort” ministry and a “Challenge” ministry. I had never heard these terms used before so this was a new way of viewing what we do.

In essence a “Comfort” ministry makes people feel good or provides for a need. Our prayer shawl ministry, food ministry and our beds ministry are wonderful examples of ways that we provide comfort. We have a healthy balance of inner focused and outer focused comfort ministries in our congregation. This is a good thing. Most people affirm comfort ministries and their is rarely any push back to participating.

“Challenge” ministries are different because they don’t just provide comfort but actually challenge the system that created the need for the comfort. An example of this is Care Portal. We work with the social workers to provide items necessary for reunification of families or foster care parents who are taking on the responsibility for the children. Family Promise is also a challenge ministry because we work with our partners to move families into permanent housing by providing food and training for them to be successful. To dive deeply into this challenge, we could work with the Tulsa Housing Authority and the laws of our area to address the why we have so many families who are experiencing homelessness. These type of challenge ministries are often referred to as prophetic ministries, and they can sometimes cause disruption because of their call to Christian ethics.

Each pastor in my class was asked to consider if their church was too heavy or too light in either area. I was surprised to discover that only two of us had churches involved in Challenge ministries at all. It was another opportunity for me to be proud of the way we live out our mission statement every day. I do believe, and I know that you do believe, that we are called by Jesus to provided both comfort and challenge. May it always be so.

Grace and Peace,