02 Apr Welcome to ADME: What We All Need Most Right Now
[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Welcome to ADME 2020
Kurt Frederickson, ADME President
Especially in a time of worldwide crisis, we need to recognize that ministry flows from the inside out. In order to serve well, we must attend to issues of character, of confidence, of resting in Christ’s presence. Ministry leaders cannot simply perform and succeed; we must be people who seek to follow Christ, and live out a Christ-like life. The Apostle Paul yearned for Christ to be formed in the lives of believers (Gal. 4:19).
The work of formation is essential. It is a steady and lifelong work. British missiologist Lesslie Newbigin puts it this way in The Gospel in a Pluralistic Society: “The minister’s leadership of the congregation in its mission to the world will be first and foremost in the area of his or her own discipleship, in that life of prayer and daily consecration which remains hidden from the world but which is the place where the essential battles are either won or lost.”
Neglect in this area can be costly as ethics professor at Wesley Seminary, Sondra Wheeler, reminds us: “Most pastors who lose their way do so because they lose themselves, in a sense, and grasp at anything (approval, admiration, celebrity, inflated authority, money, sex, or the unhealthy dependency of those they lead) to fill the void they experience.”
This issue of the Journal of Christian Ministry, as well as the theme of our annual conference (www.dmineducation.org/conference) focuses on the spiritual formation of our students. It is a matter of discipleship, of abiding in Christ (John 15). Enjoy this issue of the journal. Plan on checking out the ADME conference in April 2020 or viewing the online sessions afterward. Absorb what is written and be intentional about working at the formation of your students. As DMin Directors, we can play a key role. The health, vitality, and strength of a congregation or ministry context demands that ministry leaders recognize that ministry flows from the inside out.
–Kurt Frederickson is the president of ADME and the director of the Doctor of Ministry program at Fuller Seminary in California.
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