Mindreading: A Growing Necessity In Ministry

Though the title is sarcastic, the reality of it is not far away. What we know of communication, how far we've gone with it, where we've come from because of it, is in danger of becoming irrelevant for a few simple reasons. In the day and age when blogs, emails, and instant messaging take precedence and preference over picking up the phone or speaking face to face, we have become walking smiley faces (or I should say semi-colons and close-parentheses). Our emotions, being so easily misunderstood over this medium through which we deliver and receive most, if not all, of our communication, have become reduced to symbols and catchy illustrations. I fear for the younger generations that are learning this new habit of communication and losing all social awareness and necessary skills to function in the living and breathing real world.

So what does this mean for ministry? Well, as with many unfortunate activities, we find that the shortcomings of the secular world can easily be reflected in the body of Christ. Why? Because we're still dealing with flawed, silly, emotional people who, despite every desire to change, are at best a bunch of donkeys. We bray and bray and expect everyone else to know what we're talking about. That's the real issue here, the facade of communication when the reality is that everyone around is walking on pins and needles waiting to mess up because the communication in the body is lacking.
In the short time I've been in ministry I have witnessed and been a part of many instances where, due to a break in communication, the ball has been dropped or people have been disappointed. In ministry, we can't let this happen. People come to church and depend on staff to meet their needs. As we (the ministers) fall short, the congregation suffers, because they're the ones who need mending and ministering. This also means that, within the staff of the church, communication is an essential and supremely necessary tool. When the communication of the ministers become jumbled the only possible scenario is disaster, or a great moving of God's spirit to revive and rejuvenate the mess that has been made.
My challenge is a matter of striving and clawing at the hope that we, as ministers, can learn to communicate effectively. We have to fight the flow of the culture and become a group of servants that know how to work with and around each other. The only hope for this is prayer and a sincere and honest effort to communicate, even to the point of annoyance, so that anyone who has a hand in the ministry to which you belong knows and has a deep understanding of any and all expectations for that ministry.
If, by God's amazing grace, you learn how to solve this Rubix Cube of miscommunication you'll be able to move on to the next hurdle...procrastination. But we'll save that headache for next time.