The more I am exposed to Christian ministry via, churches, blogs, conversations, magazines, etc, the more I hear different ministry labels being through around. The big ones these days being, "missional" or "emergent". Fifteen years ago it was "traditional", "contemporary", or "seeker". The more expereince I get in ministry the more I am finding that these labels really don't mean that much and I think we would all be better suited to do away with them. I know that this is unrealistic and labels are somewhat necessary in order to generally know where someone leans, but in the end I don't care for them.
Don't tell me that you are "missional". Tell me who you are, what you are passionate about and let me observe what you do in ministry for about a year and then let's find a label to put on it. More often than not, a ministry label can be a kind of identity marker that can give a person or a ministry a sense of belonging, but in terms of the power for ministry it means nothing.
I don't care about your ministry label, I care about your personality and your gifts. Don't try and fit into some perceived ministry system. Be yourself and get on your knees and ask God who he wants you to be and do that.
If you think I am missing something here, let me know. I would love to hear your take.
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