Reformed University Fellowship

Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

• 01.27.10
• by Daniel Mason
• 3 Comments

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” Psalm 139:13-14. Since 1995, my sophomore year in High School, this has been a verse that has brought much comfort to me in my personal relationship with God. He knows my family, He knows my own strengths and weaknesses, He knows my past experiences, He knows the wounds I have suffered, He knows my whole story. Growing up I had this view of God as kind of the grandfather in the sky that demanded respect and if I erred was ready to come down and punish me. The Christian God is a God who is not only transcendent, but also immanent. He is intimately acquainted with us, He has formed us and rejoices over us as His creation. Though this truth has been an anchor for my soul over the past 10+ years, I did not know how this belief affected ministry toward others. All of our theology fleshes itself out in practical ministry. I began to question and wonder how does this belief that our God not only knows us in our whole being but has placed us with our particular families, in this particular place, and in this particular time impact ministry toward others.

I have been actively involved in ministry since my time in college. But if I can be honest, my approach to ministry could be called “fit the box” ministry. I had a fixed approach to ministry and a fixed understanding of what being a Christian looked like. Therefore, when I ministered to people I had a goal for all people that looked the same. Being a Christian meant; getting up in the morning with a cup of coffee and a journal with your Bible open, leading in ministry meant leading a small group of people that prayed for 10 minutes, shared for 10 minutes, discussed Bible for 25 minutes and prayed to close for 10 minutes, being bold for Jesus meant going into vocational Christian ministry, and complete sacrifice meant going overseas as a foreign missionary. Of course I am exaggerating a little, but the force of what I am saying is true, I had a box that I would try to shape people to fit into.

RUF speaks about ministering to the Individual. Each person is different; differing families, differing experiences, differing temptations, differing sins, and differing wounds. Therefore to minister to people, to build a ministry means engaging each person, the individual, where they are and preaching the gospel of Jesus Christ to their specific wounds, struggles, sins. As a Campus Minister I must know my students, I must know their story and their struggles, so as Campus Ministers we spend a large portion of our weeks meeting with students one on one. In one way this makes ministry much more difficult and much more messy. There is no one way to walk with Jesus and lead in ministry, there is no box to fit into. In another way it takes the pressure off trying to “reproduce” certain types of Christians. This approach of ministering to the individual caused the flashing lights to go off in my mind and heart. This is how my belief concerning God’s understanding of me as an individual should flesh itself out in ministry. I want nothing more than God to meet people with the balm of the gospel where they are and empower them to serve His kingdom in the ways they are gifted and created. I am grateful God knows me individually, should not those we minister to individually be known by us? It means more digging into lives, which can be difficult, but Jesus never said ministry is easy. “ You can rake leaves all day long and only get leaves, it is easy. But if you dig you will find gold.” I want the Lord to shape each person into the person He has created and is recreating them to be.

Daniel Mason