From flash mob to flash ministry …

Churches are increasingly turning to a “flash mob” ministry mentality in a effort to try to impact their communities with their presence.

A flash mob is a group of people who, seemingly spontaneously, burst out in a choreographed performance in a public place to provide a brief snippet of entertainment, then disappear as quickly as they appeared (as humorously portrayed in the video clip below) …

Some churches have been doing something similar by canceling Sunday worship services once a month or once a quarter and instead turning out en masse somewhere in their communities to provide a form of service.

Personally, I applaud a more focused effort of getting whole congregations involved in making a difference for Christ in their communities. But the “flash ministry” approach can come with its own weaknesses if not done well. Sometimes, these efforts:

• … can lack personal passion. When a coordinator plans everything and you simply show up for an hour or two to pray, paint (etc.), and move on, it can be easy to miss sharing a real, personal part of yourself with others. Instead, you simply contribute to a project rather than create an ongoing connection with people in your community. The project may benefit someone, but if you don’t make a personal connection as an Ambassador for Christ, you’re missing the primary purpose …
  

• … can maximize comfort zones … When all we have to do is show up for a nominal amount of time and put in a little physical work before going home to our routines for another month or longer, we’re not doing much to grow our service to others. We may actually be further enabling the maintenance of our comfort zones by finding a reasonably comfortable way to “serve” …
  

• … can minimize personal cost … When meeting the needs of others is reduced to a nominal contribution to a project, we minimize real costs to the individual. When we have a mindset that we need to minimize personal cost in order for people to serve, we’re missing entirely the kind of love and sacrifice displayed by the early church.

The church, and those served by the church, can both benefit by Christian service that combines both individual efforts of agape love that stretches us, and combining our efforts. We should work together on those things that are too big to accomplish individually (either by sheer amount of work or prohibitive cost), but continue to place an emphasis on every follower of Christ impacting lives by spending themselves on others in Jesus’ name. Like the video above highlights the value of timing, it’s important to know when we can stretch ourselves in service to others personally, and when we need to come together so we can achieve even greater things together.

Scotty