Preparing the Congregation for Death
Rick McKinniss
Few of us have been trained to prepare congregations in any substantial way for the assaults of our final enemy, death.
Rick McKinniss
In seminary the rallying cry of my circle of classmates was "Life-giving ministry!" We were determined to extend that ministry in all circumstances and against all obstacles.
When I got into my first pastorate, however, I encountered three funerals in the first four months. And a terminal case of cancer was slowly killing one of the key lay leaders. Suddenly my rallying cry seemed incomplete. I needed to prepare myself and my congregation to face death.
I shared my frustrations with various colleagues and discovered to my surprise that many of them could tell similar stories. They felt the same concerns I did, but few had been trained to prepare their congregations in any substantial way for the assaults of our final enemy, death.
It helped, as I studied the Epistles, to find Paul himself came late to realize the need to prepare a congregation for the loss of fellow members, family, and friends. Believers at both Corinth and Thessalonica were badly shaken by the deaths of some of their members before the soon-expected return of Jesus. Both groups had questions and concerns. Had they correctly understood the gospel message about the resurrection and the promised age of blessing? And, if more deaths were to be expected before Jesus should return, what pastoral practices ought to be instituted? Such questions, if left unanswered, threatened to undermine these congregations he had worked so hard to establish. So Paul found it necessary to prepare both churches for the certainty of more deaths within their ranks.
As usual, I have found Paul's response a good one to follow. Paul begins to prepare the ...
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