I simply loved this quote from William H. Willimon in the book Pastor: The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry:

Thus I am troubled when a seminarian tells me that she or he is going into the Christian ministry because, ‘I like helping people.’ Helping people,may be a satisfactory basis for ministerial work, if ministry is practiced in a place like Honduras, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere…..But in affluent, consumerist, capitalist culture, attempting to help people becomes extremely problematic among the relatively well off.

Ain’t it the truth!!! How in the world do we “help” the richest and most powerful people in the world. I heard the other day (I haven’t checked the facts) that 3 billion people, half of the world’s population live on $2 a day. That figure was in our dollars. It would be the same as if we were trying to live on $2 a day. Now, when people come to my church, what should I preach in light of that? That God loves you and has a wonderful plan for your life? In the scheme of things, they are already living a wonderful live….although one that is devoid, many times, of purpose and fulfillment (which I find very interesting).

What shoud be our agenda as leaders of the church? Should it be simply to pat folks on the head and send them on their way? Or is God calling for something else?