Holistic Ministry Acrostic

HOLISTIC MINISTRY ACROSTIC

H: Helps people who are unhealthy, homeless, hungry & hungering.
Holistic ministry reaches out to people in need. The focus of holistic ministry is not ourselves and
our church; it's outwardly directed. Who are our "neighbors" — whom has God placed in our path
of congregational mission? A multitude of people with multiple needs. These people are sent by God
to us (they don't just happen to come to us!) to give us an opportunity to demonstrate the power and
purpose of God's kingdom: to heal broken people — broken from sin, disease, oppression,
depression, alienation, frustration, dysfunction, disability, abuse, victimization, ostracizing, etc.
Their needs may be apparent (homeless, jobless) or hidden (abused, addicted). Our "neighbors"
come in all shapes, sizes, ages, races, ethnicity, and backgrounds; they come from board rooms and
game rooms, lofts and alleys, backwoods and backyards. Sometimes they come to the church;
sometimes parishioners come into contact with them. Holistic ministry helps all in Jesus' name.

O: Opposes dichotomies
What are some of the dichotomies holistic ministry addresses?

• Liberal/Conservative (Left/Right)
• Private/Public
• Personal salvation/Social gospel
• Individual sin/Systemic evil
• Personal piety/Social action
• Us/Them
• Pastoral Care/Outreach
• Home mission/Global mission
• Charity/Justice
• Relief/Development
• Forgiveness of sins/Good news of the kingdom of God
• Faith/Works

Why are polarities popular?

• Easier to take sides and draw lines
• Less work
• Feeds my need to be "right"
• Ancestry: It's in my blood - i.e., I was raised that way in the church
• As a horse gets used to blinders, so we feel comfortable with a narrow focus
• Comfort zone with little risk involved
• Selective obedience (both conservatives and liberals play the Thomas Jefferson game of picking and choosing which parts of the Bible to read)
• Reductionism = reduce reality to something simple
• Tone deaf or play single note

L: Leverages all spiritual gifts, skills, life experiences & resources of all God's people
A congregation has so much that they can bring to holistic ministry. God has blessed us richly: we
are "blessed to be a blessing." As an act of stewardship, God calls upon us to use wisely what the
Lord has given to us. We use not only our package of resources within a local congregation, but it
would behoove us to network with the vast resources in other congregations and organizations in
our community. Just as one person does not have all the spiritual gifts, skills, life experiences and
resources necessary to live out the life of Christian discipleship, I believe no single congregation has
the entire list. We need one other, both as individuals and as congregations.

I: Investment - in lives, community, nation and world
There's a cost involved in holistic ministry. There's a price to be paid but we should be willing to
pay it since, the gospel song reminds us, "Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe." Holistic ministry costs
us personally: time, money, energy, use of our homes, perhaps even our physical well-being (I'll tell
you a story about this on a later e-zine page), etc. Holistic ministry costs us congregationally: in our
budget, use and abuse of our facilities, loss of members who don't like the direction of holistic
ministry, court costs, etc. It costs us communally: human and social services, safety nets, special
education programs in our schools, battles over the NIMBY syndrome, conflicts in the community
over whether or not we should draw/bring "those people" here, etc. It cost us globally: working with
the usual and unusual allies, diverting resources from our own nation to nations in greater need,
creating the contexts that bring peace with justice and justice with peace. But the joy of serving
Jesus and the cause of Christ is worth the investment, many times over - the investment in growing
people's lives, building up our communities, encouraging our nation not to ignore the needs of its
citizens, and helping our world become a better place for the human family.

S: Sign of shalom
Holistic ministry is comprehensive. So is shalom: God's peace, prosperity, salvation, wholeness,
health, and happiness. Holistic ministry is concerned with all relationships. God desires that we
experience shalom within our own being, our families, our neighborhoods, our towns and cities, our
nation and our world. When shalom's deficient or denied, all of us lose. Holistic ministry fulfills
God's great intentions: loving God and neighbor (Matt. 22:37-40); fulfilling important demands of
the law - mercy, justice and faith (Matt. 23:23); loving mercy, doing justice, and walking humbly
with our God (Mic. 6:8). When we live out God's great intentions as a witness to God's kingdom,
shalom reigns.

T: The total person
We, and those people who are in need, are not merely disembodied souls that need God's salvation,
forgiveness for our sins, and security for our eternal destination. We are more than spiritual beings.
We are fully integrated beings: intellectual, emotional, psychological, social/relational, physical.
Holistic ministry congregations do/will reach out to the whole person with the full good news of
God's kingdom. As Jesus went about the towns and villages of Palestine on his first-century mission
preaching, teaching and healing, so we are engaged in a 21st-century mission that emulates Jesus'
ministry to the whole person. We dare not neglect what Jesus modeled for us if we desire to
faithfully follow him in holistic ministry.

I: Integrity marks our holistic ministry
When we serve in holistic ministry, we face the constant danger of serving people in need with the
wrong motivation. Do we serve because we fear that if we don't serve them then something negative
will happen to us or our church (like they'll get mad at us and harm us or our facilities)? Do we serve
because these people might become potential members of our growing (or declining) church? Do
we serve because it will make us feel good personally, or make us look good in our annual report
or in the eyes of our denomination or other churches in town? Do we serve because ________ [you
fill in the blank]. The proper motivation? The Apostle Paul said it best: "Christ's love compels us"
(2 Cor. 5:14). That same love seeks the best interests of the people we serve, not the "needs" of us
who do the serving.

C: Challenges evil
One of the things that makes holistic ministry "necessary" is the presence of sin in our world. The
brokenness in our selves and in our world must be confronted and alleviated. But it's more than
confessing, as comedian Flip Wilson claimed, "The devil made me do it!" Evil comes in the forms
of disease, death, sin and Satan. God's conquest through Christ on Calvary gives us the confidence
to challenge evil in all of it's dastardly disguises. Yet, we must not fall into the trap of focusing on
personal sins - as real and detrimental to a person's whole being as they are. For persons engaged
in holistic ministry, we also need to acknowledge and attack the systemic, institutional and corporate
manifestations of sin. To offer hope, help and healing to the addicted person and not deal a death
blow to the milieu (e.g., poverty, crime, unjust economic systems, materialistic society, drug culture,
unemployment, racism, etc.) that instigates and/or exacerbates such addictions is to place that
person's life in double jeopardy as they face personal and social evils. Holistic ministry
comprehensively addresses the full range of the sin-induced needs of people. Bringing the whole
gospel of God's kingdom to people, through holistic ministry, requires all of the above-and more.

What word or phrase would you add to our acrostic? We'd be glad to hear from you!
(ESA [at] esa-online [dot] org)