Wednesday, August 24, 2011

Redeemer Ministry School - Laying a Foundation for Life

One way to understand the purpose of Redeemer Ministry School is this.

  1. We teach students to abide in Christ, and show how this is done.
  2. We teach students how to hear God's voice.
  3. Out of abiding in Christ, and discerning God's voice, comes obedience. "Obedience" answers the Jesus-followers' question: "What am I to do now?"
  4. In this way we teach students how to trust in God.
While this, to me, sounds simple (as it should), it is far from simplistic. It is also, in our culture, counter-intuitive and radical. The one thing every Jesus-follower is to do is to abide and trust in Christ. (See John chapters 14-16) This is our spiritual "being." Out of our spiritual being comes our "doing." This is the opposite of doing things and later baptizing them in prayer. All "doing" that emerges from abiding in Christ is authentic and relevant. It is a good thing to be relevant in the Lord.

When a student graduates from Redeemer Ministry School their relationship with Christ should be stronger then when they arrived. We present students with a Certificate of Graduation. What will they do with this once they graduate? The answer is: display the Certificate on the wall and live the abiding-in-Christ life. With the God-relationship strengthened, life's primary foundation has been laid.

RMS will not help a person "find a job," but it will greatly help a person to find Christ and to be found in Him. This is the essence of the Jesus-life; viz., to live as a "branch" attached to Jesus, the True Vine.

At RMS we believe in this logical progression:

  1. If a person trusts in the Lord with all their heart, God will make straight their paths.
  2. You trust in the Lord with all your heart.
  3. God will make straight your paths.
RMS teaches #2.

Trusting God is not about striving or "trying harder." It is all about relationship: with God, with others. Learn this relationship, we at RMS believe, and then watch what God does with your life!