Reading through 2 Corinthians has been a great reminder of what it really means to be a pastor and to be called to a life of ministry as Paul had. As I read chapter 6 this week, I began to think of the way I might describe Paul's style of ministry. It's not "seeker-sensitive," or "traditional," or "emerging," or any other catch-phrase we often hear floating around church circles now-days. This was a phrase of Paul's that stuck out to me: "We have spoken freely to you, Corinthians, and opened wide our hearts to you" (v. 11). I think of all of the descriptions of Paul's ministry one could identify, this is the one I like the best: Paul was a practitioner of "Open Heart Ministry."
You may be asking, "Dave, what is Open Heart Ministry?" Well, I'm, glad you asked. It hasn't made a best-seller list on Christianbooks.com, it's not being featured at Willow's Leadership Summit, and in many ways it runs contrary to conventional leadership wisdom. But I think if you were to ask Paul, he would say that it was essential to his pastoral ministry. There are two aspects to this style of ministry. First, Open Heart Ministry is a life-style, not a job. It's something that becomes you, and seeps into your soul. It's something that you do in good times and bad times. Paul says,