In response to J. Todd Billing’s piece, “On Moving Beyond “Incarnational Ministry,” Dr. Paul Louis Metzger concurs that there are common misunderstandings of the New Testament teaching on the subject. Metzger agrees with Billings that we are not “Jesus to People” – only Jesus is Jesus to people.
However, Metzger avers that it is not immersing oneself in the lives of those around us that is the problem, it is only when we stop there – not fully understanding why we are immersing ourselves – that problems arise. Rather than shying away from the term, we should embrace it as it is meant to be – understanding that to do the work of Christ we must be participants in an incarnate ministry – or else we stop short and simply move into the neighborhood, or we experience burn out by attempting to do the work of Christ without the power of an incarnate God.