A Pastoral Survival Guide [1]
Rowland Croucher
Here's the beginning of a ten-article series...
Watch our website for the others...
Anyone out there want to write some discussion questions to go with these?
~~~
A Pastoral Survival Guide [1]
By Rowland Croucher
~~~
Preface: 'Reverend Joe'
Introduction: Pastoral Challenges Today
1. Relationship with God
2. Family-of-Origin
3. Mentors and Networks
4. Leadership and Interpersonal Skills
5. Home and Marriage
6. Stress Management
7. Problem-Solving
8. The 'Vision Thing'
9. Professional Growth
10. Institutions and Creativity
~~~
REVEREND JOE'S STORY
Reverend Joe (his story is an amalgam of half-a-dozen from my files and my
recent memory) was a boilermaker in a factory, but he had a gift with words.
One of his elders said he should be a preacher, so he went to Bible College,
and served a term as a cross-cultural missionary with an interdenominational
organisation. His ministry in Papua New Guinea was 'ordinary' according to
the mission-people, and his wife developed some health problems. The doctors
suggested that a tropical climate would not be good for her, so the Mission
Society asked him to do some 'deputation' - which he did very well. He had
only three talks to offer, but that's all he needed as he journeyed around
Australia, preaching in evangelical churches every Sunday. The General
Superintendent of one of the Baptist Unions heard him speak, and was
impressed.
When Joe intimated that he was thinking about entering pastoral ministry,
the G.S. said 'I think we can find a place for you' and Joe began the
process of theological training with a view to ordination. He struggled to
pass his exams, but eventually made it. He then served two rural churches,
but both pastorates ended badly. In the first, he 'fronted' a couple of the
powerful people, and they virtually drove him out. A second pastorate
finished abruptly after a couple of years when he had a breakdown. There was
no farewell from either church. When he felt a little better, he asked to be
put on the Baptist Union 'list' for another pastorate. The meetings of the
'settlement committee' came and went and Joe's name would come up each time.
But there wasn't a 'suitable' church. (One of the members of that committee
said to me, 'We have to be efficient, because there's always a lot of
business each month. But these names. they're people! This is their
vocation, their livelihood, we're talking about. We don't pray for them, or
even meet some of them. They're mostly just names. I feel very uneasy about
the whole process.')
I met Joe when I preached at the Baptist church he attended. We made a time
to talk - at the local McDonald's. He got there early and was waiting for
me, with a cup of coffee. (I learned later he found a used styrofoam cup,
and asked for a 'refill', as he couldn't admit to me that he was penniless).
His wife was supporting them both with some 'agency nursing', but her health
was still not good, and she could only do about two shifts a week. After
mortgage payments, and other bills, they had about $50 a week for food. He
couldn't find a job - and his old trade wasn't a possibility any more.
He told me, in an hour-and-a-half, the 'headlines' of his story. He had a
brutal, alcoholic father, and a mother who suffered 'nervous breakdowns'
regularly. His childhood was unhappy, and he was a lonely kid. School was
always a bad experience, and he left at 15 to work in a factory. A Christian
work-mate befriended him, took him to an evangelistic meeting, 'and I was
gloriously saved'. His life from then on was focussed on serving God and
winning others to Christ.
After a while, I asked him to give me a rough assessment of his missionary
and ministry careers. He did some things well, he said, but he couldn't cope
with people who 'crossed' him - either by making comments about his beliefs/
preaching, or by challenging his leadership. 'I got into trouble regularly
because I would stand up to people. That's the only way I survived as a kid.
They're not going to squash me. But I think I made a lot of enemies each
place I served.'
We then talked about 'where to from here'. I summarised John Mark Ministries
' research into ex-pastors like him - and me. There are about 41 responses
to the question 'Why did you leave parish/ pastoral ministry?' Most leave in
a context of conflict - with the powerful people in the church or
denomination. But underneath all this there's always a story of 'unfinished
family-of-origin' business. His story was not unusual - indeed he's a
classic!
He told me he felt 'the Union' had washed its hands of him. He was in the
'dead wood' category that institutional people talk about. 'The G.S. who
encouraged me to enter ministry has gone, and no one there now knows me.'
The Baptist Union had recently developed a system to encourage the personal
and professional growth of its pastors, who now are required to renew their
accreditation regularly. Joe felt threatened by all this. 'I'm not a reader,
' he said. 'But I still think I could be useful somewhere in the church.'
INTRODUCTION: PASTORAL CHALLENGES TODAY
Now, what should happen to Joe if he's to realise his potential and make it
back into pastoral ministry again? Is he a hopeless case? I personally don't
think so, but it will certainly be uphill. Non-tertiary-educated/ Bible
college trained ex-missionaries have generally had problems adjusting again.
The society they left has moved dramatically in their absence. They often
lack the vocational skills to compete on their return and the sending
mission societies have often failed to provide for their retraining and
economic wellbeing after 'years of sacrificial service'. Even pastors that
never went overseas, but were trained in the 1950s/ 1960s, are often
similarly disadvantaged.
I meet quite a few pastors still leading churches because they can't think
of any alternatives. They're burned out, struggling on, and their churches
are suffering.
Then, too, there's another category: pastors who feel they're 'mediocre' in
terms of effective leadership, but who do a faithful job. until some
powerful people in the church insist on their 'getting their act together
better'. Then there's trouble.
Another group is committed to 'church growth', but their people often feel
they're pawns in a triumphalistic chess-game. 'Our pastor doesn't listen: he
suffers from an edifice complex. We're OK if we bring friends to church, but
not if we struggle.'
Some older pastors feel they've passed their 'use by' date. One told me: 'I
don't understand all this post-modern stuff. I seem to be preaching about
things the educated young people aren't interested in. A university student
said to me: "You preach at us. Our teachers encourage us to come to our own
conclusions."'
Today it's both easier and harder to be a pastor. Easier, because we have
more resources to help us - like the World Wide Web for sermon-material
(ever used the search-engine Google as a concordance?), more support-groups
to encourage and pray for us, better access to the world's practical
theology experts, and a higher standard of living, on average, than pastors
have ever enjoyed.
But it's also harder. Many of us can identify with the apostle Paul who
said, 'Who is equal to such a task?', about his own call to pastoral
ministry. These days the expectations of our people are higher - and more
likely to be expressed vigorously. Up-front leaders and speakers compete
with dynamic personalities on television. There are more 'religious' people
not attending churches (in the West) than ever before in history. Our people
are likely to be better-educated - and differently-educated than we are.
'One size fits all' doesn't work any more: people are more mobile, and
brand-loyalty doesn't work for Generation X'ers (those born since 1965) - or
even Baby Boomers (born between 1946 and 1964).
The role of the clergy is by not as clear as it was. Nor is there clear
public affirmation of their role in many instances. Most people see no need
for religious professionals. And there's a lack of confidence in
institutions. Why waste precious time propping up ineffective institutions?
Indeed, the very way in which people are approaching spirituality is that
community involvement may be helpful at some points in time, but is
certainly secondary to the individual spiritual journey.
In the past 40 years I've preached in about 700 churches in Australia, and
they're becoming more varied each decade. The single most common question in
our 'Marks of a Healthy Church' seminars: how can we cater for old and young
with their different tastes in one worship service, particularly in smaller
churches? This centres particularly on the issue of modern vs. older music.
But then, we've argued about music before: some churches in 17th century
England and Scotland forbade all singing, others said we should only sing
Psalms. When new hymn-books are produced, there are mixed reactions. (In
1691 when the first Baptist hymn book appeared, many Baptists refused to use
it!).
Back to TV: most church-attenders have watched almost 20 hours of television
the previous week. Not only is the medium the message, but if communication
in church isn't dynamic/interesting (and cognisant of an assumed 45-second
attention span), the music excellent, and the themes life-related, people
will go elsewhere - even back to the TV. (See Tony Campolo, 1995, chapter 4
'The Television Challenge' for one of the few writers-about-churches to
underline the significance of television for churches).
Baby Boomers and GenX'ers have grown up with television - that's why they're
less-than-committed to a particular church/denomination. They're part of a
consumer culture in which choices/freedoms dominate their lifestyle. They
want 'value for money/time' and won't hang around a church that's boring,
irrelevant to their questions, or stuck where it was. (Tradition is a good
servant, but a very bad master).
Baby Boomers still have a disproportionate influence over our entire
society, consuming (in the U.S.) 51% of all the goods and services and
comprising 81% of journalists. Again, they don't share at all the 'brand
loyalty' of their parents: indeed they scoff at it - hence the decline of
denominations that have 'expected loyalty but neglected needs'. Baby Boomers
and GenX'ers see the church they're in as a 'way-station' for their ongoing
spiritual journey rather than the final destination. (This is partly because
they're open to upward job mobility, which may require changing location).
They're more likely to be loyal to a pastor than to a church or
denomination. They're also more tolerant of change, and more comfortable
with diversity and ambiguity.
GenX'ers got the best of everything: they've never had to wait for the good
things of life, so don't understand 'deferred gratification'. They listen to
music privately, and grew up in the first generation that devalued children
as having less social and economic value. They finish their education later,
marry later, have kids later and enter the job market later (hence the term
'the postponed generation'). They've been even more influenced by television
than have the Baby Boomers: but their concern for global issues often tends
to be unfocussed, even shallow. They face an almost overwhelming array of
options, and tend to be indecisive. Said one: 'We search for a goal, and
once it's attained, we realise it has moved farther away'.
So an important question at this point is: should we surrender to the
'I/me/myself' selfishness of the consumer culture? Two excellent books on
this are Philip Yancey's Church: Why Bother? and Eugene Peterson's The
Wisdom of Each Other: A Conversation Between Spiritual Friends. The point
these two books make: 'church is essentially in rebellion against
selfishness and is committed to diversity'.
Another contemporary issue: most Christians believe that a society which
loses its commitment to certain core moral values, where most 'do what is
right in their own eyes' is 'on the skids'. Post-modernism rejects absolute
ways of speaking of truth. Post-modernism, as the cliché puts it, is
essentially a rejection of 'meta-narratives'. So religion is pushed out of
the public arena into the private domain and such relativism can have
disastrous consequences. Christians believe that to claim a morality which
is purely self-referential is to claim a freedom which ends up as being no
freedom at all. If there is no point of reference beyond ourselves, then
reason, justice and law become exploitable by the powerful and the
influential, and the weak have nothing left to appeal to. If we have no word
for sin we shall soon find we have no words left to describe responsibility.
As the ancient Roman adage puts it: 'What are laws without morals?'
An Indian pastor was excited he was about his up-coming marriage. A Western
missionary asked a few questions about the bride-to-be and it soon became
evident that the young fellow had not yet even met the woman to whom he was
betrothed. It was an arranged marriage. With as much cultural sensitivity as
possible, the missionary asked how did they know if they loved each other?
The Indian pastor's response: 'We will learn to love each other.'
The Church, whether we like it or not, is like an arranged marriage! We
don't determine who is or is not part of the Church, God does. We won't get
on with everyone. In one sense, when we give our lives to Jesus, we actually
don't
have any choice in the matter, for we are called to learn to love even those
we don't get on with.
Back to pastors: please note that we are not here judging the effectiveness
of a pastor's work simply in terms of cleverness or measurable success. I
know some faithful 'Jeremiahs' whose congregations have dwindled; there were
often factors at work beyond their control. Generally, however, well-led and
healthy churches grow, spiritually and numerically. There's a climate of
love and expectancy and competence and relevance in them which encourages
people to come back again!
So here we will use words like 'effective' and 'faithful' rather than
'successful'.
After listening to hundreds of their stories, I believe the following are
the ten characteristics (in my preferred order of importance/significance)
of pastors - women and men - who 'make the distance'.
1.. RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD.
1-1 JESUS OUR MODEL
Christian ministry - of any kind - is simply doing in our world what Jesus
did in his. Jesus is our pattern for ministry - to God and for the world.
Close communion with the Father was at the heart of all he was and did. As
his disciples saw this reality they wanted to be part of it (why don't more
people ask us to teach them to pray?). His prayer-life was disciplined and
ordered, although he too, was busy. It began with a contemplation of God -
'Our Father' - before moving to human need. He prayed hard before important
decisions, like choosing the twelve. His meditation on Scripture gave
strength in times of testing, particularly when the devil wanted him to do
ministry another way. Time was found for prayer - 40 days, a whole night,
very early in the morning. Hurry is the death of prayer. (When did you last
take a retreat?) Nowhere did Jesus pray 'to feel good': for him, and for us,
the key imperative is obedience.
1-2 SPIRITUAL FORMATION is the process whereby the Word of God is applied by
the Spirit of God to the heart and mind of the child of God so that she or
he becomes more and more like the Son of God. It's 'growing firm in power
with regard to your inner self' (Ephesians 3:16). It's the maturing of the
Christian towards union with Christ.
Assumptions of spirituality include
* God is doing something before I know it
* Love and prayer are gifts
* The aim of spiritual formation is not happiness, but love, joy,
peace - and courage and hope
* Prayer is friendship with God, a response to his love
* Prayer is subversive: it's an act of defiance against the ultimacy of
anything other than God
* We are always beginners in the life of prayer: pray as you can, not as
you can't ('to seek to pray is to pray')
1-3 IMAGES OF MINISTRY
The minister - whether pastor or other - serves by introducing persons to
Jesus, our only antidote for alienation. Alienation (sin) is the severing of
self from self, self from others, self from God; and all these are connected
(if I'm alienated from self I won't be OK with others). The opposite of
alienation is belonging: the process is called metanoia ('turning' from
blaming to owning one's alienation and being 'converted'). Truly 'converted'
people are eucharistic, thankful, grateful.
# Wounded Healer: The minister of Christ expects trouble (as Jesus
promised) in a world tempting us with clean sorrow and clean joy. The Lord
is closer when we are vulnerable, when we stop pretending to be powerful,
and admit how wounded we are. Personal spiritual renewal comes only through
brokenness, dying (Psalm 51:10-12,17, John 12:20-28). The Christian life
begins and continues as a via crucis. We recognise Judas and Peter in
ourselves - we're both wicked and weak. And yet, in our despair, when
resurrection seems unlikely we hear him in the garden or on the sea-shore,
alive, calling us by name. Because we are identified with a dying/risen
Christ, our ministry is a 'living reminder' of this oneness. So we will
avoid crucifixion-only spiritual masochism or resurrection-only
triumphalism. And our pastoral task is to prevent others suffering for the
wrong reasons.
# Servant Leader: Ministry is the translation of the Good News into
human relationships. It's having authority to empower others to live in the
Kingdom. 'Authority' = a firm basis for knowing and acting; 'authorities'
maintain their position after knowing/acting have finished, and 'lord' it
over others (which is why people who climb institutions often have
difficulty maintaining a spiritual life). Jesus, in contrast to the
authorities, was a servant, identifying with us in our ordinariness (the
Suffering Servant wasn't good-looking, Isaiah 52:13). So ministry has to do
with 'the quiet homely joys of humdrum days' (Sangster), the sheer
Mondayness of things. Such servanthood is indiscriminate (if I cannot
embrace someone, it is because he or she reminds me of some fear in myself).
But let us remember: if we live to please people, we become slaves of those
people. Instead of one master (Jesus, whose yoke is easy), we end up with
numerous Pharaohs who are never satisfied with our performance no matter how
much we do. Our servant role is well expressed in Colossians 1:24-29 and
Acts 20:28 ('Take heed, therefore, to yourselves, and to all the flock, over
which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to feed the church of God,
which he has purchased with his own blood.'). As we are called to be
servants of the church, we also affirm that the church is not our master -
Christ is.
During the installation of a pastor, the congregation is asked two questions
phrased something like this: 'And you, people of God, will you receive this
messenger of Jesus Christ, sent by God to serve God's people with the Gospel
of hope and salvation? Will you regard him/her as a servant of Christ and a
steward of the mysteries of God?'
# The Scholar Teacher (Latin schola = free time): Henri Nouwen (Creative
Ministry) contrasts violent and redemptive teaching models. 'Violent'
teaching is competitive (knowledge is property to be defended rather than a
gift to be shared), unilateral (the teacher is strong/competent, the pupil
weak/ ignorant), and alienating (students and teachers belong to different
worlds). 'Redemptive' teaching is evocative (drawing out potentials),
bilateral (teachers are free to learn from students), actualising (offering
alternative life-styles in a violent world).
# Coach/Empowerer. The Protestant Reformation put the Bible into the
hands of ordinary people, and just about everybody agrees we now need a new
Reformation to put ministry into the hands of the laos - but many/most
clergy will resist it. (Why do we persist in using the word 'minister' in
the singular?) The clergy are part of the laity, equipping us all towards
spiritual growth and maturity (Colossians 1, Ephesians 4). Pastors are the
churches' resident spiritual directors (see Eugene Peterson's excellent
writings on that subject), theologians (see Elton Trueblood), and prophets
(Walter Brueggemann).
1-4 THE SAINT AND THE PHARISEE
In general there are two religious mind-sets - those of the 'saint' and the
Pharisee. We all have something of each in us, and the potential to be
either. Both may be 'orthodox' theologically, even 'evangelical'. Both
pursue 'goodness' but by different means, for different ends. (Pharisees
were 'good' people in the worst sense of the word!). Saints (like Jesus)
emphasise love and grace, Pharisees law and (their interpretation of)
'truth'. Saints are comfortable with 'doctrine', but for the Pharisee
doctrine becomes dogma, law becomes legalism, ritual (the celebration of
belonging) becomes ritualism. The saint lives easily with questions,
paradox, antinomy, mystery; Pharisees try to be 'wiser than God' and resolve
all mysteries into neat formulas: they want answers, now. The saint listens,
in solitude and silence; the Pharisee fills the void with sound.
With Jesus, acceptance preceded repentance, with the Pharisees it was the
other way around. The saint, like Jesus, says first 'I do not condemn you'.
Pharisees find that difficult: they'd prefer 'go and sin no more'. Jesus
welcomes sinners; sinners get the impression they're not loved by Pharisees.
For the Pharisee, sins of the flesh and 'heresy' are worst, and they are
experts on the sins of others. For the saint, sins of the spirit - one's own
spirit - are worst. Saints are 'Creation-centred'; Pharisees 'Fall-centred'.
The saint's good news begins with 'You are loved'; the Pharisees begin with
'You are a sinner'.
For the Pharisee 'my people' = 'people like me'; for the saint 'my people' =
all God's people. Pharisees are insecure (needing 'God-plus' other things);
the saints are secure (needing 'God only'). The Pharisees' audience is other
people: their kudos provides a measure of security (psychologists call it
'impression management'; Jesus calls it hypocrisy). The saints' only
audience is God: their inner and outer persons are congruent.
Pharisees hate prophets ('noisy saints') and their call to social justice;
saints love justice. (Saints aren't into writing creeds very much, which is
why the two things most important for Jesus - love and justice - don't
appear in them).
So saints remind you of Jesus; the Pharisees of the devil (demons are
'orthodox'). Saints see Jesus in every person: they haven't any problem
believing we're all made in the image of God (= Jesus) although they're
realistic about that image being marred by sin. Saints are spread through
all the churches: the closer they are to Jesus, the more accepting they are
of others. 'Ambition' for them means 'union with Christ': they call nothing
else 'success'. In their prayer they mostly 'listen', 'wait on the Lord';
the Pharisee needs words, words, words. Pharisees have a tendency to
complain about many things; for the saints life is 'serendipitous': they
have a well-developed theology of gratitude. Pharisees are static,
unteachable, believing they have monopoly on the truth; saints are committed
to growing. (Nature, they say, abhors a vacuum; the Spirit abhors fullness -
particularly of oneself). Jesus was full of grace and truth; Peter says grow
in grace and knowledge: Pharisees aren't strong on grace, but for saints
'grace is everywhere'.
The religion of the saints is salugenic, growth-and health-producing; that
of the Pharisee is pathogenic. Only one thing is important: to be a saint.
Pastors who have not been cured of their Pharisaism will not last the
distance.
Saints appreciate these sentiments (in Rory Noland's song):
Holy Spirit, take control.
Take my body, mind, and soul.
Put a finger on anything
that doesn't please you,
Anything that grieves you.
Holy Spirit, take control.
1-5 SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES
The spiritual life cannot be nurtured without discipline. So make a chapel
or oratory somewhere, perhaps a corner of your bedroom, away from
interruptions (put the telephone answering machine on), where you do your
prayer and Bible/spiritual reading (not 'Bible study' or sermon preparation:
that should be done in another place at other times). Daily solitude is not
a luxury; it is a necessity for spiritual survival. If we do not have that
within us, from beyond us, we yield too much to that around us.
Spiritual wisdom suggests we begin our 'quiet time' with a Bible word,
phrase or prayer ('Be still...', 'Maranatha', 'Lord, have mercy on me a
sinner'). 'Occupy yourself in it without going further. Do like the bees,
who never quit a flower so long as they can extract any honey from it'
(Francis de Sales). 'Lectio divina' is the slow, reflective reading of the
Bible. Scripture is God's personal word to me - for my 'formation' not just
information. I read it reverently, ready to be 'converted' again and again
(conversion begins but never ends), willing to be led where I may be
reluctant to go, believing that God has yet more light and truth to reveal
to me, and to the church. I try to learn to 'meditate on the Word day and
night' (Psalm 1:2).
The Daily Office is an excellent structure for daily devotions. Try the
Australian Anglican Prayer Book or the Daily Devotions section in the New
Zealand Anglican Prayer Book. The Daily Office, says (Baptist) Stephen
Winward is absolutely scriptural, God-centred, depends on an ordered use of
Scripture (including difficult and challenging passages), is corporate,
educative (we're in touch with prayer traditions centuries old) and
'obligatory' (even though the discipline is sometimes hard). Of course, as
the Protestant Reformers emphasised, it can be mechanical and formal, but it
doesn't have to be. 'Few things are needful, or only one' says Jesus to
Martha (Luke 10:42 RSV mg.). Be still, and know that he is God.
Contemplation is the awareness of who (and where) God is. The intellect and
lips are still, and one is open to beauty, goodness, wisdom, gentleness and
love - in short, to transcendence. It's the descent of the 'Word' from mind
to heart. The most important element in the contemplative life is not
knowledge, but love. This is a hard discipline for 'heady' and busy people.
Christian spirituality issues from, and creates Christian community. We have
suffered from too much privatised religion ('receiving Jesus as your
personal Saviour' is not an expression we got from the Bible). Pastors, too,
need to be accountable spiritually to someone. 'Self-made Christianity' is a
contradiction. And remember, pastoral ministry is not automatically self-
(or spirit-) nurturing. Because you handle holy things doesn't ensure you're
a holy person. So we will find a spiritual director, a 'soul friend',
someone who helps one respond to the inner promptings of the Holy Spirit,
listening together to the Lord. The key question in direction is not 'Who am
I?' (that's counselling) but 'What happens when I pray?' Spiritual direction
is all about following Jesus who taught his disciples to pray. So did the
apostles: read the magnificent prayers in Ephesians 1 and 3 and Colossians
1, where Paul spells out how he prays for his friends - obviously modelling
a way to pray he would like them to emulate. However, Spiritual Direction is
not, in essence, directive (it's the Spirit who directs). We come to God,
said Augustine, not by navigation, but by love.
The sacraments are the Lord's specific gifts to his people: the corporate
acts par excellence of his church.
Fasting is a good regular or occasional discipline. Fast from food, words,
TV, spending money, the telephone, sex, watching sport - whatever will help
get ends and means in perspective for a while.
Silence is 'the royal road to spiritual formation' (Nouwen). It is not just
the absence of noise, but an opportunity to listen to the still small voice
of the Spirit. 'Meditation' is a way for Scripture to be internalised not
merely (as in Transcendental Meditation) a technique to 'calm down'.
Journaling is a useful means of recording the promptings of the Spirit in
our lives. A spiritual journal is a written response to reality: a record of
one's inner and outer life (including dreams), a way to inner growth,
reflection and healing.
Prayer cannot be divorced from daily living. Baron Friedrich von Hugel's
first suggestion to Evelyn Underhill when he was invited to be her spiritual
director: visit the poor in inner-city London two days a week. After all,
the Spirit, says an ancient Latin hymn, is pater pauperum, 'father of the
poor'.
A final word from Bonhoeffer: 'It is not some religious act which makes a
Christian what he or she is, but participation in the suffering of God in
the life of the world' (Prisoner for God, SCM, 1953, 166).
1-6 THE CALL TO MINISTRY
Here is some classical Christian wisdom on the subject of vocation:
# 'Your motives are mixed. So are mine, for I shall not know this side
of death why I became a preacher; and I have no right to assume that all
that moved me in the choice was of angel brightness. Sometimes we see how
incredibly ravelled are even our best desires.' (George Buttrick, Sermons
Preached in a University Church, Abingdon, 1959, p. 109).
# Traditionally, an 'inner' call was dominant when one entered monastic
life; but the call to the presbyterate/pastorate needed an 'inner' call
confirmed by the church. God always calls people to leadership in the
community of Jesus Christ through the community. Calvin taught that there is
a 'two-fold' call to pastoral ministry: God calls, but the church must also
call. Wesley distinguished between an 'inner' and 'outer' call.
# The call to 'ministry' is a subset of the call to be a child of the
living God. The New Testament talks about the 'high calling of God in Christ
Jesus' (Philippians 3:14); it is a 'holy calling' (2 Timothy 1:9); and a
'heavenly calling' (Hebrews 3:1).
# Sometimes people wear rose-coloured spectacles when considering a call
to pastoral ministry / full-time evangelism / cross-cultural missionary
work. Those people are considered fortunate, because they have lots of time
to sit around and meditate, without being bothered by the hassles of
ordinary living. A mother-of-nine told the evangelist Gypsy Smith that she
believed God was calling her to be an evangelist like him. 'Isn't that
wonderful!' he responded. 'God has not only called you; he's already
provided you with a congregation!' Jesus said to Peter: 'Follow me (leave
your home)'. To the Gadarene demoniac (Luke 8:26-39): 'Return to your home,
and declare how much God has done for you.'
# An old church paradigm suggests six 'vocation indicators' - Faith
(words and actions that indicate a deep-down commitment to Christ and his
Church); Idealism (often expressed through initiatives which promote peace,
justice, and strive for a better world); A Search for Greater Meaning (eg.
an authentic questioning of current lifestyle); A 'People Person' (either
extroverted, or a quieter 'one-to-one' personality); Leadership (ability to
draw others to oneself, make decisions and take initiatives); Strength of
Character (integrity and a sense of responsibility for one's own actions and
decisions).
# God may have to call you more than once before he gets your attention.
God had to call Samuel three times before he got the message.
# Sometimes a 'call' will come when we are really discouraged in our
work; sometimes when we are successful. Christian wisdom says that usually a
'restlessness' will precede a call to another ministry, but escaping,
running away from a tough job to enter pastoral ministry does not augur well
for a ministry-future. (Have you heard of the black cotton-picker in the
American South who was very tired one scorching day. He looked up to the
heavens and said 'O Lord, de sun am so hot, de work am so hard, de cotton am
so grassy dat I believe you callin' me to be a preacher!').
Shalom!
Rowland Croucher
http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm
July 2002
Moira de Swardt
Rowland Croucher <rcro...@optushome.com.au> wrote in message
> Anyone out there want to write some discussion questions to go
with these?
Rowland, the article is too long for casual consumption. It's a
dinner party, not a snack.
Moira, the Faerie Godmother
Rowland Croucher
"Moira de Swardt" <moira.d...@global.co.za> wrote in message
news:3d3102a2$0$18...@hades.is.co.za...
Moira, you ain't seen nuthin'
This is the first of ten:
http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm/alpt/alpt0560.htm
meant for serious discussion by serious people (and probably too short,
given the scope of the issues :-)
--
Shalom!
Rowland Croucher
http://www.pastornet.net.au/jmm
(Now 7000+ articles)