Part-Time Miracle Worker

I've always thought that part-time church work should mean part-time presence (every other Sunday). Any church staff (youth, secretary, children, pastor, etc.) should be able to find another comparable job at a second church for part-time. I realize that's not terribly realistic for a lot of churches, but the idea should at least be raised as a way of managing expectations. 

There is a church in my Presbytery looking for a part-time miracle worker. This person would have as much or more responsibility than the pastor at the 450 member congregation I serve, with one-quarter the pay. Ministers aren't in their line of work for the money, but earning a living would be appropriate. If a part-time work-load is such that a church worker cannot reasonably take on a similar part-time job without completely wiping them out, then the expectations are irresponsible. 

What do you think?

Rejecting Experience

There is a certain amount of mistrust towards experience from some of my fellow students at Seminary. Not all students, but some. There are professors as well who seem to get weak in the knees when any conversation about personal experience comes up in class. Even though I can appreciate not letting class time devolve into personal testimony at the expense of other critical learning, I'm confused by the apparent mistrust of experience which I find so central to my faith. The following is my understanding of how experience and faith interact. 

From time to time the religious have an experience in which they are brought to the limit of themselves and confronted with that which is ultimate and beyond. Those who have confronted the “Wholly Other” use words like

Gate-Keeping

I read this blog post today. I'm currently going through the CPM process and I have a few thoughts on how CPMs might reduce the perception that their decisions are arbitrary and therefore sexist, racist, and ageist.

It's important to note that our systems are inherently sexist/racist/ageist. A CPMs job (I would think) is to mitigate the effects of that oppressive system while encouraging talented ministry of all kinds to take place in the Presbyterian Church (USA).

First, are you being honest? Paying attention to fairness is important but you might consider that your process may not be honest. People can typically sense that you are having conversations about them which are not being shared with them. If the CPM finds themselves discussing something about a candidate that cannot be shared with a candidate, then it is time to either stop having those conversations or it is time to engage in some very difficult conversations with the candidate.

We Don’t Get to Control God

I was in a class this last week where we were discussing a case study about suicide. In our case study, a teenager and member of a local protestant church had taken his own life. The local high school was adrift with all kinds of religious notions about what would happen to this boy and members of the boy’s youth group approached their pastor with questions. Primarily they were concerned about the things that they heard from other kids at school about how he was going to hell for taking his own life.

Justice Denied is Fate Untied

We are tempted as preachers to highlight how the theology of our church is superior to the theology of another. Too often we preach sermons where we point the finger at misinterpretation "out there." On occasion though the lectionary gives us a passage that just doesn't fit neatly into our own theology. It is good and healthy to use these passages as opportunities to explore the limits of our own theological stances. By getting outside of our own "knowledge" and exploring another view point, we might just find ourselves closer to the truth. And if we are still standing once the confrontation has taken place, well then, we are stronger for it.

Hungry For Change

I read a blog post this morning about the process for preparation for ministry. Apparently the author came across a candidate for ministry who compared her journey to the Hunger Games. Although dramatic, I would encourage more CPMs to pay attention to these critiques.Why not explore how this candidate is feeling and why? There is a lot more to the Hunger Games analogy than just participants fighting it out to the death. There is an entire industrial complex built around reminding people of their past wrongs, supporting the victors of war, punishing the losers and telling them that it is for their own good, and costs being borne by one party alone.

Touch Points

Our church provides scholarships for college bound graduates. They do not receive a huge amount, but it often covers books and some basic expenses when they first get onto campus. Years ago we used to make them solicit references from the congregation. These days, we skip the references and instead ask applicants to choose two non-staff church members and describe for us how these folks have supported them throughout their life.

Badge of Belonging

The pastor in my church is always reminding people to wear their nametags to worship. We have them prominently displayed at the entrances of our church and people are supposed to grab them as they come through the doors. With over 450 members, nametags are a practical way to meet and greet each other in a community where it is impossible to get to know everyone when you are with them for a few hours a week.

Enough Talk. Show Me

The church, ekklesia, means being called out. We are a people called into the world to speak public truth. Here are three key ideas or concepts from The Evangelizing Church, which speak to this reality.

The authors claim, the church is being called out into the world to speak public truth (90). However, the images that the authors use to describe what this calling looks like are striking in one regard…they don’t involve speech.

• Congregations are being called out of their comfort zones. 
• They are being called out to be the people of God for the sake of the world. 
• They are being called to live in, with, and among the world for which Christ died. (90)

This is the Year of the Lord's Favor

In Luke 4:14-21 (NRSV), Jesus' reputation precedes him. When he visits his home synagogue in Nazareth, he is handed the scroll of Isaiah to read. He carefully opens it up, deliberately finds a passage and reads it out loud.

The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 

because he has anointed me

to bring good news to the poor.

He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives

and recovery of sight to the blind, 

to let the oppressed go free, 

to proclaim the year of the Lord's favor.

When he is done reading Jesus carefully rolls the scroll back up, hands it to the attendant, and sits down.

Confirmation: Are we taking seriously the promise of baptism?

I'm reading The Evangelizing Church for a course I'm taking in Seminary. One of the things that struck me was a claim by the authors that there should be a stronger relationship between baptism and vocation. 

Baptismal theology is a richer resource for evangelizing than was once imagined. In particular, the role of vocation is reemerging as one of the most central dimensions of how Lutherans grasp a holistic approach to mission and evangelizing in the world (46).

I think that a lot of churches in multiple denominations have a hard time laying claim to baptism as an incredibly powerful evangelizing tool.  I've been making a strong case for the connection between baptism and vocation in my ministry for years. Most intently in my confirmation ministry. 

Readers of my blog will know that I found my faith and was baptized as an adult. In order to become a member of the church I was asked two questions;

• Do you believe in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? and
• On which committee would you like to serve?

Incarnation

My husband and I shared a chuckle the other night. We ran into some friends who recently had a baby. They looked worked over. Their hair was unkempt, bags under their eyes, shoulders slumped, and their pace slowed. When we asked them how they were doing, their eyes lit up and they responded, “We’re great.”

We chuckled, not to poke fun, but in certain memory. We have two children of our own, ages 6 and 7. They were born a year apart. Overnight, our priorities become so imminently connected to the priorities of those newborns. We gave our bodies in service to the grueling demands of our infants who required utter devotion while they violated countless boundaries (think a third feeding at 4am).

Never once did we consider quitting and not because the work was so rewarding or because we were always joyous (think a third feeding at 4am), but because there was no other choice for us. We were captured and we remained in faithful sacrificial service because we belonged. 

There is no better way to compel us to closeness or to urge us to belong, than to come into our lives as a vulnerable demanding newborn. Jesus, our Lord and Savior, effectively brings us into relationship with our God in the most irrational and humanly way possible. He is born.  

Abba! Father!

I had an extremely happy childhood. Like most Americans I grew up wanting for much but needing nothing.  My family lived on a hobby farm with horses and chickens and dogs and cats…lots of cats. I was raised in an atheist household. My parents never baptized me. I have fond memories of sleeping in on Sunday mornings and waking up to a hot breakfast.

My mother taught me about hard work and perseverance. My father taught me that one could have strong beliefs and convictions and still be nice to other people.

My happy childhood ended a month before my sixteenth birthday when my father passed away.

Leadership Musts

Great insight that match what I'm seeing in my ministry. Ideas Week: Beyond Sizzle. I love how the author leaves the conversation.

So many times we "come to church," we participate in Bible studies or discussion groups, we volunteer for mission projects, and we leave inspired or smarter or gratified.  But what has been the result beyond our own edification?

It's great to have all of these wonderful ideas. Not for their own sake, but for the sake of the one who calls us. 

In anticipation of my sabbath retreat next week, I found great insight from Matt Steen, A Church Leader's Soul and Crisis Management.

Young Clergy Perspective

A well informed quick read. I think it was implied, but it is worth being more specific...this is not just a commentary on clergy but includes other young leaders who are holding back on their passionate ministry because it will be misunderstood by others or worse yet, unaccepted. I also think that older pastors who are concerned with leaving a legacy of growth rather than decline are caught up in these same issues.

What Young Clergy Want You To Know

More Voices from the Wilderness: Ideas for Presbyteries

Here is another blogger offering up some interesting ideas for Presbytery meetings.

Experience the examination of candidates for professional ministry to be a teaching moment during which they teach us.

Check out the 3 things that you would change about Presbytery Assembly Meetings

Theresa Eungyong Cho has a wonderful blog where she opens conversations about many different aspects of our faith and work together.

I began my moderator year for the Presbytery of San Francisco January of this year. My focus for this year is to change the way we meet during our Presbytery meetings. Like most presbyteries, we sit in pews for 5-7 hours listening to reports and voting on important issues. What is clear is that people are tired of meeting this way and often times hate going to presbytery meetings. More and more presbyteries are looking at alternative ways to do business and Presbytery of San Francisco is one of them.

Check out Teresa's blog post on different ways to do Presbytery meetings.

Embracing Your "Onlys"

This past weekend I worshipped in a community with a small youth group. As I was leaving, the Sunday School teacher expressed her concerns about having such a small group. “It is a nice youth group, but we only have a few kids.” I’ve used those same words. When my husband and I were volunteering for a program over a decade ago we were working with a vibrant youth ministry that boasted 24 junior highers on Wednesday nights. These kids were devoted to the program, coming every week, and bringing friends. But Sunday mornings were a whole other story. We were lucky on some mornings to get five kids. Usually it was three.

Where Two or More are Gathered...

Paul Moore, organizing pastor at the Chain of Lakes Church in Blaine, wrote an accurate account of the Presbytery meeting I attended the other night. It was the first Presbytery meeting I’ve been to in awhile. On several occasions throughout the meeting, the gathered body made references to trying to include more people in their 20s and 30s, but I was hard pressed to envision a room full of 20 and 30 year olds abiding the length and structure of a meeting that lasted nearly six hours not including the pre-Presbytery event.

It’s not that 20 and 30 year olds don’t care or aren’t willing to devote time and energy to something. It would be a mistake to attribute that sentiment to a group of folks who have already bucked the generational trend to leave the church altogether. But, six hours of sitting in a pew listening to reports doesn’t work for us. Based on the number of people still at the meeting at 9:30pm on Tuesday night, it’s not working for a lot of other people as well.

Pain and Promise

Now that my kids are in school full-time, I’ve started to think about my future. I’m at an age where I will probably work for at least another 30 years.  I’m a youth director. I love being a youth director. I am really good at being a youth director. I feel called by God to this particular ministry, but I wonder if there is a future in working with youth?

The average church is declining in membership and resources and numbers of children and youth are leveling off or falling. Combine these factors with a deteriorating infrastructure and it is clear to me why churches are opting to let go of staff or to reduce their hours and packages. The challenge for someone like me, someone who is called by God to minister to young people, becomes how to interpret God’s call within our current context.

The Millennial Church

So, you are part of a church that has recently discovered that you need to start reaching Millennials. Do you want the good news or the bad news first? Let’s start with the bad news. The cultural context in to which our youngest generations are coming of age has shifted dramatically compared to 40 or 50 years ago. There are vast alternatives which are competing for relevance with our early and mid-century mason-esk style churches. And they are winning.

The Boomers with their individual-oriented mindset have left the church and those who have stayed, transfer membership from church to church as they seek to fulfill their needs at different life stages. The Gen-Xers abandoned the church, if they were ever there to begin with, but Gen-Xers are dark brooding sloppy independent types, so who cares, right?* There are strong signs that the Millennials, are like the previous two generations, at risk of leaving the church and never coming back.

That’s the bad news.