Can't promise I'll get it exactly, but Reggie McNeal said something along these lines:
"If we ran the YMCA like we run our churches, we'd take everyone down for an hour, feed them coffee and donuts, and let them watch the trainer work out."
Seriously. I've occasionally had a related thought, but quickly pushed it out of my head because such a thought, if released upon the Church, could endanger my livelihood, and that of many of my friends. What is this risky thought, you ask?
Perhaps the goal for clergy should be to work our way out of a job.
Yes, it's true. Even though I'm a minister, I sometimes question this whole professional clergy system. There are some good things about the concept. As the Christian community, we take preaching, teaching, pastoral care, and the administration of the sacraments - and the theological preparation necessary to do these things well - seriously enough to put our collective money behind supporting the people who serve congregations in this way. However, it also leads to a couple of problematic phenomena in the church:
1) Expectations of clergy that have nothing to do with our gifts, training, or calling; and
2) Church in general as a spectator sport, in which people other than the pastor buy tickets and memorabilia, cheer or boo, and occasionally lend a hand in supporting the one-person team, but for the most part are not integrally involved in playing the game.
I don't get the idea that clergy want this model of the church. We generally go to seminary with some sense of calling to the ancient sense of what a minister is, but then many of us get disillusioned or distracted by the realities of paperwork and meetings. We hope for something more, for the people we serve to join us fully in ministry, for the spiritual gifts of all people to be fully engaged. We just don't always know how to get there.
I don't think congregations really want this either. I think they long to really follow Christ, and use their gifts, and have a faith that reaches outside of the church doors. But inertia and busyness keeps this hope distant, and then they have this convenient clergyperson standing in front of them, doing or at least coordinating the work.
I said good-bye to my first congregation today. It was one of the hardest things I have ever done. I cannot explain how it felt to stand there and speak to them, knowing that it would be the last time I did so as their pastor. I shared that Reggie McNeal quote with them, and as I said it, I felt the truth of it. The future for them is not in the next pastor they call, or even in whether they call a pastor at all. The future is in whether they choose to "go to the Y" - whether they choose to do the work of following Christ together. I have no doubt that God is doing something there, although none of us are sure what it is. It seems that God wanted me out of the way. I will continue to pray for their clarity and discernment, but my season with them is done, and they are ready for whatever comes next. This week I begin a new ministry adventure, and I have to say, although I enjoy making a living, I think my goal may be to work myself out of a job.
Sunday, January 27, 2008
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9 comments:
That quote is so true. I've been on a real "equipping the saints" kick at St Stoic. I also do believe and have for some time that my job is to work myself out of a job--to make myself less and less indispensable, then move on to some place where I'm needed, while somebody with different gifts comes to St Stoic.
Of course, all of this only works if the saints in question cooperate...
Blessings on your transition.
When I went to YouthGroup way back when, the pastor at the church always said that: "I'm trying to work myself out of a job." It has been impressed in me ever since then.
Blessings, RogueMonk
That's a great quote....and I also echo CH "only works if the saints cooperate"!!
Of course, I sometimes do go to the gym and watch the trainer work out. Granted, I'm "stretching" or something, but yeah. I could be working out harder. I think that could be an incredibly useful metaphor for my church--we go and we pledge but don't do the hard work of ministering to one another and to the world.
Thanks Stacey!
One of my wizened and weathered old faculty-emeritus profs at Calvin said something similar, always with a really great twinkle in his eye: "Preachers will have to find a new profession in the new creation."
Some days, when I'm feeling exhausted by this ministry thing, I think about all the other cool jobs I'll get to try out then. (Come, Lord Jesus!)
That is so well said Stacey
Amen to the quote! The rub, I think (as we Reformed folks say, the place where depravity kicks in) is that, at the same time, our brothers and sisters are trying to work us INTO more jobs. I read the following quote on SOJONET's "Verse and Voice" today:
Contemporary American churches in particular do not require following Christ in his example, spirit, and teachings as a condition of membership—either of entering into or continuing in fellowship of a denomination or a local church.... Most problems in contemporary churches can be explained by the fact that members have not yet decided to follow Christ.
- Dallas Willard
The Spirit of the Disciplines
This leads to a big part of what McNeal is seeing. Yesterday, while you were saying goodbye, I was preaching about how Jesus never talked about numbers or goals, but invited his disciples to come along and fish for people and spread good news and see what happens. We have, I think, forgotten that, to our detriment.
The whole "professional ministry" issue gives me pause. I think the problem came when we started confusing "profession" with "job," and got worse when "job" got wrapped up in "specialization." There is something to be said for women and men who spend all their time studying, praying, and equiping everybody else for ministry in the world, but, as we both know, once that becomes a "job," we don't get to spend all our time doing it. Having us all spend time on "real" jobs and then do this won't help that situation, either. So, I don't know . . .
Ephesians 4:11-13 makes it clear that all who are called to serve are not equipped with the same skill sets.
One person might have the shephering skills needed to stand with and mend a breaking family. Another may have the ability to explore and expound on the Word beautifully, but not be gifted with the listening ear and wise words.
To expect a "hired gun" to have the ability do it all, while the spectators only sit by and watch is insane. The fact that any would attempt this role, and many succeed at least adequately in the areas outside their talents has got to be a modern-day miracle. - Tom
The Bible says apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. Current practice says pastors. Could the problem be that everyone, pastors included, expect pastors to do all the jobs?
Like I mentioned before, putting the chairs in a circle automatically eliminates the "clergy vs. laity" spectator problem. We all sit in the same circle and talk or sing or pray, as the Lord leads.
RS ---
We both know of denominations which depend on a lay pastorate. I'm not at all convinced that this is necessarily a better solution. Human-centered theological drift, and all that is far too easy in that circumstance.
geek
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