Ministry in the Middle

As I write this, I am concluding a few weeks of paternity leave, after the birth of our second child.  The leave has allowed me to focus almost exclusively on my family for the past month, for which I am grateful. I believe strongly that paid family leave is a necessary part of professional ministry, allowing ministers to focus on their families immediately after a birth, adoption, death, or during a loved one's serious illness.  The demands of ministry sometimes compete with family time, and too often ministers feel pressure to choose one or the other.  Family leave not only supports ministers during challenging times, but also reminds congregations that being an active part of a family is an essential part of the minister's vocation too. Frankly, I think we create unhealthy expectations throughout the church for ministers and other leaders.  They have to show up  in specific situations, regardless of time of day or how much else is on their plate.  I ...

The current political climate has encouraged me to reflect upon how employers treat employees.  Certainly capitalism makes labor a commodity: the pressures of the market try to get the most labor for the cheapest cost.  Still, I believe that there are ethical considerations for how laborers should be treated.  This is particularly true when the church is involved.  We need to value the people who are serving as employees, not just the labor we want them to provide for our ministry.  Jesus would expect nothing less, as demonstrated by his teaching and example, which celebrated the value of each person. With such an outlook, the church should be one of the greatest places to work.  Unfortunately, many people do not have that experience.  There can be a number of complaints, including low pay, long hours, and sometimes unreasonable expectations (if the expectations are even explicitly stated). While the most obvious paid employees of the church are ...