Ministry in the Middle

The world is broken. This seems obvious these days.  We are experiencing a global pandemic, complete with ever-changing guidance on the best ways to protect ourselves and our communities.  As part of that response, there is massive unemployment and broad job insecurity.  In the past weeks, there have been national examples of suspected murders of African-American men highlighting the ongoing white supremacy in this country. This week there have been massive protests and demonstrations, ostensibly in response to a recent police shooting of an unarmed man, but likely a response to all of this.  Some have used these demonstrations as an excuse for looting, arson, and violence. The world is broken. I imagine there is almost universal agreement on these four words.  Almost no one is walking around smiling and thinking to themselves, "I am so glad these things are happening."  The disagreements arise when we start talking about how to fix the brokenness. In ...

Sunday is Mother's Day.  For many, it is a day of celebration with family dinners, cards, and gifts.  It has become a wonderful time to show appreciation. For some, though, it is a day of sadness full of painful reminders.  Some grieve what they have lost: mothers who have passed away or the deaths of children.  Some grieve what they never had the chance to experience: perhaps any healthy relationship with their own mothers or the chance to become a mother themselves. What should pastors and worship leaders do on Mother's Day to honor people who have strong and diverging emotions?  How can we best lead the people who gather in worship? Some congregations will have large celebrations this Sunday.  Maybe they'll have a breakfast or brunch.  Flowers will be passed out.  Mothers will be acknowledged and praised during the worship service.  The pastor may preach a sermon focused on motherhood as a gift or vocation of God. Some congr...

A remarkable thing happened to me a few days ago: I had several good ideas and insights that related to my ministry in various ways.  Not one, but two clear ideas for future sermon series.  An insight about some personal study I've been doing on race and the church.  And, if it's not too strong of a word, an epiphany about the challenges of church finance in this climate. Each of these insights and ideas seemed to be of a higher caliber than most of my day-to-day work.  And it was noteworthy that there were so many good ideas on a single day, which only happens a few times a year. As a pastor, I frequently find my self focused on two basic types of work.  One, I fulfill the basic weekly and monthly duties of my job, as related to worship planning and execution, writing and preparing items for the newsletters and bulletins, dealing with regular administrative work, and seeing to ongoing pastoral care.  Second, I "put out fires" and respond to the work th...

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 ...

As I write this post today, I am working from home.  The weather here is brutally cold, and all of the nearby schools are closed.  So, too, is our church office -- along with many others, I assume from several who have posted on social media that they are closed today. This hasn't greatly affected my workday.  Expecting the poor weather, I had not planned on making visits today and I had no appointments scheduled.  Instead, I've been on the computer and the phone, planning for upcoming services, coordinating details with other church staff people, catching up on email, and working on Sunday's sermon. The truth is, I can do much of my work as a pastor from anywhere, especially if I have a phone, internet connection, and computer/tablet/smartphone.  And, throughout my ministry, I have often done more than half of my work outside of the church building.  Personally, given the long and unpredictable hours of ministry, including the reality that most congr...

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 ...

I've spent part of this week preparing for our congregation's first board meeting of the new year.  Often, this process takes more time and more communication than I remember from year to year. Our congregation has a good tradition of official and unofficial term limits, so that most positions have new people in them every few years.  In general, I support this practice.  On one level, I want to prevent anyone from ever becoming so entrenched in a single church leadership role -- whether by personal desire or popular acclaim -- that they cannot do anything else and no one else can assume that role.  On another level, I think that these term limits are a way of practicing sabbath.  Not only do we allow people to rest from certain responsibilities every so often -- even if they are quite gifted at them -- but we also celebrate that God has blessed the congregation with multiple people who can assume responsibilities in ways that bless others and enrich our share...

This is the third in a three-part series on weather cancellations and the church.  You can read part 1, "When to Cancel." here.   You can read part 2, "Who Makes the Call?" here. There are many ways to communicate about weather cancellations and the church.  Some TV and radio stations are willing to broadcast the news.  There are ways to share over the Internet through email and social media.  Or you can use the phone, either with an old-fashioned telephone tree or with newer mass texting or robocalling applications. The challenge is two-fold.  First, decide which means of communication are best for your congregation.  Second, prepare people to expect  how  you will communicate long before the harsh weather arrives. Some means of communication need to be set-up some time before the need to use them will arise.  Most media outlets will create access accounts for people to use their weather notification systems during the fall. ...

The second of a three-part series on weather cancellations and the church.  You can read part 1, "When to Cancel?" here. If weather and road conditions make travel treacherous, or if the forecast strongly suggests that travel will become treacherous, someone needs to decide whether worship services or other church activities will be canceled or not. In most situations, the person making the final decision should be the congregation's senior minister or solo pastor.  Partially, this is because the pastor should have the best understanding of who would be attending the worship service or activity and what their travel would be like.  Mostly, though, this is because a senior minister should have the respect of the congregation to abide by the decision, even if they disagree. In almost no situation should the senior minister or pastor make the decision in isolation, though.  It is a good habit to discuss the matter with other leaders in the congregation (understand...

This is the first of a three-part series on weather cancellations and the church. Late last month, our congregation's office received information from a couple of TV stations about changes to their weather-related closings and delays announcement procedures.  This is a timely reminder of the need to be prepared for the ways that winter weather can affect -- and force changes to -- church activities. The first part of this preparation is to decide the conditions that will force a congregation to delay or cancel worship services, other activities, or regular office hours.  Creating criteria ahead of time can make it easier to decide whether to cancel or not.  In fact, it may even allow you to prepare the congregation for what to expect. No one likes to cancel activities that have been planned, especially worship services, but sometimes that is the most responsible decision.  There comes a point where the risk is unnecessary, and there are times when it is wise to...

Without question, one of the weirdest things that happens in my ministry is when someone in the church quotes me to others.  It is particularly weird when I find out that my words have been shared in a newsletter article or meeting beyond our congregation. As far as I know, it doesn't happen that much.  The few times that it has been mentioned to me, though, I have caught my breath, hoping that what they had remembered was something good and worthwhile, rather than the alternative.  Frankly, I desperately hope that I haven't led them in the wrong direction. I don't know what I expected when I was preparing for ministry.  I frequently quote things that I've learned from books, articles, and presentations, including from teachers I have had.   Given that much of my ministry is centered on public communication -- preaching, teaching, and writing -- I hope that what I am doing is valuable and nurturing for many people. Don't get me wrong.  I'm not a ...

In the past few days, the news has been dominated by an anonymous editorial written by "a senior official in the Trump administration."   It suggests that many people appointed by the president are working to protect the country from the president's "worst inclinations."  Like many people, I have found the entire affair fascinating, though I recognize there are some rather horrifying implications to the op-ed and some of its details. One paragraph caught my eye, not only for its political implications, but for a trend in behavior that I have often observed in church settings. Given the instability witnessed, there were early whispers within the cabinet of invoking the 25th Amendment, which would start a complex process for removing the president.  But no one wanted to precipitate a constitutional crisis.  So we will do what we can to steer the administration in the right direction until -- one way or another -- it's over. Presumably, people who have the...

This summer, the elders in my congregation and I have exchanged a specific piece of the worship service that we lead.  Since before I began serving as senior minister in this congregation, the pastor has been responsible for providing a short meditation before Communion each week.  This summer, each of them has had the opportunity to offer this meditation/invitation to the Lord's Table.  In exchange, I provided an offering meditation and prayer for the gifts offered -- typically something that the elders have led. In our denominational tradition, the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), Communion is the centerpiece of worship.  In key ways, it represents the heart of our shared theology of Christ's presence in our midst, of radical grace and acceptance, of the teaching of the New Testament about the centrality of the Lord's Supper and Baptism.  Personally, I love the chance to reflect on part of what it means for us to gather and share Communion in the name...