Ministry in the Middle

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 ...

At this time a year ago, I was beginning a three month sabbatical.  It was a wonderful and disorienting experience. We had a wonderful celebration in worship, which included a special commissioning and blessing for the sabbatical time and a welcome for an interim sabbatical minister.  There was a nice reception after worship.  I came home.  I sent a few last minute emails based on conversations from that morning to people in the congregation and uploaded and posted the recording of my sermon.  When these things were done, I adjusted the settings on my calendar to not automatically include the church calendar and I turned off the notifications on my phone for my church email account. Then I didn't quite know what to do.  For years, my life has followed the rhythms of the church calendar.  Each week and month, certain things happen and need to be accomplished.  Even while resting on my sabbath days and during vacations, deep down I have known wh...