Our Bird House

It seems to me that much of church is about relationships, trust, leadership, prayer and teaching especially in the moment. The hard part is when we build those relationships we begin to bump into one another with our differences. The organizational part of church is not most of my concern here but the people. Let me explain, we do because of the “Blood of Jesus Christ”. I became a Christian at the dinner table of one of my relatives. I did not know at the time that's what was happening. I can't point to one decisive moment when intellectual assent turned to trust. But it was at the dinner table that Christianity became real to me. Each evening as my relatives ate together, we would process the day's events. "How was school today?" "Who's going to take my cousin to basketball practice?" But as the events were being processed, we also had to decide what to do about difficult issues. As I watched my relatives work through the difficult issues of life, I saw that their faith made a difference in how they acted. They often prayed before they made big decisions; they often looked to Scripture for guidance, "what does the Bible say?" they would ask; they sometimes even chose the more difficult option simply because they believed that was the Christian thing to do. That is when I learned that faith mattered. I learned that I needed to see my own life in light of God's love; I needed to ask how spiritual resources like prayer and Scripture could help me make sense of life; and I needed to choose to act faithfully - even if that meant taking a more difficult path. I became a Christian by following the decision-making models I saw at the dinner table of my second family. This was unlike a healthy church committee, aligned in one accord.
Relationships through leadership can have the greatest impact for people by having that interconnection that bonds people together. My question is are we on the same page aligned, helping people to the fullness of life in Jesus Christ? Showing how even the most mundane issues must be seen in light of God's presence with us. Finding someone to salt the icy winter sidewalks, for example, is not just a liability issue; it's a matter of hospitality. It is in committee meetings that church leaders offer not just perspective but spiritual resources. There is a deep Biblical tradition, for example, demanding that God's people practice hospitality. And it is in committee meetings that church folks see the church choosing to live up to its belief, even if it is inconvenient. The elder in charge of facilities, to finish the example, may say that she will salt the sidewalks herself if she cannot locate someone else to do it. Just as I learned Christianity by watching my parents at the dinner table, so congregations learn to see faith in action by watching their leaders in committee meetings.
This emphasis on teaching in the moment points to an odd contradiction inherent in Christian ministry. Ministers spend most of their time doing tasks, but doing tasks is not the essence of ministry. In this way, a pastor's situation is not unlike the time spent by a stay-at-home mom. I know of friends, for example, who are stay home mothers that spends two days a week home with school-aged girls (the other three work-days each week, she is a computer programmer). She stays home with her daughters because she wants to have a direct influence in shaping their personalities and forming their characters. Yet she spends most of the time on those days doing chores - running errands, washing clothes, and wiping noses. The surprising thing about this experience, however, is that she is accomplishing just the goal she hoped to achieve. As the girls spend time with their mother, they learn how to relate to the world - they absorb her values (kindness, sharing, patience, diligence) and imbibe her practices (caring for strangers, putting others first, listening to others) - even as they go through the routine of daily life. As those children accompany her through the day, they learn what it means to embody faith. She may spend her time doing tasks, but she is really forming her children.
A pastor shapes his congregation in just the way a mother molds her children. In committee meetings and chance encounters, in hallways and the parking lot - that is where the pastor embodies his beliefs and models faith-in-action. That is where the pastor gives his congregation an example of what it means to see the world through Christian eyes, to care for the world with a Christian heart. Theology and biblical studies are not distinct from administration any more than me being separated from my wife. Theologically formed faith and biblically informed trust, animate administration; they make it alive. Enveloping the daily routine of a pastor is an ether of theological substance and a cloud of biblical meaning. You will spend a lot of time doing mundane tasks. But in this course you will learn to see how to relate those tasks to the beliefs, values, and ultimate purpose that make those tasks worth doing. Ministry cannot be summed up in the daily-duties of a minister any more than parenting can be reduced to washing clothes and wiping noses.
How, then, does one teach church leadership that is all about teaching in the moment? I believe you have already begun to learn it through the gospel of Jesus Christ. The very preaching, teaching and counseling skills it takes to be a good pastor (we all are pastors) are the skills it takes to be a good administrator or leader of the faith. This often amounts to little more than teaching on the fly - i.e. showing how faith, theology and Scripture apply in a specific situation. So the best way to be connected is to do what my relatives did with me at the dinner table: exegete situations and describe how we might think theologically about then, pray and model for you the skills I hope you will carry into the settings where it can bring all into the Fullness of Life through Jesus Christ.
God Bless You and This Ministry!