Emerging Pastor

I've had a few conversations with people about my last post "Overburdening our congregations. Burn out, drop out or drop dead"

Some helpfully pointed out that I had not addressed one fundamental issue, the cause of busyness.

What has changed in the last 50 - 100 years to cause the busyness? And what can we do as ministers to help remedy this situation? How can we begin to point people to sacrificing some of their free time for God's purposes?

What a Sunday! It seems God can continue to teach me even when I get a little crusty and belligerent on the outside :)

In the third week of the church wide bible study series we learnt about meekness. Meekness is one of those qualities that is misunderstood as well as unappreciated by society and the church at large. Think about the first thing that comes to mind when you when you read the work "Meek".

Most people will answer something along the lines of "mild", "weak", "timid", "humble" or in a similar vein when the true meaning of the word is something far different.

Jesus encouraged us with the words "Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth" but how can mild, weak and timid people do that?

When Jesus uttered those words he spoke of meekness as being "strength under control". I liken it to a horse that has been broken in by it's rider. The horse has not lost any of it's strength or power, rather it is now channeled through the desires of it's master.

Have we allowed ourselves to be bridled by Jesus? To be led in the way He desires or are we following our own desires.

I am being taught the lesson of meekness at the moment as far as it goes for holding my tongue. It is becoming more apparent to me that even if what I say is right, it's not always right (or the right time) to say it. Meekness for me is bringing my tongue under control for God's sake.

I've been reflecting a lot recently on why people seem so reluctant to be involved in the life of their church. In my church as a lot of others the 80/20 rule holds firm, 80% of the work is performed by 20% of the people. It's a problem of complacency for the most part, people are just happy to not be involved.

This 80/20 creates a dangerous situation for the church (like any other organization) because the concentration or work on a small group of people means that they are prone to burn out, drop out or drop dead. Which ever way it happens you could see important ministry functions such as pastoral care or your soup kitchen / outreach ministry dropping straight off the face of the earth.

During the last three days I've been attending a course in advanced preaching techniques at my college. On the second day they rolled in three pastors from very different churches and life experiences to talk with us about the challenges of preaching ministry. The conversation turned to ministry in general and again this topic of complacency raised it's head.

The consensus of these pastors and the rest of the room seems to be that people in the west are just too content to care! They are happy with their big house, car and job and can't give much care to what happens in the church.

There is obviously a Spiritual issue involved here but I'm not sure if it is complacency or something else and complacency is just a symptom of a deeper issue.

Just War, just isn't! On the surface, the doctrine of a Just War is a seminal work of ethical reasoning constructed to reduce the incidences of unrestrained aggression and war. War for instance that so horrifically scars the history books of the twentieth century. It was constructed with a noble aim to reduce from flood to trickle the cruelty visited upon our fellow man by narrowing the limits of acceptable aggression and response.

This article seeks to deconstruct the Just War doctrine and rebuke it in the light of Jesus' teachings on war. In it I reference the current "War on Terror", Iraq and try to make us think critically about what our actions say to the rest of the world.

It's also the fulfillment of this post

I just love this quote.

"Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."
 - Theodor Seuss Geisel

To me it is a reminder to be fearless in speaking the truth into peoples lives and not shying away if I think that be saying something I may ruin the relationship.

Over the last few weeks I've been caught up in some fairly stressful and public flames around sending "Christian" spam mail.

I thought I would post the *definitive* article on the subject as a cathartic measure and to help educate and start a dialogue on how the Christian can deal with it.

Christian spam mail is a form of digital self-persecution, we hurt ourselves by continually and blindly sending whatever drops into our inbox to everyone else in our address book.

Things to think about before forwarding on that message:

1) Is it true?

Yesterday I received an email provocatively entitled "REMOVAL OF JOYCE MEYER AND OTHER PASTORS FROM THE AIRWAVES!". Inside is the very detailed description (they are always very detailed) of FCC submission 2493 which would "ultimately pave the way to stop the  reading of the gospel of our Lord and Savior, on the airwaves of America."

A very quick google on the matter turns up this page on the FCC website no less http://www.fcc.gov/mb/enf/forms/rm-2493.html stating that it is a hoax that has been perpetuated since 1975!

It's sad that for more that 30 years we have been kicking this piece of rubbish around, what does that say to the world? Christians are just reactionaries who will believe anything.

2) Does it have integrity?

Read more...

3) Is it edifying?

Read more...

4) Do you have permission to send this to someone?

Read more...

5) Create a mailing list

My studies recently have caused me to seriously reflect on the differences between the modern and post-modern mind, here is the beginning of my thoughts.

Modern society (modernist thinking) placed it's faith in science and rational / empirical thinking with the belief that the pursuit of science and technological advancement would bring us a better world in which to live.

Modernity is the Apollo space program, taking us all to the stars and leaving microwave ovens, unicorns, sunshine and rainbows in it's trail.

Post-modernism is the Apollo 13. People floating adrift in space, our technology not providing us any answers and leaving us marooned and fighting to survive.

I want to share with you this Scripture from 2 Timothy 2:1-7. This Scripture is the text I'm required to base my message on for my subject on advanced preaching subject techniques.

You then, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses entrust to reliable men who will also be qualified to teach others. Endure hardship with us like a good soldier of Christ Jesus. No one serving as a soldier gets involved in civilian affairs he wants to please his commanding officer. Similarly, if anyone competes as an athlete, he does not receive the victor's crown unless he competes according to the rules. The hardworking farmer should be the first to receive a share of the crops. Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all this.

When I read this I see Paul profiling the life of an emerging pastor. So lets dissect it!

This semester at college I'm studying an advanced preaching subject, it's all about preaching to the post-modern world and understanding what that means as far as traditional preaching styles and their assumptions go.

One thing I have heard in church meetings has been complaints that the people aren't coming in because we're not preaching 'em like we used to. To that they mean either some real fire and brimstone or some Billy Graham style evangelical message. I've started to see the same thinking begin to creep into my church because one of the services is faltering.

It seems to me that when a church finds itself in a state of decline it does what every other organization does, tries to recapture the past. It remembers the good old days when people were stacked to the rafters and the tithes were bountiful. They look back and say, well we used to sing hymns and preach the Word of God (usually a complaint about the style of preaching not the content) and the people flocked in.

Thinking like this is both right and wrong! It's right thinking because it recognizes that people have changed, they have moved address and we need to change along with them. It's wrong thinking to then say, well we'll just move back into the past and people will follow.

An emerging pastor has the responsibility to track down their post-modern sheep and understand their thinking to reach them in a way that both honours God and listens to people.

Interested in that kind of job?

No, food poisoning isn't a clever theological metaphore, it's a horrid statement of fact.

I seem to be on the mend now but this weekend was pretty much a wipe-out for me. I was supposed to be leading the church in worship this weekend but I realised at 3am Sunday morning this wasn't going to happen. I wont go into any details, you all know what food poisoning does to the body, I'm just thankful to God for my wife who has nursed me through this time (even now as I blog ill lying on the couch) and for those in my church family who picked up the slack for my absence.

Someone once said "Don't make yourself irreplaceable or you will never be promoted", I believe something similar applies to the life of the minister. Not being promoted but rather having people being able to step into your shoes when life takes an unexpected turn.

One of the most frustrating issues in ministry is waiting at the well for people to drink and drink deeply. As the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink.

Ministry is about leading horses, I mean people, to the water and waiting patiently as they discover that they need to drink the water to be sustained.

When a Samaritan woman came to draw water, Jesus said to her, "Will you give me a drink?" The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.) Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water." "Sir," the woman said, "you have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water?"  Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." (John 4:7-14 slightly abridged)

In ministry there seems to be a great deal of waiting at the well with people. We speak to people about the water, try and sell them on it's benefits, tell them how the water has sustained us in all times but ultimately we are required to wait patiently as they make the decision to drink for themselves.

It's just painfull to see people...

One of my favorite college subjects is one called "Personal Formation". It is 3 years long and works to grow the individual in themselves. It's run as a small group (typically about 8 people) who get together over regular periods during the year to reflect on themselves, life and ministry and how God is forming them. I had my third session this year on Monday and we were introduced to the term, Missionalism. This is the tipping point from being a sucessful leader and drawing yourself into a cult of personality and sucess. And I'm prone for it!