{"id":23163,"date":"2019-05-31T19:41:13","date_gmt":"2019-06-01T02:41:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dminlgp\/?p=23163"},"modified":"2019-06-02T23:47:37","modified_gmt":"2019-06-03T06:47:37","slug":"what-did-you-say-my-job-was","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/what-did-you-say-my-job-was\/","title":{"rendered":"What did you say my job was?"},"content":{"rendered":"

It is interesting while reading through \u201cWhat Clergy Do,\u201d just how similar and yet, how different the various religious groups see their role as minister. Aside from the obvious male\/female perspective in this read, there were also a variety of differences that were based upon the traditions and practices of the Church of England[1]<\/a> as compared to the Church of Christ where I practice; even terminology references were not even words we use commonly in our own religious organization. With that said though, I have been working diligently to learn from a reading, rather than just noticing the differences of faith or belief; this book had a lot to offer.<\/p>\n

In a hope to show my broadened horizons, I have decided that rather than picking on anything from this reading, I would instead highlight a few of the points that Percy made that I believe hit the nail right on the head; so here goes\u2026<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cMothering and parish ministry are both shaped by the particularity of a given relationship\u2026she is in a relationship with these people and places (origins of ministry and the people there)[2]<\/a>.\u201d Though of course I am not a mother, I do understand the point of familial leadership the author is trying to make here; too often I have felt more like a parent than a minister to the congregations I have served under. There is more than just a role of preaching and teaching; but also, there is this emotional attachment to them as a concerned parent that is working to keep them from harm; the harm in this case being evil. There is this need to explain something and make sure they understand the instruction. There is a concern that you cannot help but take home with you when one of them is struggling or even stumbles from their path. One day on the bus, the bus driver looked at my son as he passed the church and said, \u201cHey Braden that is where your daddy works.\u201d To this comment my son replied, \u201cYes, but only on Sundays and Wednesdays.\u201d Often I think people see the ministerial role as simply a job that just happens to not have the weekends off\u2026but in fact\u2026there is a much stronger emotional investment made.<\/li>\n
  2. \u201cThere is an underlying assumption that the vicar (minister), as well as playing a significant role in leading the worship and a primary role in the sacramental aspects of such worship, is also in some way overseeing, shaping and actualizing the ministry that is the purpose of the church[3]<\/a>.\u201d In our church we have a group of elders\/overseers who make all the real decisions regarding main decisions for the church. However, there is the reality that no one in our church has the pulse on our congregation like I do; I counsel, greet, carryout social media conversations, and even follow many of our members on Twitter or Facebook; I also keep up with the youth program, grieving class, widows\/widowers group, all benevolence programs, and the education curriculum. For these reason, everyone just laughed and agreed when one of the women said, \u201cShawn is pretty much one of our elders anyway.\u201d It would be amazing to see how much time I had on my hands if I literally only did the job that I was hired for, but that is never the case in ministry. Baptisms, weddings, funerals, camps, VBS programs, teaching, song leading, finances, church redecorating, yard work, repairs, etc. Though Clergy are generally hired to preach, it does not take long before they are regarded as paid servants[4]<\/a>, expected to do whatever needs to be done.<\/li>\n
  3. \u201cThe aim of bringing up children is that they will become independent in many aspects of their life so that they can be confident adults.\u201d This is a struggle in regard to Christian \u201cchildren,\u201d because it seems that the church will always be dependent upon their ministers. I do not agree that this is the way it should be, but rather, this is the way it has ended up. It has become so frustrating to see those you teach for years, seem to show so little spiritual growth in themselves. I am often reminded of the critique in Hebrews 5:12 which said, \u201cFor though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you again the first principles of the oracles of God; and you have come to need milk and not solid food.\u201d Imagine how insulting it would be if someone walked up and removed the steak from in front of you and replaced it with a jar of Gerber baby food, then said, \u201cSorry, but you are just not ready for this yet.\u201d Would we be insulted? And yet, we see church buildings full of people that have sat in the same pew for years and yet, are still just as spiritually ignorant as they were twenty years ago.<\/li>\n
  4. Lastly, Percy wrote, \u201cTo be ordained is a privilege[5]<\/a>.\u201d Again, I turn to Scripture. \u201cMy brethren, let not many of you become teachers, knowing that we shall receive a stricter judgment[6]<\/a>.\u201d Perhaps Peter Parker\u2019s uncle could also be quoted here; \u201cWith much power comes much responsibility.\u201d With all my heart I believe there is no greater privilege than to be trusted with the teaching of God\u2019s Word. I also believe that there is no greater fear than to think we wielded that Sword of Truth (for Mike) poorly. We have been warned that God is watching how we accept our roles of leadership; and I pray continually that the words that come out of my mouth are not mine, but HIS. We have been entrusted with the most powerful Word every spoken; but spoken poorly, will not just have consequences for ourselves, but also for all of those that have been entrusted to our care. Now, our church has never placed much focus on \u201cordaining,\u201d but I have always believed in my calling as a Gospel Preacher; and I pray I live up to God\u2019s expectations for that role.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    [1]<\/a> Percy, Emma. What Clergy Do: Especially When It Looks Like Nothing.<\/em> London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 2014.\u00a0 P. 6.<\/p>\n

    [2]<\/a> Ibid, p. 22.<\/p>\n

    [3]<\/a> Ibid, p. 10.<\/p>\n

    [4]<\/a> Ibid, p. 12.<\/p>\n

    [5]<\/a> Ibid, p. 143.<\/p>\n

    [6]<\/a> James 3:1.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It is interesting while reading through \u201cWhat Clergy Do,\u201d just how similar and yet, how different the various religious groups see their role as minister. Aside from the obvious male\/female perspective in this read, there were also a variety of differences that were based upon the traditions and practices of the Church of England[1] as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1031,967,1538],"class_list":["post-23163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-dminglp8","tag-emma-percy","tag-what-clergy-do","cohort-lgp8"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23163"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23163\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23164,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23163\/revisions\/23164"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}