Recently I helped facilitate an “Emerging Leaders” conference sponsored by a modernist-mission denomination. All of the presenters/facilitators were asked the following questions, my responses are listed:
Ministry Title?
pastor / mystic / friend / artist / missionary / husband / postmodern church-planter / father / web-developer / customer service manager / bi-vocational servant / titles mean little to me
Description / So what do you do?
I live as fully Dwight as possible. I live with Christ, everything is about and from this relationship. I spend time with the people in our church community, especially those who are caring for others. And I hang out with my other friends. Sometimes I pastor or teach, sometimes I lead or listen, sometimes I do administrative tasks, sometimes I think. I always try to love which means I fail a lot. Love is everything.
Why do you do what you do? Why this and not something else?
I do what I do because I am who I am. This is me. As best as I understand God, this is what He wants me to be, so I do what flows from who I am. Whatever a “Call” maybe, I sense this is mine. I pastor because God made me to pastor. In every job I have ever held I pastored; when I was at a .com I pastored my staff, when I was in marketing research I pastored. Ministry is not a title, task, or a position, in fact I can’t be paid for who I am. I love Christ and His Kingdom.
What gifts or abilities are helpful to do this ministry?
Love for God, love for people, love for your culture. Relational tenacity. Passion for community. Willingness to be a fool, and to fail. In the church community I serve creativity is important, a love for coffee helps, being artistic has merit, enjoying dialogue is essential, a willingness to be taught is also key. Just showing up helps a great deal. Willingness to lay aside the way you have seen things done, the way Scripture has been opened, the way worship has been led, the way congregations gather, the way theology has been explained, the why mission is understood, etc. And then lean back into the past as God invites you into the present.
What gives you the greatest joy in your job?
Seeing someone fall in love with Christ through his church, especially when a person’s prior experience of the church has been very negative. I love to see a person marvel at the grace of God in a church community.
What are the difficult things / issues you face in this role?
Knowing that a person is unconnected and is making choices which isolate them from community. Being misunderstood by many churches, and fellow Christ-followers.
What training or educational experiences would be most helpful (or required)?
Depends on who is asking, there is no set answer, its more important to listen to how God has created you and go from there. What is
essential is that a person love Christ and his/her community. Look to Christ alone as the core of one’s being and theology, holding all else loosely. In the church community which I serve a person would likely need to be highly educated, as the majority of people have advanced degrees. Knowing how to ask good questions is important as we deconstruct everything. Understanding group process, and able to facilitate discussions. Know how to make technology work for you, but don’t be impressed by it.
What suggestions would you offer someone thinking about this kind of ministry?
Embrace pain and failure as gifts from God. Ruthlessly sacrifice your vision of what “your ministry” might look like, (the clearer your vision is the less likely it is from God). Learn to listen. Listen to God and his dream for his followers, listen to your specific culture and listen to yourself. Focus on relationships rather than performances. Live it now, don’t launch it, don’t do a big kick off, just live your calling in community. Find other avant-churches for support as mainstream evangelicalism may not yet understand what we’re doing, or why you’re doing it. Celebrate with all God’s people whenever His will is done on earth. Really get to know Jesus; find people from different traditions who can expand your understanding and experience of Christ, an older spiritual director or mentor will serve you well. Your relationship with Jesus is everything, don’t sacrifice that friendship.
What should I be doing now if I’m interested in preparing for this ministry expression?
Practice the missional dance of being in the world but not of the world. And recognize that you will make mistakes on both sides of that dance. Learn to ask for forgiveness, and as best as you are able forgive yourself. Wrestle with what it means to be a stranger in a strange place, this is not your home, and the church is not your home, your home awaits you. This ministry is all about living incarnationally. You are the embodiment of Christ, in this time and this place. Foster meaningful community around Christ, all you need is one other person. Learn to tell stories, especially yours. Because if you are a Christ-follower your story is God’s story. Your story is the gospel. The gospel is you. I hope this is a given but you must have meaningful friendships with pagans, seekers, pre-Christians, (whatever you want to call your friends who do not live under the relational reign of Christ). Love them and know them, until you need them and then love them some more.
Where should I go for more information? What books should I be reading?
Surf the web, read fiction, and go to the movies. Again it depends on who you are, having at least a basic understanding of philosophy and the history of ideas is helpful. Read sociology, anthropology & missiology. And read mystics and spiritual guides, they will be your friends for the journey and have walked the path to the cross. Obviously the read the Bible but whenever possible, read it in community and read it as a love story God, crazy in love with a fickle bride; God, always pursuing, always wooing, always hoping, always loving. Read theology so as to see how God walked with those who came before you, helping them to live the gospel in their time. But recognize that theology always answers yesterdays’ questions, the goal is not to sign off on past orthodox theology the goal is to live orthodoxly in the present.
Peace, dwight
