Interlude (2)

Section One of this series dealt with what I miss now that I am doing "secular" ministry after thirty years as a parish pastor. Section Two was about what I don't miss. Section Three was talking about "secular ministry." Section Four looked at what I've learned in these three years in "secular ministry."
Links to earlier sections:
Introduction
1. What I Miss: Part 1, part 2, part 3
2. What I Don't Miss: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
Interlude
3. Secular Ministry: Part 1, Part 2
4. What I've Learned: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3
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It is now time to start putting all this writing together. The question that I am going to try to answer will be, in essence:

• Maximizing what I miss about parish ministry and
• Minimizing what I feel gets in the way of ministry;
• Utilizing what I've learned from being out of ordained ministry and the
• Strengths that secular ministry has opened to me, I want to
• Describe what church-based life and ministry would look like for me
• If I went back.

That seems like the most likely way for me to keep this orderly. In order to do that, let me try as succint a summary as I can of these points. That way I can get to the core of what I see as the essentials.

So, first, what to maximize:

• Community. This is one of the true essentials! I am convinced that without it the church cannot be the church. There are a myriad of ways this can be accomplished, but I have a hunch that we have to be more intentional about it today than in the past. There are just too many ways that such a community can be torn apart or that people find to get at least a pseudo-community.
• The possibility of experiencing and sharing The Holy. For me worship and study and life together are ways that help make the church-based community unique. This is the Spiritual dimension that allows us to be in touch- together- with the Power that empowers us to be a community. It is easy to be religious. It can be far more difficult - yet far, far more rewarding- to also be spiritual. When you have both, it can be awesome.
• Jesus and Bible Centered. I didn't mention this as something I am missing about parish life because I haven't lost it. Jesus and the Bible-centered life is what I continue to try to live. I should probably have talked about it separately from The Holy although they are strongly related. One cannot have a church that ignores Jesus and what He calls us to do. The Bible is the place we turn to see how others have been called and used by God and what it all means. To keep the basics of Jesus or the Bible, while remaining open and accepting of many differing interpretations provides a truly unbeatable foundation.

What, then, would I try to minimize:

• Christendom's leftovers of grandiosity. That feeling that the church has special permissions and special exemptions in society needs to be minimized. We have to begin to see- and accept- that even if we believe that we have something unique and special to offer (which we do!) that does not exempt us from dealing with the culture and the world's issues. We have to do that from a servant position.
• Clergy-centric institutionalism. And on the inside, the special class status of clergy can be downright dangerous. We must all be brothers and sisters among brothers and sisters with no one being "more equal" than others. This re-empowering of the non-clergy is a non-negotiable in my book.
• Inward self-centeredness. If we want a country club or a private for-me-only hospital, go found one. That is not the church.

Adding the strengths of "secular ministry":

• People orientation. A "secular" view of ministry reminds us that it is not the institution that is the beneficiary but the people who have a need. A "secular" view remembers that Jesus was always looking after people in need. He was not an institution builder. People orintation helps remind us of that.
• Outward looking. When the church looks outward beyond itselt as the place to do ministry, the church has found an often forgotten and overlooked aspect of Jesus. The community we seek to maximize is the internal support for ministry and our lives. Outward looking is where the inward ministry is called to be lived day in and day in an honest and humble way.
• Reality based. It is easy to live in denial in the church. It is easy to hide the needs and failings and worries that may no look nice or proper. But we are just a bunch of sinners trying to help other sinners find their way. Let's be real while at the same time working to live the difference that faith in Jesus can have.

That, then is the outline, if you will, or the underlying core values of what I see for the kind of ministry I would try to develop were I to return to the parish ministry. As we go further in depth with that over the next few weeks, I will try to remember that this is an ideal- a vision. I know it won't be 100% possible. Life isn't that tidy. I also know it needs God to become reality. If it were possible for us to do on our own, we wouldn't need the Holy Spirit.

One thing I will look at as well is the major question faced by many who have tried to do this: Is it even possible in an already well-established church? Might it not be better- and easier- to do it in new church plants and the many alternatives that are springing up? I don't have an answer to that, but I am going to explore it.

Next time we will begin to discover what I see as the forms and directions. I do know it is worth striving for. It is a life in mission with Jesus Christ.