Ready or Not

In observance of the 20th anniversary of my ordination I am dedicating a series of posts to reflect on ordained ministry and the changes I have seen in this call. This is the second post in that series.

As in parenting, one can never be ready for every possible event that will arise in ordained ministry. According to a Fuller Institute / Barna Research / Pastoral Care Inc. report, 90% of pastors feel that they are inadequately prepared for the demands of ministry. That sense of being ill prepared may simply be a part of a job that is constantly changing and evolving, just as parenting roles change as children grow up. I still find it ironic that from among all the people that could, it is the Seminary that actually sent card commemorating my ordination.

For most of my twenty years I have felt inadequately prepared for the task of ordained ministry.
I came into the ministry at a time when pastors needed to know how to do marriage/crisis/personal counseling, manage a church staff, discern a vision for ministry, raise money for that ministry, and constantly motivate people to follow that vision. I needed to compete with television, radio, movies and eventually the internet to give that message any chance of being heard. Some of these things were touched on or given a brief portion of a pastoral care class but, by and large, weren’t taught in any significant way at the seminary.

At first I thought it was simply my own inexperience. But more recently I’ve had this feeling that I received the kind of training that pastors needed 50 years ago. I was trained to be the local theologian and Biblical scholar. That was a fine training for a time when the local pastor led worship once or twice each week, visited the sick and dying and taught a strict confirmation class based on memorizing points of doctrine. Perhaps that’s the best a seminary can do: prepare you for the church of 10 years ago since that’s what they know. What I know is that I spend the bulk of my time today doing things that we never thought about in seminary.

Then there are all the intangible bits that have been added into the list of expectations (but not the job description). First and foremost is the idea that you have to be nice and cheerful all the time, no matter how horrible other people are to you. I once had a woman complain that I appeared upset when I had to seek out the supplies for a class I was teaching after she moved them without telling me. (I had spent an hour prepping for that class in the afternoon because I didn’t have time to set things up right before the class.) Another expectation is that a pastor has to supply fresh, creative content in every class, sermon, newsletter and website post. If you’ve ever mentioned to your spouse that you have “heard that one before” after a sermon, you know what I mean. Classes have to be informative and fun or people will look elsewhere.

And like any job you always find those “other duties as necessary.” Cleaning up puke from a kid that’s not your own? Been there. Wipe grandpa’s ashes off your dress shoes because you misjudged the wind? Done that. Set up tables and chairs for a meeting, dinner, or class? Sit in a dunk tank to raise money for a youth trip? Wave from a parade float to show how friendly the church is? Set up communion because the person scheduled to do it didn’t show up? Learn to trouble shoot computer networks, sound systems and audiovisual equipment? Blankly stare at a woman who, just before the third worship service on Easter Sunday, tells you that the third stall in the women’s bathroom was clogged and overflowing, and then asks what you are going to do about it? Done it all. Never once did anyone at the seminary mention anything remotely similar.

Only recently have I started to feel competent in my ability to do this job. Oddly enough that sense of competence has coincided with realizing once again that this job is about helping people grow and change, but only when they are ready and willing to do that. I can’t force it on them. That sense of competence has also come with a willingness to repeatedly say, “I don’t know” in public and be more open with my own faith journey, questions and doubts. So basically, the more competent I feel, the less competent I appear.

How can anyone adequately prepare you for that?