Twenty Years

The envelope was hand addressed to The Rev. Kevin Jones in a black ball point pen. The cursive mailing address filled most of the front. The back flap was imprinted with the return address from the Seminary Relations department. Usually that meant a letter asking for a donation of some sort but this was a card-sized envelope; maybe an invitation to a fund raising event of some sort.

The flap wasn’t sealed all the way around so I skipped the letter opener and slid my finger inside tearing a jagged line along the top. I pulled out a folded card. On the front was a picture of the entrance to the one building on the seminary campus with the traditional roman columns seen on campuses across the country. In the upper left hand corner the seminary logo on a mustard yellow background and on the bottom the word “CONGRATULATIONS.”

Opening the card I saw a Bible verse on the left below an artsy picture of four hands in the act of taking communion. On the right side of the card where Hallmark usually puts the main message were the words:

CONGRATULATIONS

on the anniversary of your ordination and

blessings on your continuing ministry.

Hand written above this it said “20 years July 25, 1993”  It was signed by the President of “your alumni/ae council.”

“So that was the date,” I thought. I looked at the calendar and realized it was the next day. My next thought was, “I don’t know the president of the alumni/ae council.”

Twenty Years of ordained ministry. I don’t know what to say or think about that. On one hand I never thought I would ever do anything else. On the other hand, I can’t believe I’ve been doing it this long. Babies I baptized will be able to drink legally next year.

I know I’ve made it longer than a lot of people have. Various studies and online reports estimate that between 1500 and 1700 pastors leave the ministry every month in the United States. According to a Fuller Institute/ Barna Research / Pastoral Care Inc. article only 1 in 10 ministers will retire as a minister in some form. They also site that 50% of pastors starting out will not last 5 years.

To be honest, I don’t feel much pride in this milestone. To be sure there is a certain amount of stubbornness in making it this long as well as a sense that I have been called to this task by something greater than myself. But I’m also still here because in over twenty years of ordained ministry you develop a pretty peculiar skill set that doesn’t always translate well to the secular world. I’ve become a jack-of-many trades and master of few. There aren’t many job listings looking for a theologian with good public speaking skills who can chair a committee  meeting, teach middle school students, counsel people in crisis, recruit volunteers, pray in public, relate well to every age group from preschoolers to those in their 90’s and beyond, and be a wizard at setting up folding tables and chairs.

In honor of this minor achievement in ministry I’m going to look at some of the factors that lead pastors to leave the ministry and reflect on my own experiences with each of them. If you prefer to think of your pastor in any way other than a real person (you know who you are) you might want to skip the next few blog posts. My plan isn’t to be mean or vindictive, simply honest about the challenges and joys of doing this job.

So whether you want to join the Seminary in congratulating me or give me quiet condolences on twenty years of ordained ministry; thank you. I appreciate them both. And a special thanks to those who have helped me survive this long: my wife and children, my parents and a great handful of friends and colleagues that let me be the person I am and not expect me to be some half-thought-out stereotype of a holy man.