Three Years In…

The last day of August…marking the end of another year of ministry in Dulce. We have been here for three full years and so today I find myself with a few thoughts on being a pastor. 

At the end of the first year I felt that I had spent twelve months learning to be a pastor.  What on earth does a pastor really do?  Looking back on the first year it seemed that answering that question in the specific place where I serve seemed to be my primary achievement.  I hadn’t begun with the goal of answering that question but by the end of the year I figured I had achieved a basic level of pastoral competency. 

And at the end of the second year?  My conclusion then was that I had a firm identity as "their pastor," with "them" being the people who came to church each Sunday, the people I visited at the hospital and in their homes, the people I met at the park.  I had been here long enough and spent enough time with them that I felt a sense of responsibility towards them, not because they were the group attending the church I served, but because I had gotten to know them as the people God called me to serve.  I understood things about their lives.  Their relationships.  Their community.  As people, they mattered to me.

And today, as three years have ended?  I have a different learning of my role here.  I have heard it said that it takes three years for a pastor to find out how big a mess their church is, and that it takes three years for a church to find out how big a mess their pastor is.

Regarding the church I serve I'll say that it isn't any kind of mess.  There are strengths and there are areas that could be stronger.  I wouldn’t trade this congregation for an opportunity to serve any other place.  During the call process we were asked how long we would stay and our answer was that if things work out we intend to stay until it is time to retire.  After three years we have no desire to serve anywhere else.

But as to the pastor himself, and the mess he may be?  I don’t know what the members of the congregation would have to say, but I'll say that the things I feel are among my greatest strengths are also evident to me as areas needing lots of growth.

In Acts 6 we read about the early church and one of the problems it had.  The apostles were overwhelmed with their responsibilities and so they created the role of deacon, so that there were people who were in charge of caring for the physical needs of the Christian community.  This left the apostles better able to attend to what they felt was their primary calling, saying in verse 4:

"But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word."

At the end of three years I feel strongly that these two tasks, prayer and ministry of the word, i.e. preaching and teaching the Bible, are the central tasks of a pastor.  There are many other things that clamor for my time, but these are the two things that should always be the priorities.

They are two tasks that happen in a variety of settings.  They happen in worship on Sunday mornings, over breakfast at the Inn, in a car in the parking lot, in the hospital and nursing home, in the privacy of my study.  They happen in large groups, in small groups, with just one other person, and with just myself and the Lord God.

On the one hand I can see a basic level of "competency," yet on the other hand I can see much room for growth in both areas.  As three years end I am thankful for everyone who prays for this ministry and for every prayer that is lifted up on our behalf.  And I ask for continued prayer, not because I see myself as a pastor in crisis or that we are desperate for encouragement, but because neither we, nor any other ministry, serves on their own and separate from the body of Christ.  We pray for each other to lift each other up to God, seeking that God would use His servants, wherever they may be, to bring glory to His name.

May our service in Dulce strengthen His church and bring glory to His name, or as the Psalmist says,

"From the rising of the sun to its setting,

the name of the Lord is to be praised!" 

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

I'm a pastor

I'm a pastor.  I am not exactly sure what that means but I'm learning a bit more about it every day.

As many of you may know, becoming a pastor was a career change, something that happened just seven months ago.  I serve a small congregation on a Native American reservation in New Mexico.  My family and I felt that this was the place and that these were the people that God was preparing us for.  Last summer we pulled up our deep roots in the Midwest and headed for what we, like the people we live among, affectionately call "the rez."  Life is markedly different here and we are gradually developing new friendships.   

So what does a pastor do?  That is a question with a very broad answer.  In some large congregations there may be a number of people carrying that label, each with a different area of responsibility.  In a church at the other end of the spectrum, such as the one I serve, the answer is more comprehensive.  One of the things my predecessor left for me was a long list of tasks that are outside of the traditional role of pastor and which land as my responsibility here.  Building maintenance, secretarial work and so forth.  That is fine with me.  I saw the list before we came here, and knowing it was small congregation it wasn't a big surprise.

When it gets down to the basics I would say that my primary roles as pastor are to be the preacher and teacher of the congregation. 

Preparing to preach is the hardest thing I do each week.  It is my job to dig into God's word and bring back something of substance to my congregation when we gather for worship on Sunday morning.  Parts of sermon preparation I love and parts I struggle with.  I struggle in large part because I feel that the sermon must be driven by the text.  The ideas I am jotting down on paper and the sentences I subsequently type as I write and edit a draft must be connected to the text.

That makes sermon preparation, for me, much more challenging than other kinds of writing, such as writing for my blog.  In my blog I can go here and there.  I want to be coherent in what I write but there is the freedom to shape my thoughts in ways that differ from the structure of writing to preach. 

The other major portion of my role as pastor is to be the primary teacher for the congregation.  Teaching happens in the pulpit.  It happens in our Bible study.  It happens in my blog.  And it happens in conversations I have with members of the congregation and people I meet in the community. 

I enjoy teaching that is composed of dialogue.  I want to listen to the other person and understand their perspective.  I want to be able to share with them things that are grounded in scripture and deepen their faith.  

And there is one other thing that is key to being a pastor, at least for me.  That is prayer.  I lead the congregation in prayer during worship.  During the week I pray for the concerns they share with me.  Some they share publicly and some privately.  I pray for things which I know about but that haven't been shared directly with me.  I pray with them at the hospital and in their homes.  It is a great privilege to pray for, and with, God's people.  And I am grateful that God is guiding them in praying for me, for I couldn't be a pastor on my own strength, nor would I want to.   

Earlier today I wrote a note to someone who had some feedback on a recent blog post.  Here is my concluding sentence to that person, which is perhaps, in my view, the essence of being a pastor: 

"Day-by-day, prayer-by-prayer, I am working by the grace of God to guide God's people the their eternal home, to God's glory."

Beginning

Yesterday was my first Sunday as the pastor of the Jicarilla Apache Reformed Church in Dulce, New Mexico.  We had a great turn-out for worship.  The people were warm and welcoming, and I think the presence of myself and my family was warm as well.  There were a few bugs to work out but no one seemed to mind.  We are getting to know the people and they are getting to know us.  Our journey here, from our first contact with the congregation until yesterday’s worship, was about 10 months.  It is our hope that we are able to serve God well here for many years.  All-in-all I think it was a really good first day.

But while yesterday was our first “official” day there were many busy days leading up to it.  There have been days of prayer, interviews, conversations and e-mails.  Study, sermon preparation and worship planning.  And moving. 

Moving has been the overriding activity of the past three weeks in particular.  Packing, almost without end.  Or so it seemed.  Loading the truck.  Four and a half days of travel.  Unloading the truck, which was completed as quickly as it was only due to the help of members of our congregation.  Then unpacking and getting things settled in the house.  And at noon today, just one week since we arrived in town, virtually everything we own is out of its box and in its place.  The only exception is my wife, Robin’s, shop for working on stained glass.   And all of the credit for “driving the bus” in the activity of unpacking and getting settled in town goes to her.  Robin has been phenomenal during our move, especially since we arrived in town. 

And now on Monday afternoon we had an opportunity to relax a bit and consider what comes next.  Robin posted this to her blog.  While I took our daughter to the park Robin wrote lesson plans for home-schooling, which resumes tomorrow.  We have decided that Monday will be my day off, but on this Monday I have a half-dozen things floating through my mind that I need to get to work on soon.

I think that we are off to a good start in this particular ministry.  I know that as the days, weeks, months, and God-willing, years unfold that we will experience a full range of experiences and emotions here.  But today I am mindful of these words from Paul to the church at Philippi:

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.”

We have had a good beginning here.  My prayer today is that we would faithfully follow God, to His eternal glory, throughout the time that we live and serve with His people in Dulce. Amen.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Book Review: Dangerous Calling by Paul David Tripp

Dangerous Calling: Confronting the Unique Challenges of Pastoral Ministry by Paul David Tripp made a number of top-10 lists last year.  I have read several of his other books and they have been excellent.  One, Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, is among the five best books I’ve ever read.  After reading Dangerous Calling it is easy to see why so many people included it on their 2012 lists.  It is that good. 

Dangerous Calling is written primarily to pastors and those who either live with or lead ministry among them.  It is meant to warn and encourage pastors of the hazards of their profession.  It is a topic of which Tripp knows well, from his own experience in pastoral ministry and his current work, which includes consulting with churches and pastors on ministry leadership.   

He divides the book into three parts.  The first addresses the culture in which pastors are formed and live.  This includes a critique of the weaknesses of many seminaries in the formation of pastoral identity and the pitfalls awaiting these new pastors as they move into their congregations. 

Parts Two and Three are the Danger of Losing Your Awe (Forgetting Who God Is), and The Danger of Arrival (Forgetting Who You Are).  In these two parts of the book Tripp gets to the heart of the dangers of pastoral ministry, dangers that all too often result in someone who is called to ministry becoming someone who is just doing a job rather than in living in service to the Lord God Almighty.  He shows how easy it is for a pastor to slide in either the direction of living as if God is not God, or living as if the pastor is functionally God.    

Tripp is no ministry idealist, with the mistaken belief that every pastor is capable of always ministering perfectly.  Much like the central thesis of Instruments in the Redeemer’s Hands, that imperfect and broken people are active in the healing of imperfect and broken people, he knows that while all Christians are being shaped in the image of Christ they will never fully achieve that image in this life.  Time-and-again he uses examples from his own ministry and the churches and pastors he has consulted among to show that all pastors are just like the people in their congregations, equally in need of hearing anew the same Gospel they are preaching.

In his closing thoughts Tripp writes this:  “It is in the moments of hardship when what God is doing doesn't make any sense that it is all the more important to preach to ourselves the gospel of his unshakable, unrelenting, ever-present care. He is actively caring for you and me even in those moments when we don't understand his care and can't figure out what he is doing." (217)

Pastoral ministry is dangerous work, strewn with hazards that can adversely affect the pastor, their family and the congregation.  In Dangerous Calling Tripp has written an excellent book to help pastors stay on track in the places where God has called them to serve, for the sake of God’s kingdom and the magnification of God’s glory.