It’s finals week. That means my hair is in tatters, my body’s running on caffeine, and my brain has the privilege of concentrating on a lot of great questions. One of my favorites is the final paper for my required ministry course, which asks the simple question “What is ministry?” You know, no biggie.
It’s a challenge to answer the question well but it’s also a lot of fun, because I truly believe that congregational ministry (my particular focus) is one of the greatest jobs on Earth, and I am so glad to be called to it.
Earlier this semester, a friend of mine described theology as an “integrative science.” For me, ministry is one of the last “integrative professions,” where instead of doing one thing excellently you do a lot of things decently, and try to forge connections between all of those tasks and diverse people in your church community.
Ministry is counseling people in hospitals, preaching to crowds, academic theology, volunteer coordination, politicking, being a spiritual guide, community organizing, cooking potluck dishes, and a thousand other things. And that’s exciting – and overwhelming.
This multiplicity of tasks can be frustrating for ministers. In This Odd & Wondrous Calling, the touching autobiography of UCC minister Rev. Martin Copenhaver (co-written with another UCC minister, Rev. Lillian Daniels) he writes,
“Pastors are generalists…trained largely by experts. In seminary, we learn biblical interpretation from biblical scholars, pastoral care from psychologists, and preaching from those who may spend more time on the preaching circuit than in a local church.”
We’re not the best at anything we do, and can be haunted by the fact that someone else might always do better at at least one of the things we’re responsible for.
But in a world of increasing specialization and atomization, I love that I’m going to keep on being forced to do some things I’m not so good at. Being reminded of our flaws helps us to turn to others for help, to recognize our innate interdependence. It helps us grow character through humility, and remind us always to stretch our comfort zones.
So that, in my view, is what ministry is. It’s the Everything Profession. And I couldn’t ask for a better one.
Amen, sister.
In an earlier paper for the same course (woohoo HDS first years…) I actually looked at This Odd & Wondrous Calling with a slightly different focus – arguing that the distinctive feature of ministry is not so much its generalized character, but the ways it breaks down barriers between public and private. Still, as someone who went to a liberal arts college, I’m very much pro-careers that reward generalized skills, as it is the only hope for me ever earning a steady paycheck. 😉