Monday, December 02, 2013

Its a dog eat dog world out there, and I'm wearing milk bone shorts!

When I took my first job in the ministry, I had little idea what I was doing.  Honestly, I still don't know much about what I am doing.  And 12 years into my ministerial career and 6 years into my first pastorate I find myself realizing that seminary didn't prepare me for all that I would encounter as I sought to disciple the saved and evangelize the lost.

Sure, I spent countless hours learning Hebrew and Greek, reading the Church Fathers and their views of theology.  I learned how to exegete scripture from some of the best professors in the country (if not world).  In short, Seminary did a wonderful job of preparing me to handle the Word of God (for which I and my congregants are eternally grateful), but a rather poor job of preparing me to handle the People of God.

Apparently, the pastorate looked a little different 30 years ago than it does today.  Check out Thom Rainer's article laying out 7 ways pastoring has changed in thirty years.

I would add to this already great article a few things that I've learned over the years:
1)  I never thought I would need legal counsel.  I have honestly considered going and getting a law degree (which probably wouldn't prepare me to be a lawyer any more than seminary prepared me to be a pastor) simply because I had no idea how many different legal issues my church and my congregants would face.   From lawsuits, to convicted sex offenders, to issues that I can't even mention here.  It would be nice to have had some legal training.
2)  I never thought that I would have to run a business.  Like it or not the Church is more like a business than most in our congregations would like it to be.  Sure, our bottom line isn't to make a profit, but we still have employees, must obey tax  laws, maintain the buildings on our campus, recruit and train and place hundreds of volunteers, and manage a budget.
3)  Counseling.  I am amazed at how much counseling I do, and how under-prepared and unqualified I am to do it.  I recall Andy Stanley, the pastor at Northpoint Church in Atlanta making the statement that he was more of a consultant than a counselor, and often that is how I feel.  Not only am I seriously lacking in listening skills (a discipline that I, and my wife, pray improves), but I lack the tools necessary to help someone overcome deep seated issues.  I can, and do, point them to scripture, but most of the time in my context a lack of biblical knowledge isn't the issue.  Its a lack of know-how in the direct application of the scripture to your life, and although I can offer some practical applications, I find myself referring a number of people to a professional counselor.  Now this type of outsourcing is good, and encouraged by professors in seminary.  But most of the time when I refer people, they either 1) don't go or 2) can't afford it, or 3) only want to talk to me.  A little more help in school would have been greatly appreciated
4) Marketing.  A course in Photoshop would have been helpful!  How about web design or screen printing?  In a world where branding is so important, and marketing is so important, I felt grossly under-prepared.  No longer will the name First Baptist Church just automatically draw people into your services.  Now the name may actually turn some people off.  It's all about logos and websites and social media.

But then again, since most of us pastors only work 2 days a week, it isn't that big of a deal that we don't have these skills, we can just use our down time to take an online course or watch a Youtube video!

-- Jeremy





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