Hidden agendas

I got a call out of the blue the other week from a young woman who I thought must have left town because none of the church's communications with her received any reply. But, she's had a second baby, and, guess what? wants to have the baby baptized.

It was great to see her again after several years and what impressed me in talking to her was her intuitive grasp of some pretty deep theological concepts like grace and providence. Her approach to parenting and family life would benefit so much from being shaped and deepened through Christian community.

She was very wary of any hints about deeper involvement because of family demands and employment uncertainty. But she had this real openness of spirit, and really wanted to talk about the things that matter to her deeply.

I was fighting with myself to resist the temptation to keep on steering the conversation away from her concerns onto the church's needs. I haven't sorted the how-to stuff out in my mind, but I'm becoming more convinced, though, that we have to resist exactly this temptation -- to bring a preset agenda to our interactions with people. Now, she came to the church asking for the church's ministry. But ministry would seem to be establishing a supportive relationship with her and her family, so that they can begin discovering the presence of God in their lives -- and let that be the motivation for church involvement, not vice versa.

We need to help people discern what God is up to in their lives and build on that, rather than starting with the recruitment pitch.

Stories

"I can only answer the question 'What am I to do?' if I can answer the prior question 'Of what stories am I a part?'" Alasdair McIntyre, After Virtue.

That sentence describes something essential about ministry. It's the task of helping people understand their own narrative so that they can bring it into contact with the larger narrative of God.

Tears for the church

I know why Jesus wept over Jerusalem.

There's a very persistent and very vocal group of people in the United Church who have been trying to organize a clergy union. They've aligned themselves with the Canadian Auto Workers. Most people thought it was a joke when they started three or four years ago, but there's nothing funny about it.

I'm looking at the latest newsletter sent out by the union organizers. It's filled with old labour union jargon like "Clergy Unite" and "Solidarity forever!" They claim that there is a groundswell of support among clergy that makes a certification vote in the near future a certainty.

What's really sad is the reality that has motivated this drive. The church seems to have lost its ability to order its life and care for its members and leaders. We're hearing more and more stories about churches where the relationship between pastor and congregation (or members within the congregation) has completely broken down. There are charges of bullying, harrassment, abuse and even death threats against clergy and their families.

But some of the rhetoric of the organizers is really, if you think about it for a minute, quite shocking.

"Uniting together [with the CAW] will give us the confidence and collective empowerment to live out our ministries as we feel called to do." What?? "You will never know security and protection until you sign your union card." Excvse me?

I know there are heart-rending stories of clergy whose ministries have been derailed and destroyed by the sky-rocketing anxiety levels of churches in decline. I know the church attracts and enables some pretty nasty people. And that's cause for weeping.

But the naivete of clergy who think that unionizing is going to solve their problems and give them "true security" is simply breath taking.

It's enough to reduce you to tears.