Both starting and ending church ministries are costly activities. Here are some of the things ministers can expect to gain and endure as they serve in established churches and new churches.
1. Starting your ministry in an already existing church is costly …
Over time you will:
- Build relationships with people, with fellow-workers, with the leaders, and with the wider range of contacts of the ministry, and neighbours.
- Learn what cross-cultural gaps you need to deal with.
- Learn how things work:
- how ministry is done;
- how decisions are made;
- how responsibility is allocated and shared;
- what delegations of responsibility are in place;
- how structures of ministry function;
- how services are led;
- how relationships function;
- the politics and culture of the church.
- Discover the people:
- you can trust;
- who are able to do ministry;
- who are wise;
- who can keep confidences;
- who function as gate-keepers;
- who are the effective agents for change.
(Be wary of people who want to befriend you, take you over, and control you.)
- Learn the theological stance of the church; how that has been expressed,and what other theological viewpoints are present in the staff, leadership, membership, or congregation.
- Learn the biblical and theological literacy of the church and its ministry—including the staff and the leadership.
- Learn how your predecessor did the ministry you are now doing. This understanding will help you understand and negotiate expectations.
- Learn the various expectations of you in your ministry and how you will do your ministry.
(If you are married, this will include learning what is expected of your spouse and family—and adjusting those expectations as needed!) - Learn how the history of the church has shaped its present.
- Learn about the current goals and aims of the ministry or church.
- Come to terms with many technical details: the buildings, systems, the website, IT, communication, and machines.
- Find an appropriate and workable model of pastoral care; of evangelism; and of engagement with the wider community.
- Learn how to balance your proactive and reactive ministry.
(Your proactive ministry is what you want to achieve, and your reactive ministry is what you need to do to serve the people and their expectations. It is easy to be almost entirely proactive, and pay little attention to their expectations, or to be almost entirely reactive, and set your own goals aside. The clue is to do both, serving your own vision for ministry, and also serving God’s people as well.) - Discover the new gifts of ministry that God is giving you for this new context of ministry. Gifts are given for the common good, and so may vary from context to context. And discover in time what previous gifts are not needed in this new context.
- Set your own Christian life in order in this new context of life and ministry, finding realistic and helpful patterns of prayer and meditation on the Scriptures.
- Set your own pattern of life and work in order in this new context, and also that of your family.
- Get your workplace and work patterns in good order!
- Learn how the church deals with conflict, and how different groups and different people deal with conflict. And you will learn how you deal with conflict!
Remember that technical changes are easy to make, and cultural changes take a long time to be accepted.
- Set a ministry goal for the first year.
(You will leave many things in place, and set a priority of building relationships and gaining understanding. There may be a few changes you need to make at once, and a long list of changes to make over the next two years, so make a rough timetable of those changes. Remember that technical changes are easy to make, and cultural changes take a long time to be accepted. And also remember that what you think is merely a technical change, may be felt by others to be a deep and significant cultural change!)
2. Starting/planting a new church is a costly activity.
Over time you will:
- Create relationships with new people—fellow-workers, leaders and neighbours—and you will also help members to create their own relationships.
- Create patterns for how things work:
- how ministry is done;
- how decisions are made;
- how responsibility is allocated and shared;
- how structures of ministry function;
- how services are led;
- how relationships function;
- the politics and culture of the church.
- Create a leadership team and set up a workable system of governance. You will work out how leaders are appointed; the terms of their appointments; how can they be removed; the extent of their responsibilities; and their relationship to the congregation and to ministry leaders.
- Help people who come from other churches to cope with the governance structure of the church they have joined.
- Find an appropriate and workable model for pastoral care, evangelism, and engagement with the wider community.
- Decide on your relationship with a wider network—this could be a loose association, a tight association, or a denomination.
- Discover the people:
- you can trust;
- who are able to do ministry;
- who are wise;
- who can keep confidences;
- who function as gate-keepers;
- who are the effective agents for change.
(Be wary of people who want to befriend you, take you over, and control you. Be wary of the founders of the church keeping long-term control over it.)
- Establish the theological stance of the church, and cope with the varying theological convictions of those who join you from other churches.
- Learn the biblical and theological literacy of the church and its ministry—including the staff and the leadership.
- Learn the various expectations of you in your ministry and how you will do your ministry.
(If you are married, this will include learning what is expected of your spouse and family—and adjusting those expectations as needed!) - Find or help set up a meeting place: the buildings, systems, the website, IT, communication, and machines.
- Learn how to balance your proactive and reactive ministry.
(Your proactive ministry is what you want to achieve, and your reactive ministry is what you need to do to serve the people and their expectations. It is easy to be almost entirely proactive, and pay little attention to their expectations, or to be almost entirely reactive, and set your own goals aside. The clue is to do both, serving your own vision for ministry, and also serving God’s people as well.) - Discover the new gifts of ministry that God is giving you for this new context of ministry. Gifts are given for the common good, and so may vary from context to context. And discover in time what previous gifts are not needed in this new context.
- Set your own Christian life in order in this new context of life and ministry, finding realistic and helpful patterns of prayer and meditation on the Scriptures.
- Set your own pattern of life and work in order in this new context, and also that of your family.
- Get your workplace and work patterns in good order!
3. Ending or concluding your ministry in a church, is a costly activity. It is the cost of extraction.
You will need to:
- End your pastoral relationships with members well, and help people to end their pastoral relationships with you well. This is especially difficult if your ministry has been more friendship-based than role-based (as is common nowadays).
- Prepare the people you have converted to do without you.
You will need to recognise and accept what you will now not have time to accomplish in your ministry in this church.
- Recognise and accept what you will now not have time to accomplish in your ministry in this church.
- Leave the church and its ministries in good shape.
- Prepare the ministry team to do without you.
- Prepare the leadership team to do without you.
- Prepare an information document for your successor.
- Hand your responsibility for the ministry and the church over to God, trusting him for its future.
- Leave your church, as well as your ministry.
You may also need to:
- Leave your local community.
- Move home to a new location.
- Help your family leave the church.
- Find new schools for your children.
- Take a break.
- Prepare to begin a new ministry.
Leaving is more painful if:
- You are forced to leave.
- Your leaving is unjust.
- It is a hurried departure.
- You are leaving because of illness.
- You are moving interstate or overseas, and so will be further away.
- You are leaving because the church has run out of money.
- You are leaving in unhappy circumstances.
- You are leaving when the church is going through a crisis.
- You are leaving because of a scandal.
- You are leaving without having achieved significant goals.
- You are leaving without a new ministry to go to.
- You are leaving because it is time to retire from full-time ministry, and are reluctant to do so.
Final comments:
The best way to prepare yourself for these costs is to maintain and grow your relationship with God.
- Most people find leaving more painful and complicated than arriving. It is good to allow time for the leaving process, and for grieving.
- It is good to know what some of the costs of investing and extracting are, which is why I have written this paper.
- The best way to prepare yourself for these costs is to maintain and grow your relationship with God, to grow your faith in Christ, your love for God’s people, and your hope in God’s gospel plan.
- And remember, if over a six-month period you will be extracting yourself from one church and investing in another, those are two costly activities in a row!
- I have written this paper about ministry in a church, but many of the issues relate to other ministries, such as chaplaincies, colleges, and ministry societies.
