Lilly Endowment launches initiative to help clergy thrive in congregational ministry

From RNS-

Lilly Endowment Inc. has launched a national initiative to help clergy working in congregations thrive in their roles as pastoral leaders. Through the Thriving in Ministry Initiative, the Endowment has approved 24 grants totaling more than $20 million to seminaries, universities, denominational judicatories and a retreat center.

The grants will help these organizations create or strengthen programs that help pastors build relationships with experienced clergy who can serve as role models and mentors and guide them through key leadership challenges in congregational ministry.

These grants make up the first round of funding in this national effort. A second round of funding will be made available through a national competitive grant program. Information will be available in mid-January through the Endowment’s website, www.lillyendowment.org.

More here-

http://religionnews.com/2017/12/20/lilly-endowment-launches-initiative-to-help-clergy-thrive-in-congregational-ministry/

also here-

https://www.ibj.com/articles/66764-lilly-endowment-awards-more-than-20m-to-help-pastors

Do you actually want to be our pastor?

From Christian Century-

Hank Pierce and Amy Quitman were neighbors on Rural Route 28. Their mailboxes shared a weathered post at the end of the gravel lane. This seemed fitting, since their families also shared a weathered pew at Granby Presbyterian Church. Hank and Amy—along with Tom, the tire salesman, and Luther, the county’s public defender—made up Granby’s Pastoral Search Committee. Though a thankless job, their assignment did mean that every Thursday night they’d sit in the church’s empty manse, drink Folgers, and enjoy a few minutes shooting the bull. Then they’d return to the pile of résumés that represented the fleeting hope for their beleaguered flock.

This night, though, after the coffee and the gossip, they sat quietly, staring at the stack. Over these last several months, they’d endured phone interviews with four candidates and visits from two more. After confirming the town’s modest population or seeing the church’s humble clapboard building, three candidates quickly exited the process. One candidate turned out to be an ex-con and abruptly stopped answering their calls. Last they heard, he was back preaching in the pen.

More here-

https://www.christiancentury.org/article/features/do-you-actually-want-be-our-pastor

Clergy Should Be Paid

From Free Range Priest-

The Living Church posted an article a few days ago about Episcopal congregations who don't pay their clergy, some of whom report working 40 - 50 hours per week. This is because so many congregations, especially small ones, can no longer afford to pay full or even part-time salaries. Not paying a priest's salary (and benefits) can seem like a blessing for those churches that might otherwise have to close their doors. But at what cost?

1. The devaluing of ordained ministry. 'The laborer deserves to be paid,' 1 Timothy reminds us, especially those who labor at teaching and preaching the Christian faith. Ministry is clearly a spiritual calling, but from the beginning of the church, ministry has been compensated, whether through the community's direct support of food and housing or through wages. Not compensating ordained ministry at all devalues it within the church, and within the larger community. Which has larger consequences, including...

More here-

https://www.freerangepriest.org/father-cathie-free-range-priest/clergy-should-be-paid

I’m a Pastor With Depression. For Years I Thought I Had to Hide It.

From Sojourners-

I was serving as associate pastor to a small church in southern Wisconsin, just a year out of seminary, and I couldn't get out of bed. I slept all the time. I couldn't eat. I couldn't see any future ahead of me. I was filled with a despair I couldn’t put into words. My primary care doctor diagnosed me with anxiety-related depression. It was 2011.

There was no way I could tell anyone about this diagnosis. Forget talking about it in regular conversation — I'm a pastor, for God’s sakes, a leader in the Christian church. I couldn’t be dealing with this. I needed to man up, I told myself — I’d get tough, and pull myself out of this nightmare.

“Demons” have never been part of my religious vocabulary. Growing up in a fundamentalist Christian community, spending my teens as an agnostic, then becoming a Lutheran pastor, at every turn, my faith journey made me wary of terms like that. I mean, it wasn’t like I was living in a scene from The Exorcist, right?

More here-

https://sojo.net/articles/i-m-pastor-depression-years-i-thought-i-had-hide-it

Who Owns a Pastor’s Body?

From Sojourners-

The other day, a female pastor posted in a private Facebook group for young clergy, sharing the first comment she received after her first sermon in her first church. Immediately, I was cringing with empathy. I knew what was coming: It was going to be about her hair. Of course it was. What else would someone have to say after hearing a minister preach on the gospel, right?

Such stories are common among clergy. Ministers I know have received unsolicited commentary from parishioners on their relationship status, their pregnancies, their weight, their facial hair, their attire, and just about any other physical or personal attribute you can imagine. During my own short time in ministry, I’ve heard that I am too skinny and that I’m overweight, that my hair is a distraction, that I’m too young, that I’m looking particularly tired, that they’d date me if they could, and even that I have great legs.

We tend to laugh or shrug off these interactions most of the time because we know that there is, more often than not, no malicious intent behind them. We care for our congregation members, and we don’t want to make them feel uncomfortable or angry. But while not every earnest comment offered by a church member is unwelcome, some of these unsolicited encounters can be frustrating and even degrading for us. They undermine our confidence and our authority.

More here-

https://sojo.net/articles/who-owns-pastor-s-body

Staying Put: A Look at the First 10 Years of Ministry

From Alban-

During my years in parish ministry I offered spiritual direction for clergy in the area. In the span of two years, four pastors came to me with what seemed to be the same symptoms. Each felt a sense of restlessness, malaise, and vague anxiety about the future of his or her current congregational ministry. Puzzled that their struggles seemed so similar, I looked for a common factor in these pastors’ lives and their widely differing church contexts.

The only common element all four shared was the length of time they had served their current parishes. Each was in either the seventh or eighth year with one congregation. Moreover, none of these pastors had previously stayed with one parish for more than five years. Could this common thread of short pastoral tenure be the source of their restlessness?

More here-

https://alban.org/archive/staying-put-a-look-at-the-first-10-years-of-ministry/

The real secrets of successful pastors

From The Living Church-

There is perhaps no job that more fully defies the American dream than that of pastor. The idea lives deep within us that if we just work hard good things will come to us, but that is not always the case. A priest could do nothing at all and see his parish grow. He could work like a dog, putting in seventy or eighty hours a week, and watch his congregation dwindle. We often assume that if a parish is filled to the brim and hopping with activity, that pastor must be good at what he does, whereas if the parish is five minutes away from boarding up the windows, that pastor must be a disaster. In fact though, it is possible for the opposite to be true. The pastor of the small church may be slowly building a loving, sustainable, Christ centered community, while the pastor of the large church may be whipping up a cult of personality that will evaporate as soon as he moves on.

More here-

http://livingchurch.org/covenant/2015/10/29/real-secrets-of-successful-pastors/

Decision 2015 and the work of the Church

From The Living Church-

This June a major decision will be made. Someone will be chosen to lead, and the effects of that choice will ripple outwards for years. This new leader will form disciples, teach a new generation of Christians, model charity and servanthood, strengthen relationships within the church, and open doors to those outside our walls. This new ministry will be challenging: the leader we chose will have to work with different constituencies, build consensus, teach and learn at the same time, and bathe daily tasks in prayer. In the end, we trust and hope that this chosen leader will bring a new season of vitality and growth.

More here-

http://livingchurch.org/covenant/?p=6190

7 Secrets Your Pastors Wish They Could Tell You (But Probably Won’t)

From Church Leaders-

Most pastors I know have clear calls to ministry, work long hours, carry battle scars, sometimes get discouraged, and struggle to balance vocation and family.

They really do have servants’ hearts, but they are human and there are a few considerate things the people in the pews can do to support their pastors. If you could be a fly on the wall when pastors talk amongst themselves, you may be quite surprised by what you hear and how often you would hear the same things over and over.

Here are seven things your pastor would love to tell you (but probably won’t):

http://www.churchleaders.com/pastors/pastor-articles/173582-7-secrets-your-pastors-wish-they-could-tell-you-but-probably-wont.html/1

How to Snap Pastors Like Breadsticks

From Huffington-

Crunching the numbers speaks for itself: A 2007 Duke University study found that 85 percent of seminary graduates leave the ministry within five years and 90 percent flee before retirement. The attrition rate in North Georgia, the Bible Belt's leather buckle, "ran as high as 90% for those having served 20 years or more." Alban Institute and Fuller Seminary research showed that "50% of ministers drop out of ministry within the first five years and many never go back to church again."

It's a verified fact: Anyone signing up for the professional ministry is nuts. Don't waste time on those psychological tests. If they want the job, they're cracked.

More here-

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charles-redfern/how-to-snap-pastors-like-_b_5646161.html

Is youth ministry killing the church?

From Christian Century-

After having worked for several years as a youth pastor, I recently accepted a call to be an interim solo pastor. One weekend, Sara, a beloved saint of the church, died after a long battle with Alzheimer's. On Sunday morning I was standing in the choir room discussing plans for the funeral when Jonathan—a high school sophomore—walked in. “Deanne,” he said to the music director, “I heard about Sara, and I thought you might need me to take Libba's spot in the bell choir this morning.” She gratefully accepted his offer and excused herself from our conversation to review the music with him.

It was a pretty mundane exchange, but I was blown away. It's remarkable enough to see a 16-year-old boy drive himself to church early to join a bell choir comprised of adults in their 50s and 60s. But even more intriguing was Jonathan's perceptiveness. Not only did he know that Libba was Sara’s daughter, but life in the church had taught him to anticipate congregational needs. He knew that Libba played with the bell choir, and he realized she probably couldn't play that morning. Unprompted—I checked with his parents—he offered to fill in.

More here-

http://www.christiancentury.org/blogs/archive/2010-02/youth-ministry-killing-church

The Secret Pain of Pastors

From American Preacher-

Peter Drucker, the late leadership guru, said that the four hardest jobs in America (and not necessarily in order, he added) are:

The President of the United States
A university president

A CEO of a hospital and

A pastor

Is that true? Pastors love God and love people. They get to pray for people, lead people to a faith in Jesus Christ, and teach the Word about God.

That’s the dream job. You can read the Bible all day, pray, play a little golf, and preach. I want to do that!

Here is the secret. Being a pastor is hard work. It’s not for wimps.

More here-

http://www.americapreachers.com/effective-ministry/effective-preaching/secret-pain-pastors/

As denominations decline, numbers of unpaid ministers rise

From RNS-

The 50 members of All Saints Episcopal Church in Hitchcock, Texas, are looking forward to December, when Mark Marmon will be ordained their priest.

One reason for the excitement? They won’t have to pay him.

A 57-year-old fly fishing guide, Marmon, whose wife is a lawyer, says he doesn’t want or need a church salary. He belongs to a growing breed of mainline Protestant clergy who serve congregations in exchange for little or no compensation.

“We’re the frontline,” Marmon said. “If it weren’t for us, these churches would just roll up and die.”

Though small evangelical congregations have long relied on unpaid pastors, mainline churches haven’t. They’ve generally paid full-time or nearly full-time salaries, said Scott Thumma, a Hartford Seminary sociologist of religion.

More here-

http://www.religionnews.com/2013/09/17/denominations-decline-numbers-unpaid-ministers-rise/

Eleven Things You Might Not Understand About Your Minister

Found this on a Facebook post and can't identify the author but thought it was worth passing along-

My dad was a minister in a church. My uncles were ministers. My cousin’s a minister. About thirty of my best friends are, or were, ministers.

I was a minister, until I quit seven years ago. Probably forever.

It’s difficult being a minister. In the hard times, I always felt like many of the people in the church didn’t really understand us. Where our hearts were, how we were feeling, what our intentions were, how best to help us help the church. Which often felt dysfunctional. And I spent a lot of my down time thinking about a list of things I wish the church understood.

But while I was in the position, saying them would have sounded only like whining. Or it would have been uncomfortably vulnerable.

Now that I’m seven years removed from ministry, with no chance of returning, I want to offer some of these things to you who attend church regularly, hoping that they might be received in a different, more constructive spirit. I’ve really got nothing invested here any more, except love and respect for my brothers and sisters who do this for a living. And a hope that I can make someone’s life just a little better.

A disclaimer is in order. I ran these by a large handful of ministers this week, and most of them said something akin to ‘Yes, exactly!’ But there were one or two who responded saying that they’ve had a different, better experience with ministry, and that most of these don’t apply to them. But I think it’s fair to say that about nine out of ten ministers relate strongly to most of what’s here.

More here-

http://marklovefurniture.com/blog/2013/07/06/eleven-things-you-might-not-understand-about-your-minister/