Ministry

I have been following an online conversation about labels with great interest.  It started with Ross Douthat's article on the Episcopal church.  Diane Butler Bass then wrote a response.  Ben Gosden than wrote a response to both of them.  In his response Ben critiques both Douthat and Bass and comes to the conclusion, "however, they both get it wrong for me because they continue … [Read more...] about The Case for Labels

It was about this time last year when I listened to a sermon on the common good.  The pastor argued we had no concept of it now in America.  He preached that the common good is a theme in the Gospels.  His sermon named a concern I have about modern American life. I started wrestling with it when I was introduced to the concept of the tragedy of the commons.  The tragedy of the … [Read more...] about Common Good

I read Thomas Long’s essay in the Christian Century today about “Future Fatigue” and it led me to think about my annual one-on-one with my district superintendent.  Part of our discussion will be on how to get the churches in the charge I serve to give goals for ministry.  How will they improve their statistics for 2013?  It is part of a larger movement in the United Methodist … [Read more...] about Statistics and Divination

Trust is being lifted up as a major problem in the United Methodist Church (Ricky Harrison's take and Sky McCracken's take).  While I appreciate the concern about trust, the United Methodist connection will not work if we do not trust each other, I think trust is not the problem.  Trust is only a symptom of a much larger problem. The larger problem is that the United Methodist … [Read more...] about Trust

One surreal experience of ministry is listening to others talk about ministry.  Particularly, hearing two sides of a shared experience.  As a pastor in a connectional system, I get to hear different versions of a church's story.  Often I hear a pastor's perspective and also the congregation's perspective. I have often heard congregations blame their pastors for their current … [Read more...] about Context