Skip to main content

Where the Church is Present Seven Days a Week: The Opportunity


Given that lay people often fail to understand what the clergy do during the week—“Preacher, it must be nice to work just one day a week”-- we can understand why clergy do not have an appreciation for what their parishioners face during the days when they are not at the church building.  Most clergy have held only temporary or part-time non-church jobs (although this is changing as median age adults are responding to the call to ministry).  Few clergy today visit their members at their place of employment; in fact, often the laity don’t even work in the same community where they reside and attend church.  Even if the pastor was employed in business before responding to the call to ministry, he or she may not be familiar with the stresses that are peculiar to the settings where their members work in 2013.

This can be addressed in many ways in the church, but the process of making the connection can begin in the seminaries, schools of theology, and divinity schools where clergy are formed and informed for ministry.  In his article on “Theology for Workers in the Pews,” Chris Armstrong suggests how these institutions “are helping business leaders to think ethically and theologically” and also “helping clergy to engage more intelligently with business leaders in congregations.”  His recommendations suggest some ideas about steps that theological institutions can take to foster an interactive dialogue between church world and business world.

First, seminaries could partner with businesses to offer staff development experiences in the workplace taught by seminary professors with ministry students as small group facilitators or teaching assistants.  Some possible topics might be ethics, interpersonal relationships, and servant leadership.

Second, Armstrong suggests that seminaries rethink their approaches to field education.  Rather than limiting ministry praxis settings to clinical pastoral education (CPE) in hospitals, prisons, and psychiatric wards or field education to congregations and church-related ministries, students might do internships in businesses where they would shadow executive leaders, work with employee assistance programs, or resource teams working on community service projects.

Third, seminaries could take advantage of the experiences of local business people, especially those who lead entrepreneurial endeavors, by inviting them to campus as speakers, guest professors, or symposium participants.  Discussions about vision, values, business practices, and quality of life in the workplace would benefit the business leaders, the seminary leadership and the students.

If seminaries can begin the process of theological engagement with the workplace during the minster’s seminary days, they will open doors for more effective dialogue when the students begin serving local congregations.





Comments

Check these out

Confessions of a Recovering Southern Baptist

I am grateful for my heritage as a Southern Baptist.  I was exposed to the Bible and worship from a very young age.  I grew up in a church in south Alabama that supported the Cooperative Program of missions giving.  This meant that our church had the benefit of being part of a supportive group of local churches and the educational opportunities that afforded. Our state convention provided varied and effective ministries with groups like orphans, ethnic groups, and college students.  We supported missionaries at home and abroad.  We had good Bible study and training literature (which we paid for, of course).  I went to an accredited seminary and paid a remarkably low tuition.  Wherever you went on a Sunday morning (in the Southeast and Southwest, at least), you could find a church that sang the familiar hymns and studied the same Bible lesson. In hindsight, I realize that this Southern Baptist utopia was imperfect.  There were significant theological differences, often geograp

The Bible Tells Me So

As I read the story of the Good Samaritan during my devotional today, I was reminded of the times that I have heard the story in the Christian education setting of the local church--as a youngster in primary and intermediate classes (old terminology), as a young adult in college classes, and then as an adult, often teaching the passage myself.     The characters and story line are very familiar due to these experiences of Christian education. These are challenging times for Christian education in the church.  Like so much of what is happening in the church today, the old forms do not seem to support present needs.  What once worked no longer seems to be effective.  Christian education or the formation of believers is in a state of flux. In an article on ethicsdaily.com , retired professor Colin Harris addresses this issue. He points out that the period of the 60’s and 70’s  “saw the beginnings of a loss of vitality within the educational dimension of church ministry, as the

Metaphors of the Kingdom of God

In a recent blog , consultant Seth Godin addresses the power of metaphor.   He points out, “The best way to learn a complex idea is to find it living inside something else you already understand.”   In other words, “this” is like “that.” “When you see a story, an example, a wonderment,” says Godin, “take a moment to look for the metaphor inside.”   Jesus turned this around.   In the use of parables, he told a story or provided a metaphor and challenged his hearers to see the truth within. For example, in his teaching on the Kingdom (or Reign) of God in Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus compares the Kingdom to such things as a mustard seed, yeast, a hidden treasure, a net, a king, and a landowner.   His hearers are encouraged to use their imaginations to understand something that they had never experienced.   He also attempted to shift their perspective so that they might see signs of the Kingdom breaking into their present reality.  These are metaphors for the Kingdom. Where do w

The Tragedy of Willow Creek Community Church

File photo of Steve Carter, Heather Larson, and Bill Hybels As Christian brothers and sisters, we need to pray for Willow Creek Community Church.   On the eve of the Global Leadership Summit, a worldwide conference sponsored by the church in cooperation with the Willow Creek Association, church leadership imploded as a result of further allegations against former pastor Bill Hybels. Last year, Hybels introduced the team who would assume church leadership upon his retirement--lead pastor Heather Larson and teaching pastor Steve Carter.  Although the founding pastor planned to stay on to assist in a time of transition, reports of sexual impropriety involving Hybels surfaced early this year.  He accelerated his departure from the church and left the board of the Willow Creek Association. When other charges emerged last week, teaching pastor Carter resigned. On Wednesday evening, Larson and the entire elder board--lay leaders who provide accountability on behalf of the congreg

A Future for the Global Leadership Summit?

Craig Groeschel, the founder and senior pastor of Life.Church. The Global Leadership Summit which began as a project of Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois, and its founding pastor, Bill Hybels, over 25 years ago was held this week without Hybels. For several years, the GLS has been now produced by the Willow Creek Association, a spin-off organization and a loose network of churches but Hybels has been its driving force. Attended by thousands at the church facility in South Barrington and broadcast to thousands more at satellite locations, the annual meeting brings together not only evangelical leaders but outstanding speakers from business, charitable organizations, politics, and business.  For the first time, Hybels did not appear due to allegations of sexual impropriety brought against him over the past year by former employees, staff members, and business associates.  He has already left the church and resigned from the board of the association.