Barnabas File

For each person in the ministry, there was a point where she or he received a sense of calling.     God worked with each of us in a unique way in calling.     Perhaps it was a friend or mentor who challenged you to consider the possibility of Christian service. Maybe it was a sermon or Bible study on a particular verse of scripture that caught your imagination.     It may have come because of a life-changing event.    Whatever the precipitating experience, you started down that path of Christian ministry.   During the past two years, some of us may have questioned that calling.  Perhaps you have even said, “This is not what I signed up for.”  The sense of calling may have become less clear, motivating, or empowering.   Often coaches help clients define their vision for the future, their calling.  This is true for both laity and clergy.  In these days, however, a coach may help someone not to discov...

As I was planning to write this blog, I came across a Facebook post from a person whose career I have followed for a couple of decades.  This is a guy that I really admire.  He posted a long narrative on his FB page that said that he is no longer pursuing the “big dream” but has decided that there is a better way to do life.  He has pulled his resume decided to concentrate on a trade where he can work with his hands, something that gives him great satisfaction.   A key ingredient in this decision was his experience during the COVID crisis. He thought that eventually the financial need would cause him to get serious about finding a job and get back to the expectations that others had for him. Well, it’s not happening that way.   There are many people out there who have experienced an alternate reality during the pandemic, and it has changed their perspective on life.  Some call this “the Great Resignation” as many choose to give up their ...

Early in the history of the Christian church, believers were divided into two groups--the clergy and the laity.  Clergy were those called to a full-time Christian vocation.  Laity were the men and women who pursued secular vocations and supported the ministry of the clergy. Of course, these categories were not always hard and fast.  The Baptist movement in frontier America prospered through people who pursued a secular job (like farming) during the week and preached on Sundays. Denominations have spent significant energy in differentiating between clergy and laity, and investing significant resources in the training of the former.  With declining resources and membership, however, judicatories are adopting flexible models of ministry that take advantage of the gifts of both biprofessional and lay leaders.  This certainly makes sense as many lay church members have not only spiritual gifts to serve but educational and professional skills as well. At ...

Despite the vast changes in work and society, we continue to ask children, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”   We plant in children at an early age that their work, their job, will be an important part of their identity.   Perhaps we would serve them better if we asked the question, “What will you become?” There seems to be renewed interest among Baptist Christians in the concepts of vocation and calling.  The words are used in different ways in various contexts.  Although we tend to think about only those who work with the sacred as having a “calling” and those who work in the secular world as having a “vocation,” this is not true in all Christian traditions and is probably poor theology. Whether we see what we do as a vocation or a calling, they are intertwined.  The message is the same:  We serve God by responding to the prompting of God to do that for which we are best equipped. Our vocation or calling should be an expression of what...

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 schoo...

Leslie Newbigin, Christian missiologist, was ahead of the curve when he wrote in 1986 about the need for “a theology that has been wrought out at the coal face, at the place where faith wrestles at personal cost with the hard issues of public life.”  In this section of Foolishness to the Greeks , Newbigin calls for the church to encourage and equip the laity who are on mission in the world seven days a week—in the office, the coal mine, the classroom, the shop. In a recent article entitled “The Other 100,000 Hours,” Chris R. Armstrong argues that the church has not only failed to tackle this opportunity but has often “marginalized itself from the world of work.”  Armstrong believes that pastors rarely address the world that parishioners encounter when they go to work and often either misunderstand or are ignorant of the workplace.  Clergy leaders are much more concerned about what happens within the walls of the church than in the workplaces outside the church. ...

In The Legend of the Merchant and the Monk , writer Terry Felber suggests twelve keys to successful living that can guide a Christian in his or her personal, business and family life.  Setting his parable in 15 th century Italy, Felber uses Antonio, a successful Venetian merchant, as the spokesperson who communicates these principles to his grandson. The historical approach is interesting and provides a good setting to discuss the complementary roles of the secular and the sacred in society.  Antonio is a man of faith but he struggles to know the best way to use the resources that God has placed in his hands. He is helped along the way by Allesio, a merchant who becomes his mentor. The principles themselves deal with all areas of a person’s life.  They encourage one to make the most of one’s gifts and to be a good steward of the blessings that result.  Although they are common sense principles, Felber presents them in such a way that they seem fresh and c...

Once upon a time a person found a job (or position, if you wish) in a particular company and stayed in that system (hopefully with some promotions) for forty plus years then retired.   I think it is pretty evident that is no longer the reality in which we live.   Most people change not only their jobs but their careers several times in their lifespan, and the frequency of this is increasing. The number of career changes one can expect is unclear and some of this is based on definitions but the figures generally range from three andseven times in one’s lifespan .  By my personal estimate, I have had five careers—U.S. Army officer, campus minister (in three locations), denominational administrator (in two different settings), educator, and life coach.  Granted that I would consider most of these under the overall theme of Christian ministry, the responsibilities, preparation, knowledge, and skills for each is different enough to classify each of these as diffe...

When I was a young seminary student just out of the military, I was befriended by my next door neighbor in seminary housing.   He was in his early fifties with grown children.   After serving as a lay leader in churches for a number of years, he had been ordained to the ministry, called to a small church in east Texas, and packed up his wife and moved to Fort Worth to attend seminary.   His experience and common sense enriched my life as I embarked on ministry as a life’s work. I thought of my friend when Steve Guinn at Central Baptist Theological Seminary recently shared an article entitled “Holy Enrollers: Why Boomers are Going to Divinity School.”   The author cites a report from the Association of Theological Schools that the number of students age 50 or older had grown from 12 percent in 1995 to 20 percent in 2009 (the last year for which data is available).   This certainly confirms the experience I have had with students both at the Central center ...

One of the legendary practitioners of Celtic Christianity I have encountered in my class with the Oates Institute is St. Brigid of Kildare .   An early leader of the church in Ireland, much of her history is based on hagiography (writing that testifies to the saintly lives and actions of its subjects) and her accomplishments have been embellished by bringing into some of the attributes of the pagan goddess with that name.   Beneath all of that, however, is the story of a strong and intelligent woman who ranks beside St. Patrick as a symbol of Irish culture and faithfulness (and, unlike Patrick, she was born there).   She was an abbess in the fifth century C.E. who performed some of the functions of a bishop, the founder of several abbeys in Ireland, a patron of the arts, and a person of common sense and wisdom. As the influence of the Roman church became preeminent in Ireland over the following centuries, the role of women in such leadership roles was no longer tol...

How do you measure success?  For many, it is a nice house, functional car(s), and a well-stocked refrigerator and pantry.  Just to have these things makes us richer than the majority of people in the world.  Of course, we don’t stop there.  We would like our share of electronics, opportunities to eat out on a regular basis, a few “toys” (name your favorite), and a variety of entertainment options.  If we are a bit more introspective, we will share our desire for personal health, good family or friend relationships, a challenging vocation, and a growing relationship with God. If I asked you to prepare a list of things that make one successful, you would pretty quickly come up some of the things I have already noted.  In doing this exercise, we describe our preferred reality, the type of life we work to create despite economic downturns, sickness, catastrophes, and relocations.  There is nothing inherently wrong with this, but this perception of r...

What’s your calling?   I think that more Christians are becoming aware that they have a calling even if they are not clergy.   The observation that “our baptism is our ordination to ministry” has taken on new meaning for many people in the pew as they have rediscovered the concept of “vocation” as a personal calling from God. As individuals discover their calling or vocation, they are also becoming aware that not every person fulfills his or her calling within the faith community.   In Growing an Engaged Church, Albert Winseman points out that “there are far more opportunities to discover one’s calling outside the walls of the congregation or parish.”   I think what he is saying that our calling does not necessarily have to be in a traditional place of service within the congregation. Winseman suggests that there are three questions that spiritual leaders need to ask to help believers turn their dreams or inclinations into callings. What are your tale...