Rostered Ministers - Invite - Develop - Support - Renegotiate Role - Retain
+Bishop Jon V. Anderson
As the supply of trained ministers, deacons and pastors grows more challenging, we have to become better at a number of moves at once.
(If you read last week's article, jump to the word Support below.)
Invite - We need to reach out to youth, people who have shown gifts for ministry, people who have experience in teaching or other forms of work that require strong communication skills to invite people to consider whether or not they have a call to serve in ordained ministry. We have been dependent on other synods to grow our rostered ministers; we need to continue to welcome pastors from other places but up our game at inviting people in our communities, families and congregations. Is God calling you to serve in this way? How is God calling you to build up God's Church and grow deeper and wider as a minister in your baptism?
Develop - One of our synod's strengths is its commitment to the development of the people who serve as ministers in our midst. Through the love and care of congregations, ministers develop their gifts. Our synod has also gathered resources through our Embrace God's Mission + Equip God's People Funding Initiative, the grants we have received from the Lilly Endowment like our Gifts of Grace: Toward Financial Wellbeing, and our partnership in the Thriving in Ministry project with Gustavus Adolphus and the Southeaster Minnesota Synod to help our rostered ministers pray and travel on our Continuous Growth Pathways project.
Support - I love to hear stories of how congregations and nearby ministers support one another across the geography of our synod. As our supply of ministers grows more tight, you will want to invest in the lives of your ministers by encouraging and supporting them. If your congregation is laboring to reach guidelines for financial support remember that there are lots of ways you can offer support. We are seeing congregations...
...deepen their commitment to invite people to be generous in supporting their congregation's ministry,
...identify new partners to support their rostered leaders' compensation,
...compensate with more vacation,
...create space for their pastor to explore bivocational work that will enable their service in a local mission field.
...develop the gifts of lay people to engage in ministry both supporting their rostered leader and also encouraging the develop the next generation of leaders.
Congregations and individuals need to remember the power of encouragement and gifts that let their rostered minister know they are appreciated. Preparing people for the future is also encouraging. Visit
elca.org/rmappreciation for resources.
Renegotiate Roles - Pastors and congregations need to work on renegotiating their roles to make sure that pastors are spending their time on the core work of growing gracious disciples and sending them out to do ministry as they live out the callings of their baptism. We need to shift from a spectator approach to doing church where people gather to provide resources to afford a pastor, towards a participatory approach where the role of the pastor or deacon is to serve as a player coach, who helps all the baptized grow deeper in faith, identify their gifts, reach out in ministry in their daily life, and return to their congregation to gather around word and sacrament.
Especially when there is a pastoral transition, we need to renegotiate the role of a pastor or deacon. Each minister has their own gifts and passions. It is important that congregations are curious about learning their new pastor's gifts, passions and experiences. It is also important for new ministers to be curious about the history of the congregation and parish, not to be stuck in what was but so that decisions are made with awareness as a new relationship is born.
Renegotiating roles can improve the relationship, which makes it last longer as well.
Retain - Longer pastorates are more likely to show numerical growth than a series of short blocks of service. If you have not had a conversation about how you might work to retain your gifted leaders and staff (paid and those who are volunteers) I would encourage it.
Let me know some of your best ideas about how to let your leaders and staff know they are treasured and appreciated and how they are encouraged to keep growing deeper in Christ and also in their ministry.
Thanks for your ministry. Thanks for all you do to serve the gospel in your ministry as a baptized child of God.
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