Making the ALL in all-member ministry real - Part the second

Are you sitting comfortably? Good - then we'll begin:

Once upon a time in a church not that far from where I sit there was a minister who was very sad for they were ALWAYS working - the problem being that there was no one to do the jobs and so EVERYTHING fell to them. Well, that was What the minister told me anyway!

Then, one day, I happened to bump into one of the members of the congregation of that selfsame church who told me a very different story! They told me of the situation in their church and from where they were standing it seemed that the Minister was doing everything letting nobody have a go at anything. The church member spoke of how even the most simple of jobs were kept close to the minister's chest rather than be distributed or shared among the willing of the parish (and there were apparently some willing people). 'People have just got fed up and stopped offering now,'  they said, 'After all what's the point of fighting?'

I was really glad to have met the parishioner because the ministers position as stated seemed to honest and true and left me feeling quite sorry for them. There was I thinking what a hard done by person they were and how horrible the church members were and if only they would get behind them and then the words of proverbs 18.17 struck home:

'one person's story sounds believable until you hear the story from the other side!

(remember this - it makes all of life function better)

As I began to dig deeper I found the ministers experiences were full of people who had been trained and released and failed. There were people who had offered but never turned up when the need was present. Others still had come talking of how they wanted to be doing and yet when the time came to be doing always had a reason for their absence.  The tale of woe continued with accounts of those who did do stuff doing it their own way and 'for themselves' (a rather subjective and mind-reading assessment in my book) and delivering whatever they did poorly - all  of which meant that the minister had to redo, make do, or perform badly in the services and functions of the church.

So the bottom line was that in the end the Minister stopped offering and stopped asking and just 'got on with it'  and, as if supporting the Minister, the congregation stopped offering and stopped asking and merely, like the Minister, complained to whoever would listen to their sad and sorry tale.

All member ministry is like being in a marriage - it's all about communication, understanding and lot of' give and take'.  Sometimes the lines of communication are confused, perhaps because it's a developing relationship,  and sometimes the confusion comes by assuming you know the need or the person and acting, with the best intentions, wrongly.

All member ministry works best when the person with the need states it clearly to those who might be able to meet that need. The hearer, in turn, hearing that need should go off have have a think, pray, and consider whether they are the person to do what is needed. Having decided that the answer is either 'yes' or' no' (for there is no place for' maybe') then the volunteer and the person with the need, assuming they know how to resolve it themselves*, get together and the relationship and the resolution to the problem is formed and enacted.

Simple innit?

Well that's what they said they wanted on the cake!

* One of the great problems in Church is the fact that whilst being aware of the need the leader might not possess the skills or abilities to resolve it and yet they still try to teach what they cannot do to someone who will never do it well and thus begins a vicious cycle that leads to doom, gloom and destruction. This is what hell on earth is made from :-)

Be careful how you answer critical questions!

Blues Sky Thought: Office Rules

Many years ago I was given this wonderful piece of advice about the way that people worked in the organisation. It didn't take long to realise that my mentor had given me a wonderful analysis of the innermost workings of that organisation.

Enjoy:

How glad I am to have left that world

It ain't what you say . . .

It's the way that they hear it!

Last week, I had an opportunity to feel quite pleased with myself as one of the people who'd heard me preach on active remembrance in the Eucharist told me how much they'd learn and the difference that  'amniocentesis' had made to their communion experience!

I can honestly say that I have never, not once, mentioned the testing of amniotic fluids in conjunction with the Eucharist but realised that what they meant was 'anamnesis'.

One of the roles of the minister, especially those who wish to engage theologically at personal and congregational levels, is to take the difficult things and make them simple; take the simple things and make them commonplace and everyday realities. The problem is that we all too often simplify concepts and issues, scattering analogies and naff metaphors as we go, and leave our people with a weak and often impotent God and a flawed and failing Christianity,

God has three leaves and is green, or Mother, Wife and Daughter; the route to modalism or tritheistic stuff is now put on the spiritual GPS and and coherent understanding of the Trinity is lost (of course they could read 'The Shack I guess!). We struggle with the Vigin Birth and so we have adoptionism, Arianism or a 'normal' bloke who, 'Being filled with the Holy Spirit, is enable to be God because God resides in Him and make Him part of God!' (and I have heard that sermon on more than one occasion during my Christian life!

When I used to work with engineering apprentices,we had a large poster on the wall of one of the workshops which proclaimed:

“What I hear, I forget; 

What I see, I remember; 

What I do, I understand.”

And this was true for the apprentices (I was one, I know!) and was confirmed by the fact that out first attempts at thing often went awry but got better the more we did, and understood, the what, why and how; and is true for congregations too. The problem is this:

Many of us are not exposed to the Bible outside of the Sunday readings and sermon slot.


Many of us never get to discuss what the Bible says in an active way.

Many of us want to 'do' what the Bible says but have 'stuff' (work, hobbies, family, etc.) that get in the way and either prevent us from doing or water it down.

Many of us have a go but don't have the watchful, and corrective, eye and hand with us and so, if ut goes even a little wrong, we find ourselves withdrawing to a place of safety (ie. not doing anything or keeping to what we know we can do)!

Seems that even when we think we've said it well we find that later the people haven't perhaps heard it as well as we thought. There's more to preaching than:

Tell them what you're going to tell them

Tell them

Tell them what you've told them

We also need to show them (where possible) and then get them to explain, make, or do too!

Amniocentisis

Mind you, Parthenongenesis is the first book of the Bible that was found in the Parthenon, isn't it?

A 'Dear Vicar'

I have had a lovely email regarding 2011 and the VtV blog and so I thought I'd post it here (with permission gained and anonymity maintained as promised). So here goes:

"Dear Vicar,

I thought I would write and pose some questions and offer some comments regarding your blog which I find myself reading on a fairly regular basis these day. My questions are:

Is most of the material you post yours? I ask this because you post poetry and images which I am unable to find elsewhere and wonder if this means that it has originated with you or perhaps that you are good at concealing sources.

When you write do you do so to impress people, become a source for others or write for yourself? I ask this because at time it appears that I am nestling inside your mind rather that watching you on the big screen (something I rather like if I am honest in my own assessment).

Do you mean it when you claim to be 'an average Church of England priest'? It appears to me that you are very different from the majority of Church of England priests and your ability to engage with often quite complex thinking and produce something simple is either a gift or the result of more, or perhaps different, education from many of your colleagues.

Additional comments are that you appear to be very frustrated by many above you and even more alongside you. It would seem from the way that you write that you are very much a polymath in that you have myriad strands to your ministry and your experience both prior to ordination and since appears to indicate great width and almost multiple-lived lives.

I hope you do not think this communication offensive or too pressing but I am confused as you write as if you don't want to be quoted, as so many do, or seen to be an authority, the last word' or from a place of fame (sought or gained). You don't quote yourself like so many with their tiresome 'best of nnnn' or a 'my greatest blogs' link and do not mention those who have quoted you either. Is this some self-effacing part of your personality or is it intended?

I look forward to hearing your response and wish you and your family a Happy New Year for 2012."

The response is on the way - as for anyone else, I'm always happy to try and explain the weirdness that is me - I just love to Panda to people's needs:

Pax

Communication - then and now

I thought this was an amazing astute (and funny) cartoon: