Six months down...

I have now completed six months of pastoral care for the Butler Church of the Nazarene. I am often asked in some way to quantify what has happened in that time. I am not sure that I can. I am not sure that I want to. Each year, pastors in the Nazarene Church (as in other denominational systems) are asked to complete year end reports and submit them to their district leadership as an index of what has happened in the life of that church. Most of these reports deal with attendance numbers, financial information, etc...Numbers that in truth do not even come close to describing what has gone on that church spiritually for the past year. As a matter of fact, the numbers that are supposed to tell the tale (membership and baptism) fail to scratch the surface of the work that goes on in each parish.

I sit here tonight, thinking about the past half year and wondering how I would describe spiritually this time frame. The truth is that I am not going to try. Many pastors I know think of their time spent in ministry in terms of accomplishments. They speak about achievements such as buildings built, financial increase, membership increase, and what not. I fear that we miss out on the real work of the spiritual life that we have an opportunity to participate in each and every day when we only focus on the accomplishment rather than the time invested. These yearly reports do not give us opportunity to delinate the time spent with persons battling crippling addictions, asking difficult spiritual questions so as to understand one more aspect of the mystery, standing with a brother in Christ as he stands over a loved one in a hospital bed wondering if they can hear his words, and speaking words of hope to persons who simply want a break in life. These are the daily tasks of ministry that have no sense of accomplishment, no achievement, no finality. These are the moments that fill the time spent with a community of faith that cannot be quantified. I wander how we can report that?

I reject the notion that my ministry can be quantified. I reject the notion that the time invested in the lives of others can be listed on a piece of paper in terms of finances, attendance and awards. I am blessed to serve the servants of Christ in Butler, MO. I live life with them, I preach to them, I care for them, I share my family with them, and I prayerfully act as a guide to them. I am not bitter at the task of reporting. I am simply wanting to speak into the void a word of confident assurance that my time is well spent. Maybe my reports will somehow reflect this truth as well. We shall see. In the mean time I will simply share my life, my family and my love with the community that I believe God has led me to. I will continue to grow here personally and spiritually and prayerfully bring others along with me. In any case, I still have the cutest kids in the world. God bless.