Pilgrims' Home

The question of being called, gifted, and located invited me to a place of revival. The wise-man’s question forced me to remember by what authority I have to lead – Trust. God, who calls and places, is the One of great trust and by whom I and the congregation have life. I am coming to the point that TRUST from the congregation is our grounding. Please hear me clearly, pastors do not operate primarily from the congregation’s trust in the pastor, but their trust in God and God’s faithfulness. This trust in God is strong enough that it is shared, even imparted, onto us, the pastors. This is no small gift or impartation. Congregations trust pastors as gift. In the same way, trust from God is also on the congregation. This is the economy for which the pastor can stay engaged and empowered. The pastor believes that the church is the people of God, worthy to be trusted. (I might be on thin ground for some of my colleagues). I have been long troubled by trust , as it continues the am...

I have been engaged in several conversations recently about pastoral identity and practice, including use of power, definitions of leadership, and the freedom of the vocation, namely through the schedule. Brooks Holifield quotes it best, “ministers will apparently have to live with a higher degree of tension and ambiguity as a normal way of life” (In God’s Ambassadors, 311). I think most of us, pastors, do feel ambiguity. I wonder, however, if ambiguity is what we sense, because we cannot recognize the capaciousness of the pastoral vocation as a gift of trust. I wonder if churches, by and large, operate out of incredible trust of their pastors, which is uncertain, and even, unsettling for the pastoral soul. This is good news. I think trust is the contents of all we (pastors) have, and this scares us (me). In response, we try to force the vocation into a performance-orientation, so we attend every meeting, keep full calendars, assist in making copies, managing budgets, overseeing m...