Hello, !
This morning I want to tell you about why I send a weekly message to you on Monday mornings. In 2018, I founded and continue to lead Three Minute Ministry Mentor (3MMM) because I wanted to put a public face to my research about the practice of ministry. I have been studying ministry, asking that question (above) and related ones for a long time. I've studied
clergywomen, lay leaders, lgbtiqa+ ministers, churches, faith groups, and pastoral imagination for more than twenty years.
I think what I'm studying matters a lot, and I don't want to keep what I learn tied
up in articles or reports that only a few people can read. The people, places, and ideas I pay attention to are all part of an ecology of ministry in the U.S. This ecology includes leading faith communities, congregations, and emerging places of ministry. In the present moment of life on planet Earth, I do not think there is any more important work. Of course, there are all kinds of equally important work, but very little that is more important than leading and caring, envisioning and guiding
from the capacity we call pastoral imagination.
Why do I say this?
Have you read any headlines lately? Dipped into social media? Attended any gathering about faith or politics, social justice or community care? We need leaders with soul. Pastors unafraid of speaking truth and sharing stories of grace and hope. We need people who can listen, be present, pay attention to the spiritual depths
that are at stake in each corner of public and private life.
Let me give you an example from my life this week. Twelve hours after I arrived home last Saturday night, I was in my car heading to care for my
parents in a city three hours from where I live. The Nashville to Knoxville trip was time for me to connect with my daughter (who missed her flight connection) and my husband who was beginning a two-day drive from a thousand miles away. We were all converging on the town where Lynn and I grew up to find out what was happening with my mom. She was in a health crisis, but we needed to see and be present to figure out what to do.
Around us systems everywhere are failing and collapsing, de-humanizing and disappointing. The assisted living facility where she lives, the doctors, nurses, and medical systems that are supposed to give her care, and the wider public health landscape are all under threat.
I feel like knowing where to turn, who to depend on, and what to expect are little more than whistling in the dark.
I'm surrounded by uncertainty, apathy, lack of clarity, and my own internal frustrations
about what to actually do! Without sharing details that are not mine to share, I can guess that my spare description is recognizable to you if you also care for children or parents or other beloveds. Do you recognize the complexity of what I'm talking about? It is not an easy time to find help or support when the health of those you love is in jeopardy!
At the same time, in the past week I've encountered deeply caring people, cheerful souls to assist, kind visitors, even kinder strangers, and revealing medical tests. I've also witnessed a vast array of people living their vocations for medical care, human service, and love of God and neighbor.
This strange and jarring reality that is my life at the moment entails re-narrating my mother's medical needs into a story that others can quickly grasp. I'm good at this, yet I'm also exhausted by sharing it all over and over and over to each new care
provider, on each intake form, and with each professional who only sees their small task or corner of the care ecology.
What does this health crisis have to do with ministry or pastoral
imagination?
I see so many parallels between the vocation of caring for our beloveds - in so many different ways - and the vocation of ministry broadly understood.
The work of ministry is also the work of navigating broken and collapsing, and what Ted Smith calls unraveling systems. We are living in a time of uncertainty, unclarity, and disorganization. We may be going somewhere new and meaningful, but in this moment it all looks to be one giant mess. More than just healthcare is falling apart in a haze of mystification and the potential for real harm. I have the challenging
task of getting my mom (and my parents) what they need and interpreting their lives to the people who should be giving them care. Conversely, I am also interpreting to them our options and helping them embrace each new reality.
Pastoral vocations hold many parallels. Care, witness, grief, risk, and salience are part of each situation. How and where we learn to navigate and lead with the capacity of pastoral imagination has been mostly hidden. So I want to help you see it more clearly in your own experience and in the ministry lives of others.
The stakes of ministry
Seven years
ago, I made a commitment to share more of what I was learning in my research with people who care about the vocation, practice, and spiritual work of ministry. I launched 3MMM to inform and to inspire the practice of ministry. To support you, , as you do this work and also to help those whose vocation it is to support ministers
