Chapter 6: Remember: You Don't Know Anything
Learning and Re-Learning How to Learn
I had accrued 8 years of ministry and educational experience across various churches,
denominations and in varying capacities before landing at my current church 7 years
ago. Now, after 15 years of experience, one thing I am absolutely sure of, is that there is
so much more to learn.
There is freedom in the fact that no one has it completely ‘figured out’. Because our
ministry context is perpetually changing, our approach to ministry is in a constant state
of evaluation and adaptation. Our churches and ministries are made up of organisms
(people) - which makes our organizations living, moving, breathing, changing, adapting
organisms as well.
In fact, one of Jesus’ most popular metaphors for the Church in scripture is a ‘Body’.
It is not static. It is alive.
I often meet people who attended a particular school or seminary and they may have
years of theoretical ministry praxis and ideals - but they have little actual world
experience. The ones that will both survive and thrive are those willing to humble
themselves and acknowledge that there are many ‘right’ ways to do ministry. Whereas
those who believe that they already have it figured out - will probably and unfortunately
carry a snobby chip on their shoulder for the rest of their unfulfilling and pathetic
ministry career.
Then there are transplant ministers from other churches who have a long history of a
particular way of doing ministry and may even be nostalgic about or longing to recreate
the way things were ‘back then’. These folks may forget the simple fact that they have
been given a new context. It is no longer ‘then’ and ‘there’, it is ‘here’ and ‘now’. They
should be careful to Invest the time necessary (be it months or years) to know their
context before applying new methods to it - not neglecting the possibility that there may
be a new Best Way to do it.
The key to success? Be teachable.
I went to hear Andy Stanley speak at a conference recently. During the Q & A time
following one of his sessions, a young associate pastor explained that he and his lead
pastor had been having differing opinions about how ministry should be done at their
church and was asking how he should deal with the issue. Andy’s response? ‘If you’re
under 30 - submit and learn’. I love that! And it’s not just for the young (although the
young do tend to be more compulsive) - and that wasn’t the point of Andy’s response
anyway. The point is for us to always be teachable. My lead pastor is 20 years older than
me, has a Doctorate of Divinity and has studied and probably written more theology
than my feeble little mind will comprehend in my lifetime. Some of the most humbling
times I’ve experienced in ministry is when I suggest a new idea or perspective in a
meeting to which he responds, “I haven’t thought about it in that way before - but I like
it”. He is open to learning from any source - even an artsy punk kid.
Be teachable. Learn from those who are younger than you. Learn from those who are
older than you. May humility be your light and the Holy Spirit your guide.