When I get the United Church Observer from month to month I read and regularly think I should blog about its content. I do occasionally, but not often enough. This month the cover article is The Pulpit and the Pew and it is actually several articles on the state of ministry in our denomination, including the results of surveys with people who attend worship and are involved in congregational life.http://www.ucobserver.org/faith/2010/07/survey_pulpit_pew/
I wasn't really surprised by anything I read but it was good to peruse the articles and scan the survey results. I did notice that the perceptions of lay people don't always match up with those of clergy. Lay people still want someone who cares enough to visit, preaches well and is educated to do the work of ministry. These are all more than reasonable expectations from my perspective.
I wish there was more on expectations about leadership into the future from clergy. The survey says that lay folk want ministers to be educated for their roles. I agree. But what about training to be leaders and to facilitate the tough transitions facing our denomination today?
Click on the image above and check out the articles on line. Any comments, criticisms, insights?
3 comments:
The importance of visiting caught my attention in this survey. It's funny, I think so many folks have no idea how much visiting (good) ministers do and feel ministers spend all week preparing for the next Sunday's service.
The future planning leadership deficiency is a definite concern. I had assumed early on in my adult involvement that there would be a national strategic planning committee as national businesses employ to strategize future growth and decline but quickly learned churches were pretty much left to their own devices.
Perhaps we do have to think of ourselves as more like a business on some levels?
This is a quieter time of the year, but when I look in my day book I see that I have visited a dozen people, including those in hospital. In addition there have been a number of meeting, a funeral, and preparation for two worship services.
Many ministers admit that they spend time reacting to pastoral situations, rather than being proactive, and our membership is aging.
There has been much talk amongst my colleagues about the lack of denominational strategy to support local congregations and presbyteries. Your point is well taken. Over the years I have suggested to people that the church is an organism, not a business, but there is no reason we can't be business-like!
Thanks David for the link. I have not been home yet to see the Observer.
Very interesting results from the survey. I do agree with you on training for leadership into the the future. I know congregations feel preaching and pastoral care are priorities, but I also feel that ministers need to be trained to lead congregations into the future.
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