A NEW CONTEXT IN MINISTRY - Christianity Today

In 1944 my father began pastoring in eastern Washington State. A generation of soldiers from World War II soon returned to build careers and families in the optimism of victory, American pride, and unprecedented prosperity. Government was a friend, nuclear families were the norm, sexual roles were clear, and God played a role in society. Cultural solidarity marked those post-war years and Dad’s pastoral ministry.

In 1970 I began pastoring in eastern Washington State. The shaping factors of my life and ministry, however, were vastly different from Dad’s, though we served in the same denomination and only a few miles apart.

When I began ministry, the Vietnam war was winding down. That conflict and the political turmoil it spawned dramatically marked my generation. Trust in the government and American values lost ground to skepticism if not hostility. We were the richest generation in history and had inherited the most powerful nation on earth-and we didn’t like it. Assassinations, corruption, family breakdown, and cultural malaise fueled cynicism and despair.

Ministers and churches today are affected by the continually changing culture. Dad and I are a case in point. As Lyle Schaller puts it in a recent book title, It’s a Different World. And it requires a different pastor.

Here are just a few of the changes that require a changed ministry.

The pastoral role

Dad and his peers in the ministry operated out of clearly defined roles. They preached, visited, and counseled. That was their job. They didn’t worry about training lay people to do those things.

Pastors expected and received respect for the office of pastor. I don’t recall any church member calling my dad anything but “Pastor Fisher.” He always wore a coat and tie. In fact, his seminary required coats and ties in class as preparation for ministry.

The minister was a man of letters, somewhat aloof and authoritarian. Pastoring was hierarchical. Today, the model is relational. Pastors are judged on their abilities to love and bring out the best in others.

In Dad’s day, the ministry came first. As children, we were told openly and without apology that we came second to the church, which, after all, was God’s work. The pay was poor. Though Dad’s church was large, he was never paid much, and he never asked for more.

Preaching has also changed significantly. Dad’s preaching style could be described as expository, passionate, and didactic. Pastors were taught not to talk about themselves. Today’s congregations prefer a relational, conversational style which includes self-disclosure and emphasizes application.

The changing challenge

As we enter the 1990s, the substance of ministry may be the same, but the style is different. Contemporary America is diverse, secular, and increasingly urban. Ours is a world of single parents and working women. Cultural morality is neither uniform nor particularly Christian.

Today’s churchgoers are consumers whose brand loyalty is nearly extinct. American car makers discovered that, and so has the church. Dad could count on denominational and theological loyalties to attract church members. I can’t. People today cross denominational lines freely. They shop for the best church deal, particularly if they have children.

A Catholic priest recently told me that a young couple in his parish explained they were transferring to a nearby Baptist church because of its excellent children’s ministry. But, they told the priest, they would be back in five years. Their children would be out of the children’s department then, and they would resume being Catholics.

People today value relationships. The decline of the Sunday evening service is, in part, the result of young adults preferring family or small groups to another public service. Small-group ministry is booming in many churches because modern young adults crave intimacy.

While young adults are returning to church in large numbers, it is seldom to the church of their youth. They are unfamiliar with congregational traditions and etiquette. Furthermore, singles (and “re-singles”) represent the majority of adults in my church. Such special needs require special ministries.

Today, broken people occupy the pews. Sometimes I am astounded by the depth of pain and hopelessness confronting them-suicides, addictions, domestic violence. Sermons on the painful issues of life get more response than any other. We deal with issues publicly that Dad dealt with only privately, if at all.

Churches feel compelled to address the special needs of people in our culture. Specialization and multiple staffs are more and more the norm. Worship styles vary dramatically as the TV generation begins to demand “high-impact” services. One of the largest Lutheran churches in America offers four distinct kinds of worship each Sunday; that would have been inconceivable a generation ago.

The new managerial mindset

My era is different than Dad’s in another significant respect: today, managerial language dominates the ministry. Dad’s church is large but has only one assistant, a generalist.

Strategic planning has never been a major part of Dad’s ministry. It is central to mine. More complex ministry demands budgeting resources, people, and time-in short, planning. Many lay leaders are impatient with pastors who waste such resources by managing ineffectively.

Pragmatism is on the rise. Many young adults are far more interested in whether and how the faith works than theological formulations. In my experience, they accept the theology without a lot of argument and want to get on with “real life.” Dad’s world was intensely doctrinal; his ministry was marked by theological precision. I deeply respect such precision, but my ministry focuses on developing an overall church program that helps people live the Christian life.

Cultural exegesis

Dad and I both were equipped in seminary to exegete Scripture and think theologically. Indeed, his education was more demanding than mine. But my encounter with culture is more intense than his. In my ministry, I have to do cultural exegesis in order to survive.

I recall vividly the moment of that discovery. I was a suburbanite educated in a seminary with suburban values. My first church was in rural America. I desperately tried to figure out that town and church. What motivated them? What interested them? Their world was different from anything I knew. I had to learn a new culture, speak a new language, and live in a new way. My seminary education was amended, in fact, radically altered, in a few short months.

Dad began his ministry a few miles from where he grew up and in a world he understood instinctively. He fit in. I didn’t.

A contemporary conflict

Unrest about the role of women is another characteristic of today. In Dad’s world it was not an issue. In mine it’s a front-burner issue.

One group of today’s women have found a role in the marketplace-and they’re climbing the career ladder. Naturally, they demand to be treated as peers in the church. Another group of women choose to stay home with their children. They’re also sensitive about their status. At times these two groups feel resentful toward each other, each suspecting the other looks down on them.

Whatever we decide about the role of women in church ministry will be painful to some group.

In preparation for Mother’s Day one year, I interviewed six women. They represented a wide spectrum of female experience. I asked them what they thought of Mother’s Day. Five of the six said Mother’s Day was one of the most painful days of the year. A woman with small children said, “I’m tired. I feel ugly. I know this is what I was made for, but . . . there’s never a moment’s rest.” One with adolescent children said, “I’m not needed. I feel rejected, and I feel guilty about it.” Several don’t come to church on Mother’s Day.

It was a different Mother’s Day sermon! I tapped into a world of pain, pain we were not as aware of a generation ago.

Yes, we inhabit a different world, complex and challenging in a unique way. If the world is in flux, so is pastoral ministry.

We practitioners are defining ministry as never before, and our work has but begun.

-David C. Fisher

Park Street Church

Boston, Massachusetts