Lenten Journal: Ministers as Spiritual Guides

“Those who seek to save their jobs will lose their jobs. Those who lose their jobs will find them”

Over the past couple of days I have been in dialogue with others about professional ministry and compensation, specifically salaries. I get very uncomfortable when it comes to talking about money and how much one should or should not get paid. I am fortunate that I make a very good living at what I do; while others are not so fortunate.

Two things irk me about the conversation: 1) The expectation that we should get paid a certain amount even if it puts a strain on a church budget and if they won't strain their budget you leave. 2) The expectation among ministers that we are validated by our congregation through the exchange of money.

I sincerely believe both are poor expectations of the minister. I have seen ministers make ungodly amounts of money while their congregation makes very little. I have seen ministers make so little they qualified for food stamps and struggled to make ends meet. I understand the issue of compensation but I struggle with the expectation of validation through salaries. I am more inclined to accept the call to a church who pays me little yet recognizes when I am overworked, exhausted, and worn out and sets aside adequate time for recovery through vacation and sabbaticals, than I am to accept the call to a church who pays me well but does not recognize the need for self care, saying, “Well, we pay you very well for your time.”

The discussion of money also leads to the negative effect it could have on ministry and the main purpose of my post.

Ministers have a unique calling in many ways. We are called to serve God, the church, our communities, and our families. We are paid to serve others through certain activities: preaching, visitation, prayer services, youth gatherings, retreats, or camps. Yet, in the unique calling, I wrestle constantly with the prophetic voice of my ministry and the salary attached to the strings that control my arms and body. The salary takes a calling and turns it into a profession.

The argument of salary leads to the negative question of who do we really work for. The natural and first response from both parishioner and minister would be God. We work for God so we have the right to use our prophetic voice. I believe that is partially true but a prophet was never employed by the church. In order to be such a voice, they had to be free of the control of the church in order to fully prophesy. Elijah and Elisha were not employed by First Israel Church.

Such thought has often led me to ask, “Are we going to see a change in professional ministry?” That question relates to the statement above, “Those who seek to save their jobs will lose their jobs. Those who lose their jobs will find them.” Before yesterday, my response was the same, I do believe we will eventually see a change in professional ministry with the possibility of ministers moving towards a bi-vocational or volunteer ministry. After yesterday, my response has change.

While I do believe there will come a time when ministers in order to fully live out the gospel will need a second job that pays for the mortgage and bills and food, and only work part time in a local church setting. I believe that time doesn't have to come. If ministers begin to see themselves not employed by God or the church, rather see themselves as the paid spiritual guide I think we may see a better shift in church ministry.

The spiritual guide is one who sees himself/herself as something more than a pastor or minister. They see themselves as ones who walk along side their congregation. They marry them, they bury them, they preach honestly to them, they live in faithful community with them, they flow with them through the ebbs and tides of this wild life while gently pushing them on the things that make them uncomfortable, to challenge gently with love. The spiritual guide recognizes when the congregation has swum out too far in the seas of faith and become frighten. They recognize the fear and instead of violently pushing them or allowing them to drown, they allow for them to safely swim back to shallow waters but continues with those who wish to keep swimming, constantly returning to see if any more wish to swim further out.

Ministers as spiritual guides is not a new thought. In fact, it was a required class at BTSR; however, it was not explored at this level. It was used as a time of personal reflection/prayer (good) and a time of learning polities for job security (bad). Ministers as spiritual guides, for me, is a freeing way to see my profession. Better yet, through the lens of a spiritual guide I am free not to see it as a profession. I am free to see it as a calling. I am free to be reminded of my ordination and the challenge set before me as a minister set apart and called by God to serve God's people. The salary then becomes neither a reward, expectation, or a necessity; it becomes a blessing, a gift. It becomes a gracious gift from a gracious people who I have the honor to serve.