Only You Can Be the Best Minister That You Can Be
Rev. Debra Griffis-Woodberry, Pinnacle Associates
There are hundreds of books and articles offering advice about how to be an effective minister. They suggest things to do and not to do. While some suggestions may be helpful; the deepest truth is that only you can be the best minister that you can be.
It is important for a minister to recognize her or his talents, spiritual gifts, nuance of call, unique personality traits, strengths and limitations. Usually in the early formative days of seminary or some other course of preparation, the important work of prayer and discernment is done around self-identity. Most ministers have a grasp of personal identity and know how they best can do the work of ministry.
Most congregations would say that they value authenticity. Yet there are many ways in which the minister’s expression of authenticity is challenged. It is difficult to express one’s true self with confidence when people are expecting something else.
Often, we hear “you don’t look like a minister.” This is especially true for women. It is almost 2020 and still people hold that the predominant expected look of a minister is a white male wearing a neck tie. Tee shirts are available that read “I am what a Minister looks like.”
Ministers also hear “you don’t act like a minister.” Actually, we can be passionate about sports, listen to music besides Christian music, like to hunt and fish, and sometimes shop late at night at Walmart. I like to swim. Once I was at a pool swimming laps when a church family came in. We exchanged greetings and as I was swimming away, I heard the 6-year-old say, “I didn’t know that preachers can swim.”
The temptation is to attempt to look and act like what others think a minister should be and do. It is energy draining to try to be someone we are not. Really it is wasted energy.
Another challenge to authenticity is dealing with the “ghost” of a former pastor. If he or she was effective and loved, there will be people who will hold on to the good memories of the past with expectations for the current new minister to be the same. On the other hand, if the former pastor was ineffective, the next pastor has to prove effectiveness. If the former pastor broke trust in any way, the current pastor has to work hard to gain the trust of the congregation.
The nature of our work as ministers is incarnational. We are most effective when we live and work from the center of how God creates, gifts, and calls us.
I bought a new pair of walking shoes. By my sense of fashion, they are not pretty! However, they are the right shoes for my feet. The athletic shoe industry is lucrative because we have so many different needs for shoes. There are shoes for running, basketball, walking, tennis, soccer. There are shoes for high arches and low arches, for narrow and wide feet. The right shoe makes a huge difference. The salesperson spent a lot of time helping me find the right shoe for me.
Paul says in the familiar “armor of God” speech to the Ephesus church, “As for shoes for your feet put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace” (Ephesians 6:15)
Have courage, pray and remember only you can be the best minister that you can be.