The local church is NOT the Catholic Worker...

So here's an on-going tension I've wrestled with for most of my

30+ years of ministry:  balancing the needs of the congregation/ parish with the equally real social issues of the wider community. Over the years I have seen some clergy largely ignore the wider community while others have devoted most of their time to work that only touches their faith communities.  That is, I've seen lots of either/or ministry but precious little social action/compassion work that is well integrated into the life and spirit of the local congregation. And it is my hunch that this imbalance happens for a few reasons:

1)  Some clergy are genuinely frustrated with being a parish minister and would rather be social workers or social activists.  This desire may be organic but is also often the result of sluggish lay leadership that would rather complain and drag their heels than do something life giving.  So, over time, these clergy find themselves taking up duties on more and more community boards and service agencies.  Or else they become participants in hands-on direct services.  Let's face it, we want to feel useful, right?  So if affirmation isn't going to happen in our church, then we'll do what we have to do in order to get the strokes we need.

2) Other clergy are either so competitive with their peers - or else insecure with their own authority - that they give their time and gifts only to the concerns within their own congregations.  In essence, they become chaplains to those who pay their salaries and generally divorce themselves from the social problems surrounding their churches. There are always problems to solve in every church so they become in the words of Stanley Hauerwas "a quivering mass of availability" and run themselves ragged until burn-out devours them.

3) And some clergy get caught in guilt trips that they don't know how to get out of and wind up doing community work as a frustrating obligation.  These souls often end up with a passive-aggressive attitude about their community service that serves no one.  Would that they learn to say 'no" because everyone would be happier.

I note these reactions both because I've been there and done them and because so many friends and colleagues seem to be locked into one or the other approach - with no one being satisfied with any.  About five years ago a seminary professor asked me if I might offer his seniors who were about to graduate some advice about serving God in a local church. I don't think I was very helpful - and would certainly rework my insights if such a request ever came again - but one thing I noted was that we can't do everything.  We may WANT to do everything, but not everything is ours to do.

Most of our time and energy needs to go into caring for the people in our churches.  That is the charism we have been given - equipping the saints for the work of ministry as Ephesians 4 puts it - so the majority of our time needs to go to the faith community.  They, in turn, are the ones who should be on the community boards - or doing direct services - or engaged in social action. We are not the professionals doing Christianity - we are the organizers helping them learn and live the way of Jesus - so don't fall into the trap of guilt or frustration.  If your church is NOT sending leaders into the world to transform our culture, something isn't right.  

After all, the local church is NOT the Catholic Worker nor is the Catholic

Worker a model or replacement for the local congregation.  Both have unique charisms - both are necessary - and both can support one another, but never confuse what ministry you have been called to strengthen.  In the local church, you are NOT a soup kitchen or the Salvation Army or the spiritual wing of one or the other political party.  You are the body of Christ called to bring leaven to society by transformed lives.

There are a lot of reasons why most ordained Protestant clergy get OUT of ministry after the first five years.  Some, it should be stated, should get out.  But many get so tied up in frustrations with sluggish and foolish lay leadership - or else burned out by their own expectations of what ministry really means - that they bolt.  Like one of my therapists told me years ago when I was facing burn out:  Ok, we've identified all the wrong reasons why you went into ministry; let's try to find the right ones now so that you can keep on!  Knowing which charism has touched your heart is an important ingredient in this mix.