Concerning the why and how and what and who of ministry,
One image keeps surfacing: A table that is round.

It will take some sawing
To be roundtabled.
Some redefining
And redesigning,
Some redoing and rebirthing
Of narrow long Churching
Can painful be
For people and tables.
It would mean no daising
And throning,
For but one king is there
And he is a foot washer,
At table no less.

And what of narrow long ministers
When they confront
A round table people,
After years of working up the table
To finally sit at its head,
Only to discover
That the table has been turned round?

They must be loved into roundness,
For God has called a People
Not “them and us”.
“them and us” are unable
to gather round; for at a round table
there are no sides
and ALL are invited
to wholeness and to food.

At one time
Our narrowing churches
Were built to resemble the Cross
But it does no good
For building to do so,
If lives do not.

Round tabling means
No preferred seating,
No first and last,
No better, and no corners
For the “least of these”.
Roundtableing means
Being with,
A part of,
Together and one.
It means room for the Spirit
And gifts
And disturbing profound peace for all.

We can no longer prepare for the past.
We will and must and are called
To be Church,
And if He calls for other than a round table
We are bound to follow.

Leaving the sawdust
And chips, designs and redesigns
Behind, in search of and in presence of
The Kingdom
That is His and not ours.

• Do the job you’re doing now with all your heart, not the one you used to do in your last parish, or hope to do in your next. Time flies when you’re having fun…
• Schedule your free time as zealously as you would a funeral. Your family are the closest members of the body of Christ.
• You inherited far more than you realise. Before you go buy a new tool, check the old toolbox you seldom use and nine times out of ten you’ve already got one. Revolution by tradition!

Ministry is sometimes intense and sometimes drudgery, sometimes hugely fulfilling and sometimes just leaves you dog tired and wondering what you’re about. It’s difficult to put boundaries round it, and to describe a typical day is nearly impossible, as one day can be so different from the next.

All of which reminded me of this marvellous quote from Kim Fabricius, who describes ministry as “that wonderful vocation provided by
the good Lord for displaced Christian intellectuals who are useless at
proper work.”

I read this today in Eugene H Peterson's The Contemplative Pastor. It's an excellent book. If you are too busy and run off your feet, buy it right now, take the afternoon off and read it. The busier you are, the more you need to read it.

The thing is, though, that it’s all too easy to make the leap from that to trying to change the culture of the Church to make the ‘unchurched’ feel more comfortable. I’m not at all convinced that there is much merit in trying to make the Church more culturally relevant, nor in trying to persuade people who believe they control their own destinies that Church could be relevant for them. At least, not if it means turning the Church into a consumer durable for people who believe they already have everything.

Rather than trying any and every gimmick to persuade people to buy into Church, we might better spend our time simply developing a good presence in the community. If people know the Church is there, then when they suddenly discover that in fact they are NOT in control of their own destiny – they get sick, someone dies, they lose their job, or their spouse, or simply their sense of purpose in life – they will know where to find us.

This happens in my office all the time. The people who everyone thinks are the successful people, life’s winners who don’t need a crutch like Church, go through something or other that unstitches their self-reliance. They know where to find me because I put the time in hanging about in the College, going to functions and sports things and the bar, and chatting to people about this and that. Every now and then I say to people “you know where to find me if you ever fancy a cuppa and a chat”.

The ministry of presence is one of the great advantages the Anglican Church has over the ‘house’ church. Our spires and steeples may be an economic liability, but they are visible and they are THERE – in the same place – year after year. House churches are much less visible – their venue shifts from one year to the next, and they are far more dependent upon constant advertising and word of mouth in order for people to find the Church when they are looking for it. I’ve noticed that the new denominations around here are prone to taking a ’summer break’ – no services in the summer time. Or just planning to have an away day instead of a regular service. This is a fine thing to do for those in the know, but it is hopeless if you are trying to create presence – a ministry of constant presence requires making sure that you can still be found the next week or the next month or the next year when the message has percolated through and someone comes back looking for you.

That said, ministry is about people not buildings. I remember learning in theological college (i.e. Seminary) that if you want people to come and find you when they are in need, they will be far more likely to do so if you have already met them face to face three times. I’m not a natural extrovert – I could easily be a bit of a hermit if I didn’t work at it. But I work pretty hard at just connecting with people in casual situations, just so that they know who the Chaplain is. A lot of people won’t come to seek out a nameless, faceless Chaplain. They don’t look for a job-description. they look for a person.

Pretty regularly, the most unexpected people do turn up at my door and start talking about life, relationships, fear, guilt, sex, doubt, spiritual need, the possibility that God might be there after all. They readily admit that they aren’t half as smart as they thought they were. And they do ask for direction. And they quite often cry a lot, because it’s scary to find out you aren’t in control of your own destiny.

I can’t see the point in trying to convert people who aren’t listening. But I can see the point in keeping a steady presence in the community, and making sure there’s enough time and flexibility in the schedule to make space for people when they are looking for God. They won’t knock on the door twice.