9. The Mission Field

Two of our Pony Express pastors, Terry Cook and Jenn Klein, participated in a panel discussion during this year’s session of annual conference. Both were invited to the panel because they have shown tendencies to be willing to share their faith with the people who are “somewhere out there.” While the entire panel was excellent, I took a little extra pride in listening to Terry and Jenn.

Interestingly, both of them seem to intuitively understand and assume something that I have just learned in the past few months. In fact, I have been trying to figure out how to articulate and communicate this new insight around the district in a way that would make sense to people. It turns out that I only need to take Terry and Jenn on the circuit with me to do the interpreting.

During the panel discussion, Terry commented that he is not just the pastor of the Hammer Memorial and Star Chapel congregations, but he is pastor to the King City community. It was clear that he sees the family living in the farmhouse down the road, or the man walking down the street are his parishioners as much as are those who sit in the pews come Sunday morning. Other panel members agreed, then asked lay persons who were present to encourage their congregations to intentionally give their pastors permission to focus their energies on those who are outside the walls of the church.

Later in the weekend, Bishop Schnase commented that the Cabinet has begun asking similar questions when making appointments. Rather than just asking whether a specific person is a good fit for church members in a potential appointment, we now ask whether the pastor is a good fit for the mission field that surrounds that church. It is in some ways a small and subtle shift, but it is a significant one that can have major implications in how pastors spend their time, and in how they understand their ministry.

Throughout my career of serving local congregations, I have always planned the worship service with an eye toward those who already attended the church. The Bible studies I led were designed for church members I invited through the church newsletter. I could just as easily have invited neighbors or held the studies in the homes of church members who had invited their neighbors.

It occurs to me now that I have always assumed that those who pay the bills (Put money in the offering plate) are my customers; yet, the Gospel teaches us that those who give gifts are trying to be extravagantly generous. They are giving out of gratitude rather than expecting something in return. Donors should not be expecting to also be the benefactors. If that happens, it just becomes a circular activity of give and take it back, give and take it back.

So, the better way to think of our ministry process is that church members give gifts so that their church can reach into the world and offer the love of Christ. Our gifts pay the pastor so that she or he can pass the love of Christ along. Our gifts build buildings for the ministry of Christ’s love to be offered to others. Our gifts are passed along to be joined with the gifts of others to do a larger ministry than we can do by ourselves.

There is a kicker to this. On Monday morning during the session of annual conference, Bishop Schnase asked a question for each of us to answer. He asked, “If everyone in the congregation—the pastor, secretary, Trustees chair, Sunday School teacher, person in the pew next to us, etc.—acted just like me, would the church be growing or shrinking?” In other words, do I bring others to Christ? Do I invite others to participate in the ministries of the church? Do I tell my faith story at work, or in my neighborhood, so that others desire to know Christ?

As it turns out, it isn’t just the pastor who is appointed to the mission field. It is also you and me. As the bishop suggested, it is time for us to get a “go out” attitude and let go of our “come to” attitude. Come to think of it, Jesus said it first. “Go into all the world,” he said, “and preach my Gospel to every nation.”