We're all 'specialty ministers' now
The intersection of traditional congregations and entrepreneurial ministers
There’s two facts about today’s church that roll around in my head pretty much constantly:
More and more congregations are struggling to find (and afford) clergy leadership.
More and more ministers - lay and ordained - feel called to serve ministry outside of the traditional congregational context.
These two facts are interrelated, of course: clergy and lay ministers feel the burden of the declining church, which makes serving in traditional ways difficult. A lot of full-time work for (very) part-time pay; a lot of aging congregations that aren’t very interested in doing new things; a lot of administrative and organizational work that doesn’t feel spiritually fulfilling.
Clergy want to be able to share the Gospel in new ways, and create new kinds of communities. The biggest obstacle: getting started, and developing their ministry in real time.
On the congregational side, the exhaustion of trying to continue to do church ‘the way we always have’ with fewer people and resources; the sadness and grief of thinking they may have to close their doors; the struggle to find even supply clergy for worship and spiritual care, and because of this, not feeling spiritually fed at church in ways they may have in the past.
Congregations want someone to lead worship on Sunday, be with them in spiritual need, and lead their faith community. The biggest obstacle: they cannot find and/or afford this leadership.