True Confessions of a New Ministry

Here's my confession: it's been a terribly long time since I have written an entry for women seeking to get "out of the kitchen and into the pulpit." What is my ultimately brilliant excuse, you might ask? Full-time ministry.

Since August 15, I have been working in full-time ministry dreaming, praying about, discerning, planning, listening, asking, etc. about what it takes to not only work in ministry, but also how to start a program from scratch. I am in the process of establishing from scratch a University and Young Adult ministry for the First Presbyterian Church in Lawrence, Kansas.

I started by jumping feet-first into the congregation and planning what I "knew" would be a grand slam of a program. They obviously had it all wrong, I thought, since they hardly have a congregant under the age of 80. Well, under closer scrutiny, and plenty of my "grand slam" events that no one showed up for, I had been dead wrong about this place.

They are vibrant. We are growing. We are visioning. We are listening to what the church wants and where it wants to go. This is echoed to me throughout all of my ministerial efforts. I kept trying to plan fellowship events--beer tastings, happy hours, volleyball games, free lunches, etc.--and I was having maybe 3-4 people show up at any one event. About six weeks into my days as an event planner, a wise man asked me if I had listened to any ideas other than my own recently.

With shock and humility, I realized that I had not. So, while all of my University and Young Adult parishioners were studying for and taking mid-terms, I decided I ought to do the same. I gave myself a mid-term.

I realized I wasn't listening to their needs, I just wanted them to come to my "stuff." I was serving me, trying to make 'my' program work, instead of listening to God. One Sunday, instead of pushing my Sunday school agenda on them, I asked my Sunday school class what it is that they long for from their church homes. Meaning, what is it that they grew up experiencing in their home church that makes them want to continue attending as young adults? Their answers were varied, but unexpected.

They wanted more intergenerational events. They want service projects that unite everyone under one greater purpose. They want to serve the church in beautiful ways. They also want to grow deeper in their faiths and ask questions and think theologically. Lastly, they wanted an end-of-the-week time for worship and study.

After hearing this, I did some reading, some thinking, some theologizing, and restructured my weekly church-event offerings. Now, we meet for Sunday school from noon-1:30 p.m. using the time to talk about the sermon and the service while having lunch together which has been provided by church families. Today, we talked about death, advanced directives, heaven, and the 'kingdom of heaven' because it was All Saint's Day. It was a beautiful conversation.

We still meet for happy hours on Thursdays at this gourmet burger place and have truffle fries, sweet potato fries, duck fat fries, drinks and fellowship.

But, it's our Friday programming which is new and interesting. We are meeting every Friday evening during Advent and gathering together in the Chapel of the church for a short, reflective worship service followed by a time of biblical study about Luke's birth narrative in comparison to Matthew's. They want to think critically, lovingly, and it ties perfectly with what we will be centering on for Advent as a larger church.

The reaction to this change of direction is remarkable. The comments are supportive and positive from everyone, including my colleagues, my session, and my parishioners. The Holy Spirit does awe-ful things when I still myself and listen.

(For those of you who like numbers, when I started at the church there were about 10 people in this demographic who attended service every Sunday. Now, we average 25 regular attendees. God is good. All the time.)