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Baptist Ministry & Conduct Unbecoming

I was wondering if we need some new guidelines for conduct unbecoming amongst Baptist ministers. Here's a few suggestions:

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister to not continue to read and study theologically (Wayne Grudem does not count!)

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister to not make time regularly to connect with other ministers (the lone-ranger mentality)

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister who does not seek to attend at least every two years Association and/or national Assemblies (these are ecclesial bodies, and by no means perfect, but as those who have a representative function as ministers and who are in covenant relationship with the Union, we should not act towards them dismissively)

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister who pays lip service to being a Baptist minister (the word Baptist is not an optional extra, but fundamental to the way we should practice ministry)

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister to hinder/discourage any woman testing a call to ministry on the grounds of gender

it is conduct unbecoming for any Baptist minister to take the title 'senior minister' (get over yourself!)

Baptists and Pioneer Ministry

Ministry is going all pioneer these days. It could be argued that ministry has always been pioneering, but now we are naming it as such and training people for it. Following the Church of England, Baptist colleges are beginning to provide pioneer ministerial formation.

Regent's Park College are beginning a partnership with CMS - Emma Maggs, a ministerial student at Regent's is pioneering the way! (here and scroll down). Anthony Clarke, Tutor in Pastoral Studies says:

Within the Baptist Union it is possible to be ordained as a pastoral minister or as an evangelist - a more pioneering role. And it is possible to prepare for both of these at Regent's. They are not two distinct courses, but rather different emphases within one whole process of formation and training. It is vital that all those being formed for ministry are able to engage with contemporary culture in creative missional ways, and so this thread runs throughout the course. And those who are responding to a call to be evangelists and to work in pioneering ways will need to develop their pastoral understanding and skills. The heart of both emphases will be the integration of character, skills and understanding, but, in addition, to core shared teaching, there will be particular opportunities to develop in both of these ways. We have an exciting and growing partnership with the Pioneer Mission Leadership Training run by CMS (Church Mission Society) in Oxford and overseen by Jonny Baker. Students following the path to be ordained evangelists will join in some of this teaching, with a variety of other people also exploring pioneer ministry, instead of some of the sessions in College. In addition, placements
will be carefully planned to enable students to explore a variety of pioneering mission opportunities.
It is possible to follow a calling to be a pastoral ministry or a pioneer evangelist on both College-based and Congregation-based patterns, and also on either a full time or part-time basis.

The modules with CMS will involve:
Year 1 - Mission spirituality; Mission in Contemporary Society
Year 2 - Pioneer Ministry; Pioneer Ministry Skills
Year 3 - Missional entrepreneurship; Worship for a missional church

Rev

One of the highlights of this year's Greenbelt was an interview with James Wood and Tom Hollander, creators of Rev. Rev is a BBC2 comedy from earlier this summer which was about the life of a innercity Anglican vicar, Adam Smallbone (played by Tom Hollander). It was a fantastically insightful, well-researched and funny look at modern ministry, which received lots of great reviews. Non-UK readers look out for it on DVD or possibly BBC America. The first episode looked at people who showed up at church in order to get their child into the local CofE school; the second, the issues arising when another church takes over with smoothie bar, sofas and their awesome vicar Darren (clip here); the third was about a Muslim group wanting to use the church and a lap-dancing club opening across the school; the fourth was about Adam's jealous of another vicar's popularity on TV and radio; the fifth was about the loneliness of ministry; and the sixth is about Adam's crisis of faith. There were many great moments, as well as some bits when I thought it went a little too far in its humour. Two moments that stand out. In episode 2 when Adam says to Darren that his service was 'more show that sacrament' - a timely reminder that being relevant and contemporary (see here) can leave behind faithfulness and truthfulness. And in episode 6 when Adam has reached rock bottom in his crisis of faith, he is asked to pay a pastoral visit to a dying woman and he is reminded of the verse read at his ordination from Isaiah 6: 'the Lord said whom shall I send? and I said 'Send me'. Something about being called to ministry regardless of self-doubt and uncertainty that comes with life and also that his ordination affirmed God's call on his life.

The conversation with Wood and Hollander was revealing as well as amusing. They talked about their desire for the show to be authentic and how they discovered through their research and doing the show the demands that come with minsitry. While neither of them are what others might call committed believers, they have created a show and characters who capture the demands, the difficulties and the joys of Christian life and ministry.

 

Hauerwas on the Essential Task of Ministry: Speaking Christian

This week I accepted a call to be the minister of Belle Vue Baptist Church, Southend. After three years of ministerial formation at Regent's Park College (and another four years of theological education at King's College London before that), I will be ordained in September as a Baptist minister. We are in the process of packing up and saying goodbyes as we prepare to leave Oxford, where we've lived for the last two years.

I've been reading some words from Stanley Hauerwas in a recent address given to those about to enter ministry in the Mennonite church. He begins with wondering why on earth anyone would want to be a minister today because:

The lack of clarity about what makes Christians Christian, what makes the church the church, and continuing ambiguity in our diverse denominations about ordination itself should surely make anyone think twice about becoming a minister. Moreover the lack of consensus about what it might mean for anyone to act with authority in our society and the church cannot help but make those of us who are not ministers wonder about the psychological health of those who tell us they are called to the ministry.  

He goes on to say that the essential task of a ministry is

is to be a teacher. In particular, you are called to be a teacher of language ... I think the characterization of the challenges facing those going into the ministry is the result of the loss of the ability of Christians to speak the language of our faith. The accommodated character of the church is at least partly due to the failure of the clergy to help those they serve know how to speak Christian. To learn to be a Christian, to learn the discipline of the faith, is not just similar to learning another language. It is learning another language.   

This is not a new thought from Hauerwas, but it is a good reminder of what ministry is all about.

Why ministeral formation should include politics, economics and science

Simon Jones blogged this yesterday:

For me, this whole issue raises questions about how we are training ministers for mission for today's world. Courses in ministry formation should engage with the likes of Friedman. But such engagement would mean that ministers-in-training need to be engaging with economics as much as Calvin, the principles of scientific enquiry as much as Karl Barth, public policy as much as pastoral theology.

As far as I know, this kind of engagement rarely takes place.  Politics, economics and science are not given any real space ... this is in part due to so much being attempted in the three years and that the majority of those be trained have little or no previous theological education.

I believe we need churches who can think theologically about politics, economics, science, etc. So little politics, economics and science seems to take place within churches. We do not know how to engage publicly. Probably many churches have responded practically to those in need during this economic crisis, but how many have actually engaged with the larger questions of how we spend, where we bank.  Probably many churches will host meetings during the upcoming general election, but how many regularly and weekly engage with the political questions of the day, whether locally, nationally and internationally.

Perhaps part of newly-accredited Baptist ministers formation should be around reading, discussion and reflection on politics and economics.

Some good places to start:

Faith and Politics After Christendom by Jonathan Bartley (Paternoster, 2006)

Christianity and Contemporary Politics by Luke Bretherton (Blackwell, 2010)

God and Government edited by Nick Spencer (SPCK, 2009)

A Biblical View of Law and Justice by David McIlroy (Paternoster, 2004)

The Theology of Money by Philip Goodchild (SCM, 2007)

The Blackwell Companion to Christian Ethics edited by Stanley Hauerwas and Samuel Wells (Blackwell, 2004)

Witness, Watchman and Weaver

I spent some of the day with John Rackley back at Manvers Street in Bath talking about church and ministry. He mentioned one understanding of ministry that I hadn't come across and which has been articulated by Rowan Williams - the minister [priest] as witness, watchman and weaver. You can read the Archbishop's lecture given in 2004 here where he explais what he means. The words have been picked up and expanded on by Justin Lewis-Anthony in his book, with an excellent title, If you meet George Herbert on the road, kill him: Radically: Re-Thinking Priestly Ministry and which I now want to read.