Mintimidation: {n} The art of scaring the crap out of another clergy colleague by telling him or her how cool your ministry is and how God's Spirit is totally on the move within it.
I went to a wedding this weekend and was having a great time. There were a number of people from seminary that I hadn't seen in a year or two and I was enjoying catching up. Then I heard how well their cool new joint ministry is going and how they are moving forward at light speed. After one year they have mobilized the laity and are gearing up for a new church start. Meanwhile, after one year, I know the names of most of the people in my congregation and I can find my way to all of the bathrooms in the building without getting lost. I was . . . . well . . . how do I say this . . . I was intimidated. I was so happy to her that things are going well, but at the same time I felt inadequate my own lack of apparent progress. It was a challenge to engage my friends in a meaningful way in the face of the successes that they were experiencing.
I want to have ministries as cool as those that my friends are working in. I want to be faithful to what God is calling me to do in the midst of the congregation in which I find myself. I want to help God transform individuals into disciples, but I struggle with the how of making this happen. The biggest problem that I'm facing right now is being a prisoner of my own experience. I have considerable insight on how I started the road to discipleship, but not a clue about the paths of others. I struggle to see the world from their perspective. I know there are different ways to make sense of the world around me, but it so hard for me to understand them. So, I am even more intimidated by those who can step out of their own skins and walk around in the paths of others. I believe it's a true spiritual gift and one that I do not possess in any great quantity.
So, the question I face is, "What am I going to do differently this year that helps me embrace these areas of need within myself??" Not only do I seek to see through different lens, but I also seek the wisdom to know that I do good work, too, and I can be proud of what we've accomplished in the last year. These are good lessons to learn early in ministry . . .
