Martyrdom or Majesty August 28, 2009
Posted by Dan R. Dick in Church Leadership, The United Methodist Church, Vision.Tags: Church Leadership, The United Methodist Church
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Perhaps the biggest surprise I received at “Charm School” (the denominational training for District Superintendents and Directors of Connectional Ministry) was a widespread sense of burden and sacrifice that presenter after presenter lifted up and focused on. (Not all of them, but many… our plenary speakers on Poverty and Global Health were very upbeat…) It was fascinating to hear how our work is being framed – “people are difficult,” “you will not be appreciated,” “you will be exhausted,” “you will be insulted if not assaulted,” “this job will not be kind to you,” “we will be misunderstood.” There was very little focus on the joy, the satisfaction, or the blessing of our work. While the work was framed as important, we were repeatedly reminded of the sacrifice, the cost, and the pain. What’s this all about? When I first taught at one of these events thirteen years ago, the main messages were, “you are doing critically important work,” “you have been selected because of the incredible gifts you bring,” “this work is deeply gratifying,” and “you can make a real difference in the church.” What’s changed? Is it the cynicism of the age? Our incessant focus on decline and the need for more? Or have we simply lost focus?
One of the reflection questions sums up the week for me: “How will you expect to manage the conflicting expectations, the disappointments and frustrations, and the tiredness that comes naturally in a time of great paradigm shifts?” This question is freighted with all kinds of meaning. The lecture on leadership that preceded this question was all about unrealistic expectations, broken systems, the unreliability of people to follow through, and the inability of people to focus on the right things. We were told that we didn’t have to be “problem solvers,” but that advice came in context of the “fact” that we will be living in an unending cascade of things needing to be fixed. Someone made the comment that “we need to do our job so that others can do ministry.” What, our jobs aren’t ministry? How did they get separated? A third question offers further challenge, “How will you protect yourself from this job?”
