OK. Many people have been coming to the site since I put the Parable of the Gym up last Saturday. However, everyone seems shy about commenting. So let me try and start you up with the following questions:
First, for those of you who have "studied for the ministry," do you see any truths in Tammy's story? Were your studies what you expected them to be? If you were or are a pastor, does your original call sync-up with the work of being a pastor?
Second, and this is for all of you, what evidences of an insulated/isolated Christian Culture do you see in the novel The Runaway Pastor? What evidences do you see in The Parable of the Gym? What evidences do you see in your own life?
Finally, anyone ticked off about the novel, or the parable? Jump in.
Thanks!
2 comments:
David,
I actually liked the parable. In fact, I'm struggling to find anything in it that I disagree with. The story sums up fairly well why I decided before hand not to be a pastor. Though I don't want to presume to speak for others, I think it's a big factor in why most of my friends who studied ministry are now in non-church vocations. Most churches, though not all, simply ask ministers to minister to the already Christians, leaving little or no time for work outside the walls of the places we meet on Sundays. Perhaps this is why we evangelicals are so fond of "mass evangelistic" tools? We try to make up for our lack of relational witness with "more efficient strategies." Then again maybe not. Just a thought :)
As one of those who has "studied for the ministry" and is now in a non-pastoral position, I would have to agree with the idea that ministry has become more "keeping the aquarium" than "fishing for people." However, I think we need to realize that those in pastoral ministry and those who train them are just as responsible for that phenomenon as the person in the pew. Having spent significant time in the church on both sides of the pulpit, there is plenty of blame on that issue to go around. I think it is a culture that has been nurtured by clergy, church members and even non-church members who have certain expectations of "professional clergy."
TimB
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