Brief Summary of My Theology of Ministry

Brief Summary of My Theology of Ministry

It's funny. In my senior year at seminary I had to write a theology of ministry, looking forward to see what my approach to ministry would be. If I remember correctly (lost my only copy, unfortunately) it was about thirty pages long.

Now I'm in a situation where I've got about thirty years of track record, such as it is, in a variety of ministry settings in both religious, social service and business organizations.

Looking back at what I actually do (as compared to what I had planned to do) and why I do it can be easily summarized in less than a page. I've either become very concise or don't remember much of what I learned in seminary or maybe just don't have much of a ministry (maybe some combination of the three :-).

But, for what it's worth...

My theology of ministry is rooted in the Bible and the broad mainstream of the Christian tradition. I've been involved in a number of different churches (including Roman Catholic, Methodist, American Baptist and last and most exotic, the Unitarian Universalist church) but my "true" church home would probably be in the Episcopal church. (As we used to say, all the religion of the Catholics with half the guilt. :-)

Putting it in simple (if mythical) terms, its center is in the death and resurrection of God in Christ, an event which defeats the Power of Death (the atonement) and is available in the ordinary life of all the world (the incarnation).

The notion that the catastrophe of Jesus' death on the cross is the very ground of victory is ironic on its face and the irony extends to how we encounter, share and respond to the experience of the death and resurrection of God in Christ in our own ordinary lives.

Because I've come to realize that the very foundation of hope is most clearly (and, again, most ironically) revealed in the heart of our darkest despair.

It is when all ordinary connotations of hope are gone that the hope which remains is most trustworthy, the least likely to be based in some false hope placed in some false idol or god.

My particular ministry appears to be centered in the communication of hope not just in moments of deepest despair but in all the events in our ordinary lives. Many events do not come to a happy ending on this earth but such legitimate hope as is found functions, I believe, as a sacrament: an outward and visible sign of an inner, invisible, but very real hope for the consummation and completion of all creation in Jesus Christ.

It would appear I have strong communication skills (verbal and written) that I use in this communication, specifically an ability to use humor (which is often based on irony), an ability to provide service, an ability to teach, and – on rare occasions – an ability to be persuasive.

As I've put together my resume for the job hunt and tried to discern some order in the wild riot of jobs I've had, it seems these are the common threads in each and I suspect they'll continue to be significant aspects of such contribution as I can make in either employment, volunteer work or just plain social interaction with others.