Thursday, March 30, 2006
Seminary Street Cred
I've come to the conclusion that I when I'm a seminary president (yeah right) I'm going to institute a class to help prospective pastors gain street cred, as I realized today that I have very little. I headed to work this morning and found out that I was working with Gary. Gary is a good ole' Kentucky boy...he's been working at the seminary phys plant for almost 20 years. I'm sure that Gary sees me coming and thinks to himself "Here comes the useless guy again." You see, Gary has been witness to several of my work-related failures (the time I set the yard on fire, the time I ran over a lightpole with the lawnmower, the time I couldn't figure out the right way to get the hitch off the tractor and it turned out that I was tightening it instead of loosening it...you get the picture) and although Gary is a really nice guy, I'm sure that he thinks that I'm just another worthless pastor type. This is way I think that seminaries should offer classes to increase our street cred with people like Gary. See, I can talk about the Greek use of the word phroneo in Philippians or I can identify the the use of parallelism in Matthew's gospel, but that means very little to Gary. Over the past few weeks I've heard it said "I need a pastor who isn't weird" and I've been told "Ministry is about relationships." I'll revise that a little bit...Ministry is about being credible in the eyes of those you minister to so you aren't viewed as weird and so that a relationship can be established. Ministry is about having street cred with the people that you minister to, which is why I think that seminaries should offer classes on how to fix cars or build things or knit and crochet...Things that you can do to build street cred with those you minister to. Sometimes I wonder about how I'll ever have street cred with the people that I'm going to minister with in Western PA. Thankfully, I'm a diehard Pennsylvania sports fan, and anyone who lives in Western PA has to love the Steelers, but other than that, I'm stuck. What happens if I get appointed to East Podunk, PA with people who could care less what I know about theology, people who love country music (I listen to jazz and random, ecletic pop rock), people who hunt (something that I've never done well), people who work on cars and know everything about the Camaro (I can tell you about the 1915 Pittsburgh Pirates, but nothing about cars), people who play country guitar (I play the tuba and I'm a classically trained high-tenor). I need some street cred, and I need to learn that soon. At some level, I realize that loving people makes up for a lack of street cred. I just hope that it's enough.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
Susie,
Thanks for your comment. It's fun for me to know that someone is actually reading what I take time to write. I thought I'd respond quickly before I attempt to get some sleep!
One of the things that I'm constantly reminded of here at Asbury is that ministry is about relationships. I know that I don't need a seminary class to teach me to enjoy country music or rebuild an engine. In fact, I wouldn't want to pay the high cost of tuition for such training! What I'm finding, though, is that my current experiences are pure seminary. I live in the seminary community. I'm surrounded with people who like to talk about theology and the shape of the church and Greek words. My life outside of class is filled with class work. I don't really have time to experience much else. Partly my post was facetious in nature, but I'm also realizing that I don't know how to sit with someone who is grieving the loss of a spouse or who has just lost their job. I don't want to be a pastor that blows into town and stays high and mighty on a bully pulpit. I want to be someone who builds deep and abiding relationships with the people whom I am working alongside to build the Kingdom, and I'm afraid that Seminary isn't yet helping me get there. Just this week my wife and I were hired to minister with youth at a local church and we're estatic about this. I'm estatic because God is at work in this group and because this will allow me to get my hands dirty in ministry, to remember what it's like to minister with people, not just gain head knowledge. That's what I'm talking about when I talk about the need to develop Seminary street cred. I need to be able to develop more than the head knowledge that I've got.
Thanks, though, because you've helped me realize that ministry is not simply formed out of the talents or interests that I have...it is formed out a heart that reaches out to others and desires to see others transformed by the Gospel of Christ. That's something that I'm still working on, and probably will be for a while. Getting over being self-referenced is never easy nor a one time process.
As far as my use of the phrase "street cred"...I also blog at Myspace to an audience that appreciates my "hip" lingo. I simply copied that post here...Don't worry, I would never use that phrase unless my audience would be following!!
Thanks again for your comments. This is fun.
Matt
Post a Comment