Under the Bus

I was working as the "senior minister" for a church of about a hundred people when I was stopped in the church parking lot by one of the church leaders (in his late 30's), keys in hand, and told, "You'll now be driving the bus on Sunday mornings." Driving the bus can be a very useful thing to do, depending on the circumstances, and so can a thousand other things, but this was not where my time was most needed or best utilized. So, I attempted to be tactful as I thanked him and suggested we give others opportunity to volunteer for this fine ministry (which was the first time I had even heard of it. And I was the "Senior Minister!" -- which obviously didn't mean much.)

However, this was more about who was the big dog on the play ground than about ministry, and I was, that very day, summoned to the council for (in the words of the council), "not being a good employee."

Grimacing, I proposed we talk about the nature of calling and how to equip ourselves for and pursue ministry, but that had little place in this or any other meeting. I then attempted to strike up a conversation about how and when "a bus ministry" was discussed or decided upon in the first place. What were the foundations for this need? What were the ministry goals? Who were we trying to reach? What was our 30 day strategy? 60 days? 6 months? A year? Did we have an exit strategy? What kind of budget was being allocated to it? Who was responsible for it? How would we get volunteers? And about a dozen more questions. I wasn't against the idea. I was just against playing blind-man's bluff, creating a "ministry" that would be banging into walls right out of gate and destined to fall on its face.

But these were the wrong questions to ask. It was made very clear to me that I had a "job" for which I was being paid and that job came before any of my silly theoretical notions about "ministry." The record had now been set straight: I was something like a Wal-Mart greeter, only with a whole lot more (obviously useless) education loans to pay back.

For this and many other more important reasons, I didn't belong at this place, so I wrote a nice letter of farewell, found the door, and left this "employee position" for another unsuspecting candidate.

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Defining "authentic ministry" can be a challenge. Is it merely a matter of heart? Is it only selfless? Does it happen only when someone else recognizes it? Or only when I (you) say it is ministry? I would say, no, no, no, and no. There's a lot to this, but I have just one point here: Just because a group of people in charge decides that "this thing here is a ministry," and even though you are paid to do it, doesn't make it ministry at all. At that point, you are just a bus driver.