I just got back from a few days hanging out with a bunch of 30something pastors. As we engaged in small talk over the dinner table the first night one of my new acquaintances asked, “So, what do you do all day?”
Most people know the basics of the work of a pastor, planning & leading worship, preaching, teaching, and visiting. Ministry in a church is also varied and I’ve found myself doing everything from fixing a broken desk to offering solace to a family in the wake of a father’s suicide. Pastors also regularly engage with their community, meeting with nonprofits and other churches to create opportunities for others.
But what does my job as a pastor look like when I don’t have a church building to maintain or a congregation that needs care?
One part of the Sellwood Faith Community plant is to engage with people in the community. This means that I volunteer at the school in many roles, I talk to the owners of local businesses, and I participate in community events. This creates a wide network of people I know and takes a huge amount of my intentional effort. As I settle in to life here in Sellwood it’s easy to stop that work of meeting new people. So every day I walk in the neighborhood, and I say hi to people. I stop by my favorite restaurant and chat with the owners. I visit with the moms at pick up.
The next piece is creating space for some of these people that I know to talk about the big issues of life and to learn spiritually. This happens individually over coffee and dinner, but we also are creating a community and to that end I hold a bible study and a worship service monthly in my home. I host coffee one morning a month and a theology on tap conversation one evening a month at local businesses. We also coordinate a service project monthly. Some of these folks who are engaging with the community have committed to be leaders with Jeff and I so we meet a couple of times a month with them. Right now we are reading a book together and we meet for dinner, fellowship, and discussion.
As a new community there is a surprising amount of administrative work. I don’t handle the money directly, but I do monitor our income and spending to make sure we are sticking to the budget. And speaking of income we have to raise $18,000 in 2014, so I do fundraising to keep us a float. I track participants, send thank you notes, invite people to events, write this blog, make postcards, draft marketing resources, and keep in touch with the new start leadership in the conference.
Our home is our community base and we are working on updating the building. We’re in the midst of getting ready to paint the exterior and on the heels of that I will be landscaping the front yard. We are on a very busy street and the way our building looks communicates about our community to all those passing by. I’ve just checked the radon levels in the basement, and it is on the high end of normal. I will be painting down there this summer to reduce the gas drawing in through the cracks in the walls.
Did I mention I’m half-time? And appointed to a traditional church as well? Along with district meetings, gatherings like the retreat this week, and regular trainings for new start work I manage to fill my days fairly easily.
I love this work and feel incredibly lucky to be serving here in these ways, even if my days are an enigma to some.
-Eilidh
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| The end of another good day! |
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