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A Long Long Time Ago, In Church Far Far Away....

Young fool... only now, at the end, do you understand...!

  The other day when the new Star Wars trailer came out, I realized I am not young anymore.  The stars of the movie of my youth are now old people.  Which then make me old!  I used to think of myself as a “young minister” but time is telling me otherwise.  The advantage of age is experience.  I am by no means fully experienced, but after a while you get to seeing some of the same situation again and again.  So I thought I would share some experiences and the lessons I’ve learned from them, so others might gain some insight. Here are in no particular order, are some things you might face in ministry[i].

4. A New Hope
The Story:  You have taken a new work and everyone is excited.  The congregation has been dealing with many different struggles and needs, but now YOU have come and everything is going to be perfect!  You will solve all the problems and bring everything back to the way it used to be!
The Resolution: Right now you feel like you could take on the whole Empire yourself, but oh no, my young minister, you will find that it is you who are mistaken about a great many things.  They may think you are the greatest thing right now, but it will change. For you it might last a six month or a year (for other of us it might last a week or two) but those high expectations will come back to haunt you. No one will do everything perfect and no one person make everything right.  Don’t let you ego swell too much.  Remember those people that were praising Jesus when he came into Jerusalem, were shouting “crucifying him” a week later. Don’t take criticism or praise too highly.

5. The Empire Strikes Back
The Story: You preached the definitive lesson on the subject.  You hashed out the problem with the elders.  You had a deep meaningful conversation with the wayward member. All has been laid to rest.  The problem is solved. You’ve overcome the sin.  Now there is nothing left to do but forget all about it and move on. It will never come up again.
The Resolution: You are far too trusting. One lesson, one conversation, one meeting, one victory is far too small to take care of things effectively. You will have to deal with your rebel friends soon enough. Problems don’t die easy. You have to keep at them. Keep preaching, teaching, loving and listening. Be diligent. All good things come from hard work. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking everything will be easy.

6. The Return of the Jedi
The Story: You feeling pretty good about yourself and your work. You know you are not perfect but are working hard.  Then you have the gospel meeting or special event and “The Guy” comes in.  His lessons are amazing.  His points are perfect.  Everyone swoons.  They respond in droves.  They say things like “it’s been a long time since we had preaching like that!”  You’re convinced that if he said he wanted this job the elders would fire you and hire him before he finished the sentence.  The church is fired up but you feel more like it is they want to fire you.
The Resolution: Right now you feel if there's a bright center to the universe, you're on the planet that it's farthest from. It's your imagination, kid. Come on. Let's keep a little optimism here. People get excited about new and different things but that doesn’t mean you are not doing good things as well. Your work plowed the soil and someone else is reaping. Don’t make it a battle of persons, care more that the gospel is being spread (Philippians 1:18)

1. The Phantom Menace
The Story: Everything is going well, right?  No problems, no rebellion, everything is progressing just as hoped it would.  Then there are mummers, whisper in the corner, and gossip in the pews.  People are questioning your choices, your commitment, and your character.  Someone is attacking you and don’t know who.  You don’t know how high up this goes, maybe a deacon or an elder.  Time to go on the offensive!  You’ll show them, if they want a war you will give it to them!
The Resolution: You think someone wants to be around when you made a mistake, well, this could be it, sweetheart.  The way you respond to your “enemies” will say a lot more about you than what they’re saying about you.  If you show a quarrelsome spirt of rebellion and viciousness, then told you I did, reckless are you, now, matters are worse. Now people will start listing to the critics because of what you have shown. When others are at their worse, that is when you really need to be at you best. Emulate Jesus when he was attacked. Act right and let that speak for you.

2. The Clone Wars
The Story: You’re great but you would be a lot better if you were more like this other guy.  All you need to do is completely change your entire personality.  Talk differently.  Act differently.  Be like the minister down the road, or the guy who used to be here.  If you could just become a clone of that person we really want for this job, then everything would be great!
The Resolution: How ya feeling kid? You don't look so bad to me. You look strong enough to pull the ears off a gundark.  Don’t let them get you down. You are not that guy and that is OK.  Find your own strengths, work on your weakness.  Don’t try to be something you are not. You have your moments (Not many of them, but you do have them). Listen and try to improve but don’t bow to the pressure and think you have nothing of yourself to offer.

3. The Revenge of the Sith
The Story: You fought hard but the “bad” guys have won.  They want you gone and it looks like that will get their way. T he elders told you they fixed the situation! You trusted them to fix it! It's not your fault!  But you are one faced with leaving. What are you going to do? Burn bridges? Show them the real power you have?  Teach them a lesson for what they have done to you!
The Resolution: No! Stop, minister, stop! This won't help! Hey! Save your strength. There'll be another time. The Church. You have to take care of her.
You hear me? Huh?  It isn’t fair and maybe not right but you can’t make things worse for the church.  Swallow you pride, keep you dignity and don’t make things worse.  Think about the church and not just your own desire for revenge.  I know you are afraid for you future but remember, fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.  “Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”( Romans 12:21)

   Ok maybe these only make sense to me but I’m willing to bet you seen them all before.  Learn from the experience you’ve experienced but also from the ones you see and hear about.  Keep learning and growing.  Don’t give up. As Paul told Timothy, “For it is for this we labor and strive, because we have fixed our hope on the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of believers (1st Timothy 4:10). Don’t give up so you too can reach that Undiscovered Country[ii].


[i] Three of these points are pretty good but the other three are kind of disappointing
[ii] Wait a minute, wrong space franchise 
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