The sooner we accept religion is irrelevant the sooner our collective focus can shift towards restoration. Yes, I’m a clergy person, and yes, I think religion is irrelevant. When Christians are arguing about the color of candles, when to start Advent, and what candles to light, it all feels ridiculous in the face of a […]
As we watch Twitter tumble under the leadership of its new CEO Elon Musk, it is interesting to hear pastors called CEOs as well. Who are our role models if senior pastors are called CEOs? If we treat churches like a corporation, are we looking critically at the ethical problems exhibited by CEOs and corporate […]
“You need to develop a pastoral identity. It comes with time. Don’t worry, it will come.” One of my dearest seminary professors told us this over and over, and I believed him. It would come: I would be able to see myself as a pastor, the more time I spent learning, watching other pastors, performing […]
When I let it slide into conversation that I am a pastor, the natural follow-up question is, “Where’s your congregation?” For me right now, that answer requires extra explanation. I am a “pastor in the pew,” a phrase I am not entirely sure I am, but may be, coining. My national church body’s term for […]
“All of the fun, none of the work.” It’s the phrase I frequently hear from clergy when I tell them that I’m an Associate Rector. It’s the “truth-in-jest” description of associate clergy. You don’t have the highest level of responsibility and the buck doesn’t stop with you, so you don’t have to deal with the […]
Dear Askie, Our pastor is part of your Young Clergy Women Project organization. She’s going to your conference this summer, which I think is great. The problem is that I just heard that she’s also planning on taking two weeks of vacation this summer, and I think she also took a week of vacation in […]
Dear Askie, Help! After serving for years as a solo pastor, I’ve been called to a senior pastorate, at a church with an associate pastor (she is, as it happens, a somewhat-younger-than-me clergy woman). Yay! I’m excited about the possibilities this new call holds, but a bit concerned about working with an associate pastor for […]
Dear Askie, I am currently serving in a church that is best described as toxic. The staff is dysfunctional, the personnel committee seems to be disinterested in creating a work environment that is nurturing, anytime I bring up any concern I’m automatically shut down, and I am fed up. I have been searching for jobs […]
“Do you think that somehow God doesn’t already know? That you’ve pulled a fast one over on God? I don’t know a lot about you, but I know this: our God, who created you, who somehow manages to be three persons and also one at the same time, sees you, knows you, loves you, and […]
The first month was the hardest. The time spent wondering—wondering what the future would hold, the next hour, the next day, and hopefully even the next year. The time spent waiting—waiting to hear what the next medical professional would have to say. I was exhausted and emotional and trying to hold everything together. And then […]
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