Author Archives: jledmiston

It was during a Presbytery Council meeting. A pastor in the Presbytery came to share concerns about a culture of bullying she had witnessed that was damaging the Presbytery’s mission and ministry. She shared examples. She lifted up suggestions. She finished her time among us. She was dismissed. And then the Council never spoke of it again.

There was no follow up. There was no response to her. There was no plan to address the issues.

This, my friends, is indifference.

Imagine that on the night that the elders are meeting, a fire has displaced 20 neighbors across the street from the church building and the elders don’t mention it between the budget report or the motion to hold a turkey dinner fundraiser.

Imagine that there are two people who live in the alley behind your urban church and they spend every night there huddled behind the dumpster with a grocery cart filled with their possessions. And the parish nurse does a great job visiting homebound parishioners with mobility issues and anxiety. And the missions committee is organizing a trip to Haiti to paint classrooms. And it hasn’t occurred to anyone to talk with the neighbors in the alley living behind the dumpster.

Imagine that in your rural community there are used hypodermic needles in the parking lot that worshippers find on Sunday mornings as they park their cars. None of the church members know anyone who injects drugs – at least personally – and “it’s really none of their business.”

I am grateful to serve a Church (or 92 of them here in North Carolina) that addresses needs in their particular parts of cities and towns. Of course there are a few who are only concerned about what goes on within the walls of their sanctuary. Of course there are some whose connection to their neighbors is nominal – ranging from collecting cans of food to sending checks to local charities.

The Church exists to address the needs of the poor, the homeless, the hungry, the sick, the lonely, the broken, the lost in the name of Jesus Christ. The God who frees us from whatever enslaves us expects us to respond in kind. Our mission is worshipful work.

Maybe we are tired. Maybe we don’t know where to begin. Maybe the structures are too enmeshed to change.

I spent last week with a group of colleagues who – like me – serve our denomination as Mid-Council Leaders. In other words, we are Presbytery Leaders – professionals to serve multiple congregations and pastors – whose role it is to help God’s people be the Church as we are called to be the Church. It was often emotional as we realize what’s at stake.

The world feels crushed in countless ways and thank God we already have a Savior. And yet, we cannot be indifferent to the needs around us. We cannot refrain from having hard conversations about unhealthy systems. We cannot congratulate ourselves for being Good Christians while condemning our neighbors.

It’s good to be home after a long week away. And now, consider me a refreshed-ish cheerleader for engagement with the world in new ways.

How is your congregation engaged with the world? How is your congregation indifferent?

In Latin, the word credo means I believe.

Before arriving here at Ferncliff Conference Center in AR I believed I could continue to write a blog post most days. And I believed that I could respond to work emails. And I believed I could keep up with work texts.

Now – after less than 24 hours here – I believe I need to take advantage of this time of reflection. So I believe I will do that. Back next Tuesday.

Yesterday’s blog post was about money. Today’s is about money as well, only different.

Over the weekend, I read a couple disturbing pieces about our colleagues in ministry affiliated with Elevation Church (one of the largest Southern Baptist Congregations where I live in North Carolina) and our colleagues in ministry affliated with the “He Gets It” project which is an initiative of The Servant Foundation which is an initiative of The Signatry which exists to promote “biblical generosity.” (This took some digging.)

Rachel Held Evans famously said that millennials have excellent bull@*^! detectors. I would offer that other generations can also smell inauthenticity/traps/foolishness a mile away depending on our own spiritual maturity. Both Elevation and “He Gets Us” don’t pass the smell test.

And this is why we can’t have nice things.

Yes, Elevation Church is cool and there are some authentic people involved. And also they are charging up to $1000+ for “tickets to worship” at the Kia Center in the Los Angeles area in November.

I believe this makes Jesus weep. Yes, you can attend by purchasing cheaper tickets, but . . . gross. Pastor Steven Furtick is known for some sketchy activities from faking spontaneous baptisms to living a lifestyle that looks more like Herod than Jesus. Unbelievers sincerely seeking spiritual answers will not find it in a pay-to-worship venue led by a man who needs a helicopter pad in his backyard.

Some of the television ads sponsored by the “He Gets Us” project are well done and yes, I believe that Jesus gets us. The whole fully divine and fully human thing.

And also this organization – though definitively not aligned with any denomination or political party – is run primarily by successful white men whose personal church affiliation is very conservative theologically. Some of my best friends are theologically conservative successful white men and yet I would like to scream, if I may: Jesus is not a brand.

The Washington Post featured an article last weekend about this “He Gets Us” movement that says this:

A $100 million effort launched this year is blanketing cities and the web, aiming to redeem Jesus’ brand from the damage done by some of his followers.

Billboards with messages like “Jesus let his hair down, too” and “Jesus went all in, too,” have been posted in major markets like New York City and Las Vegas. And ads featuring black-and-white online videos about Jesus as a rebel, an activist or a host of a dinner party have been viewed more than 300 million times, according to organizers.

The He Gets Us campaign, funded by the Signatry, a Christian foundation based in Kansas, will expand in the next few months, with an updated website, an online store where people can get free gear if they forgive someone or welcome a stranger, and an outreach program for churches, all leading up to a Super Bowl ad.

Again, this smacks of marketing for a religion that is not about hipsters or t-shirts. I like hipsters and I like t-shirts, but saying that “Jesus let his hair down” makes me queasy.

What if – faithful readers – we who are trying to follow Jesus simply did what Jesus commanded: feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the imprisoned, support the weak, and serve “the least of these”?

Again, we make many mistakes misrepresenting what Jesus is all about. We confuse church attendance with spiritual maturity. We avoid sharing what we believe to people craving hope. We pretend we have it all together when we don’t.

Real Church is about discipleship and service. Disturbing Church is about profits and branding.

If your professional clergyperson is doing a good job leading your congregation, we need to have a serious spiritual conversation. (Note: if your professional clergyperson is not doing a good job leading your congregation, your personnel committee needs to have a serious spiritual conversation directly with that leader.)

I remember serving a congregation (a couple of them in fact) who struggled with finances. Or at least they believed that they couldn’t “do any better” than what they were giving financially to their church. The disheartening thing for the whole staff was that no matter how well we served, no matter how effective we led, no matter what we did, there were rarely any raises or cost of living adjustments. We knew this and yet we continued to serve to the best of our ability.

In a frank conversation with a couple dozen pastors earlier this year, one pastor disclosed that he had never received an increase in salary in the ten years he had served his current congregation. Not a Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). Not an extra week of vacation. Not a Christmas bonus.

His was not a “poor” congregation. His parishioners included lawyers and orthodontists and business owners. Maybe they didn’t believe he was an effective leader? Nevertheless, as difficult at money conversations might be, this pastor needed to talk with his leaders about this.

Today, I’m talking with you – church members – about this.

Again, if you appreciate your pastor and church staff, please – at least – consider budgeting for a Cost of Living Adjustment for 2023. The Social Security Administration is adding an 8.7% COLA to all SS checks in 2023 because that’s what the current economic situation in the United States warrants. The cost of living will be about 8.7% higher in 2023 than in 2022 which means that if we do not increase our church staff’s salaries, they will be paid less in 2023 than in 2022 in terms of the purchase power of their salaries.

NOTE: All salaried workers deserve this. I get it when people tell me that they don’t get COLAs and so their pastors shouldn’t get them either. I hear that parishioners resent pastors who get sabbatical time after 7 years of service. Believe me when I say that all of us need both fair pay and spiritual refreshment. And also please believe me when I say that effective pastors and other church staff members work long hours – including almost every weekend – and make regular sacrifices for you and your families. We pastors didn’t go into professional ministry for the money, but we still have bills to pay, loans to repay, and hopes of having a little extra for things like college for our children. Just like you.

There’s nothing holy about poverty. And your spiritual leaders will not be as effective if they are constantly worried that they can’t pay their rent or mortgage.

A couple tips if you want to support your pastor:

• Consider putting extra money in their reimbursable continuing education funds. It’s not taxable and they can go someplace interesting and come back rejuvenated.
• Consider cash or gift cards for the holidays. I have found that most congregations do not include such gifts in the budget assuming that individuals will offer simple gifts to their pastor. Gifts from the congregation express appreciation from the whole congregation rather than one or two thoughtful parishioners. Also, about gifts: I was once on a staff when each of us received crystal cross paperweights. Lovely, but one member of the staff was Jewish. Think seriously about the gifts you give. Again, all people can use cash or gift cards.
• If you cannot give your leaders a raise, consider giving them an extra week of vacation – and then please don’t complain that they are taking “too much” vacation.
• Consider that your staff is an investment in ministry. They often make the difference between your congregation having a lively, organized, inspiring ministry and having a tired, disorganized, dreary ministry.

I know that some of you reading this are thinking, “Nobody goes to bat for me when I want a raise or deserve a bonus or need a cost of living adjustment.” Well, you should have these things too if you are working hard and serving dilligently.

To all of us: it’s both okay and admirable to have honest conversations about money with our employers. We live in a world where the divide between the wealthy and the struggling grows larger with each year. In appreciation for those who serve us and our families – not to mention God – this is the time to remember that it’s shortsighted to ignore the financial health of our professional church staffers.

Thanks for listening.

Do any of these situations sound familiar, Church?

• Your seasoned pastor is beloved by the congregation. And he hasn’t attended a continuing education event or enrichment conference in decades (although he annually attends a gathering of colleagues where they relax and share what’s going on in their lives.)
• Your new pastor is an impressive young leader. And she scoffs at the idea of getting a coach/spiritual director/mentor because it feels patronizing and she wants to prove herself as Ready to Pastor as a new seminary graduate.
• Your pastor is stuck and six years from retirement. Sermons are lackluster. Leadership feels phoned in. Members quietly quit. You wonder to yourself what the future holds if things continue to feel so uninspiring.

I’ve written many times about how all pastors (and humans?) need a team of supporters who keep us honest and fresh. And some nod and agree while not taking any action.

Preachers (even the great ones): when was the last time you took a preaching class?

Teachers (even the experienced ones): when was the last time you learned creative ways to teach the Bible?

Pastoral caregivers (even the gifted ones): when was the last time someone assessed your bedside manner?

Administrators (yes, you have to do some of this too, pastors): have you simply given up or are you willing to improve your organizational chops?

We who work with pastors and congregations require certain things. In my Presbytery, we require annual statistical reports from the elders. We consider two weeks of continuing education to be the minimum offered to all clergy. We require all pastors to take both Anti-Racism Training and Healthy Boundaries Training every three years – and if they don’t they find themselves not in “good standing” (i.e. clergy timeout.)

But we don’t require our pastors to have a mentor or ever take continuing education. And – siblings in Christ – it shows.

According to this month’s Harvard Business Review “New research finds that mentorship programs can indeed produce valuable gains—for employees and their firms—but only when they are mandatory. That’s because if mentoring is optional, the people most in need of it tend to decline the opportunity.“

Yep.

All of us get bogged down in the minutia of ministry. The emails overwhelm us. The zoom meetings may or may not be necessary. Our daily plans are disrupted by drop-in visits or unexpected crises or family needs. And yet creative juices don’t flow by themselves. We need sparks, improv, jolts and nudges. We need stare-into-space time.

This discipline is at least as essential as prayer, healthy food and exercise.

Beloved clergy colleagues: please believe me when I say you need feedback. All of us need someone who loves us to say, “You seem to be unhappy/distracted/unfulfilled/done with this.” And we need to listen.

It’s a mature spiritual leader who knows when to seek renewal, training, and enrichment. If you don’t want to do it for yourselves, do it for the people God loves.

Image source.

My favorite television show right now is Bad Sisters on Apple TV. It’s got everything: Irish sisters, romance, family dinners, the beach, and a nemesis, who – in this case – is the worst, most heinous character ever created for a television show. John Paul, the brother-in-law of four of the sisters is abusive and vile. And we learn in the first episode that he’s dead. Did someone murder him? Did he die of natural causes? Did God strike him dead because even God couldn’t take him anymore?

The show is clever and twisted and wonderful. Even I want to kill this man. But of course, this is not my call, nor is it anybody’s call to take a human life under most circumstances.

Yes, there is just war. There is compassionate death. There is self-defense.

Even the saint Dietrich Bonhoeffer plotted to assassinate Hitler for the sake of humanity, although he was captured and hanged on April 25, 1945 the day before his POW camp was liberated. His last words: “This is the end—for me, the beginning of life.”

My very favorite book is also about this theme:

Crime and Punishment is the story of a broken man named Raskolnikov who plots to murder his miserable and hateful landlady both because she is a terrible human being and because he believes he can help himself and others with her corrupt wealth. It drives him crazy.

Hate will drive us crazy. I think about the January 6th mobs that threatened to kill Nancy Pelosi and Mike Pence over political disagreements. That was insane.

I think about people who have such irreparably broken relationships with their family members, their exes, their bosses, their neighbors that they act out in ways that could best be described as unhinged. Or maybe I should say we. We act out in ways that will never be confused with Jesus’ behavior even on that toss-over-the-tables day. I confess before you and God, I’ve felt angry enough to kill someone. I didn’t come close to doing it, of course, but the feelings were fierce and real.

I attended an inspiring funeral last weekend for a former Moderator of the Presbyterian Church USA General Assembly – Price Gwynn – and all three of his fine sons spoke. One said that Price once revealed the secret of life to him. “I can express it in a single word,” the father had said to his son: “Forgiveness.“

How do we forgive those who have deeply hurt us? How do we forgive those whose lives have been spent destroying people either by falsehoods or physical blows or emotional abuse or taking what doesn’t belong to them?

I can only point to the Holy Spirit here. Yes, the peace that passes all understanding is possible but it takes supernatural power for it to be real and lasting. One message I hope we in the Church can share both in words and actions is that forgiveness is possible with holy assistance.

It’s terrifying to forgive someone who has hurt us because we don’t trust they will not do it again. There is always that possibility. And even if the worst happens, we cling to Bonhoeffer’s words: “This is the end – for me, the beginning of life.”

I can’t wait to find out if it’s possible to forgive John Paul.

When was the last time you did more than take a vacation? (Taking vacation time is essential , but vacations can also feel as busy as non-vacation time.)

Renewal periods are not vacations but times for intentional exploration and reflection, for drinking again from God’s life-giving waters, for regaining enthusiasm and creativity for ministry. From the Lilly Endowment Clergy Renewal Page

Last week I was blessed with Renewal Time. It was neither a vacation nor sabbatical time, but it happened during a gathering of denominational colleagues at Ghost Ranch in New Mexico.

This is a post about the glorious gift of “the free afternoon” during conferences. If you are in charge of a weekend retreat or conference, please – for the love of God – schedule in a free afternoon.

It felt like a sin to use free time in northern New Mexico taking a nap, which is one of my usual top three renewal practices. Although napping outside surrounded by cloud cathedrals and rainbow mesas would have been okay.

One free afternoon last week, my soul was fed Lilly-Sabbatical-Style. It only took one afternoon driving along The High Road in Truchas and visiting galleries there and in Chimayo, NM.

It truly only takes one afternoon of soaking up the majesty of God’s creation – the buttes and rock chimneys of the Southern Rockies – while adding a few moments to marvel over what humans have created – the sculptures and paintings – to feel like a new person. The Lilly Foundation (jokingly called “The Church’s One Foundation” by some pastors I know) calls this the thing that makes your heart sing.

When was the last time your heart sang? And what can be done to make that happen more often?

It’s a question for Heads of Staff to ask their ministry teams. It’s a question for Personnel Committees to ask the pastors they supervise. It’s a question for parents to ask their children. It’s a question for children to ask their parents.

Life is short. October is busy. Let’s encourage each other to stop and breathe – even for a single afternoon.

[A tip of the hat to my colleague KR who’s been thinking about this too.]

“I just want to be heard.”

It’s frustrating when you don’t think people are listening to you, and in these divided times, it’s essential to hear the voices of everyone in the room. The dominant voices often silence the minority and it’s also true that the loudest voices are not necessarily in the majority.

What does it mean to be heard?

• Agreeing with everything somebody says?
• Giving everybody the opportunity to speak, even if it’s incendiary?

Even (especially?) in Church, it’s hard to know what God is saying when everybody is heated or aggrieved or frustrated. Most especially in Church, I’m often in spaces where some feel intimidated and are afraid to speak up and so they don’t – even if they wholly disagree with what the loudest in the room are saying.

How do we create space for everybody to have the chance to be heard? And – more importantly – how do we create space where we allow God to speak?

In times of conflict and strong feelings in church settings, it’s important to set ground rules (i.e. only one person speaks at a time and we take turns offering different perspectives/opinions) and it’s important to remind everyone that we are all Children of God and not one of us knows the perfect mind of God.

Is it possible that God loves pregnant women who want/need to have an abortion? Is it possible that God is calling us to repent for the historic sin of slavery – even if we have not enslaved people ourselves? Is it possible that God loves immigrants who enter the United States without following legal processes? Is it possible that God loves people who believe the opposite of what I believe?

Yes.

It’s essential to remember that each of us deserves to be heard. And listening is not just about waiting for our turn to talk. It’s about listening thoughfully, remember that Jesus died for that speaker.

Note: On this day when we have historically honored Christopher Columbus, I hope we will honor the Native people who were here long before Columbus was born. It was wonderful to be in New Mexico last week and learn more about the many native tribes who first lived in that beautiful part of the world. There are over 100 Native congregations in my denomination comprised of people from the Navajo, Pima, Maricopa, Yavapai, Seneca, and inter-tribal people.

I’m with colleagues at Ghost Ranch this week. Peace be with you.

Hey, remember that time – at a PCUSA General Assembly – when they let a Muslim officiate during Communion? Remember when $10,000 of church funds was given to the Angela Davis Defense Fund in 1970? Oh, and that time that Presbyterians forced all congregations to support same sex weddings?

Not one of these things is true any more than Sarah Palin ever said that she could see Russia from her house or that the current resident of The White House is an actor since Joe Biden supposedly died in the 1990s.

There’s misinformation and there’s disinformation. Misinformation is untrue but it is shared mistakenly and not for devious purposes. Disinformation is untrue and is created to cause mayhem and disharmony.

One of my favorite Tweets from last week is this one:

Every Day’s a School Day as my friend AAM says. If we hear something that sounds off, we have a duty as citizens and followers of Jesus to check it out. Sodom and Gomorrah is not about gay sex. Mary Magdalene was not married to Jesus. And your pastor doesn’t work one day a week, even if they don’t keep regular office hours.

Again, if you hear something strange/disturbing/scandalous, you can do either of these two things:

• Research it. (This is the faithful, curious response.)
• Spread it. (This is the divisive, unholy response.)

And in the interest of learning new things, I’m headed to Ghost Ranch this week with other PCUSA Mid-Council Leaders. There might be new posts or maybe not.

May every day be a school day for each of us.