I
love churches and I love serving in the church. On family vacations each
of my children would "put his foot down" and proclaim— “No more
churches!” I really can’t blame them because we did love to visit
churches and see the effort and beauty that individuals put into
creating a unique edifice to glorify God. I
decorated my home with beautiful church art. Paintings, sketchings, replicas
of glorious or simple buildings that represented a love for God
filled my home and office.
I
have worked for churches for decades. Church work is very rewarding,
but it is not always easy. First of all, church work never gets
done. When I worked as a counselor and shut the door to my office at
the end of the week, I had done everything I could do. I filled out
all my forms, returned all my calls and made all my notes. This has never
happened since I have been in church work. There is always more to do.
I never quite feel finished. I just choose a place to stop.
That I why I am so impressed with
my co-worker Nat Burns. Nat is retiring from fulltime church work
this summer. When he retires, he will have spent 50 years working for
several churches. That kind of longevity in any occupation is rare.
It speaks volumes about the man who has accomplished this feat. 50
years in church work is huge. I could not even come close to that
reality. Every day I learn about much younger men who have had enough.
They decide to move on to an easier occupation even after spending many
years and thousands of dollars on seminary education. (Did I mention that
seminary training is very expensive and the income is not proportionate?)
What did it take for Nat to hang in there so long? Knowing Nat, I’m
sure as he approached what we consider retirement age he realized that the goal
of making it in church work 50 years was worth striving for. Even when his wife
retired, he showed no signs of wanting to quit. That’s the reason I have
so much respect for him. He didn’t just pursue a goal of working in the
church 50 years as a personal accomplishment. He maintained a passion for
his work and is even sad about making the decision to stop working full-time. The
decision is not the celebration of freedom you would
expect. I recognize a bit of a loss in many ways. I’m sure
once that day comes, he will adjust to the freedom from the commute,
and he will experience all the gifts God has for him in a
non-day-to-day church working life, but he’s not there yet. He
already knows where he will volunteer (in one of our most needed vacancies—substitute
teacher). He wants to be there for people for the rest of his
life. Didn’t I tell you church work is never done?
This is what following God’s plan
will benefit you. When you don’t give up on your ministry to
the church, when you plow through the disappointing outcomes of your hard
work, when you continue in the face of the lack of passion others might
show for the God you introduced them to, when you go on in spite
of the nitpicky details that come along with any
vocation but distinctly in church work, you end up loving God and God’s people
in a unique way.
You have a compassion that Jesus demonstrated. It is a
commitment that takes decades to form into the kind of minister like Nat Burns.
How do you get to that point? You do not give up. You love God and
you work for Him and not the people or your pastor. You connect
deeply to God’s crazy plan that the church should take His
precious news to the world. (How He trusts us, I will never figure out).
Nat
is a rarity in this world, but he shouldn’t be. His service convicts me
to think about my petty grievousness and change my focus. I want to be
the kind of servant that Jesus can reward as in Matthew 25:21: “His master replied, ‘Well
done, good and faithful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I
will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s
happiness!’” I may never work in church settings for
50 years like Nat; but I want to have a love for God, a compassion
for God’s people, and a desire to do His work until my dying day.
Copyright © 2019.
Deborah R Newman.
teatimeforyoursoul.com All Rights
Reserved.
Comments
Post a Comment