MARY TAYLOR MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST
CHURCH
MARY TAYLOR MEMORIAL UNITED METHODIST CHURCH
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Methodist's Moments
                                   Methodist Moments—

Dedicated to Embracing our Methodist Ways.

By Bob Elliott

The Pastor as Spiritual Leader, Preacher and Teacher

      Every Sunday, our bulletin includes the statement: “Ministers -- All the
people of God.”  In 2 Cor. 3:6, Paul writes: “He has made us competent to be
ministers of a new covenant...”, and the Discipline says:

      ¶ 301. 1. Ministry in the Christian church is derived from the ministry of
Christ, who calls all persons to receive God's gift of salvation and follow in the
way of love and service. The whole church receives and accepts this call, and
all Christians participate in this continuing ministry (see ¶¶ 120-139).

      In a later series of columns, we will go deeply into the ministry of all
Christians, Part III of the Book of Discipline.

      As you will remember from last month, ¶301.2 identifies special persons
who “who respond to God's call by offering themselves in leadership as
ordained ministers”.  A big part of the ordained pastor’s task is to teach,
guide, and to help all church members to become “small-m” (as opposed to
“big-m”) ministers to the immediate community and, through Methodist
connectionalism and missions, to the world of humankind.

      The most prominent and familiar way we see this is through preaching.  
The sermon is a lesson or lecture that relates current situations in people’s
lives to God’s word in scripture.   To be able to deliver a sermon, every pastor
has to study scripture and theology and history.  Most pastors are very aware
of     current events and of the culture in their community, or should I say, the
collection of subcultures that make up the community.  And the pastor needs
to be an effective public speaker.  Most pastors have taken speech courses,
and, indeed, many have had classes in acting, music or singing, which surely
enriches the worship at their churches.

      The pastor also teaches Bible study and confirmation classes, in which
small groups meet and are able to  ask questions to deepen their
understanding of scripture and faith.  “Teaching moments” often   happen in
conversations we have with the pastor, after church or in the office.  You
might have had these moments when you come up to your pastor and say
“There’s something I’ve been wondering about....”

      The pastor trains lay members to assist in communion, baptism and other
parts of worship.  Those who assist find their faith strengthened and their
lives enriched by their service.

      The pastor is also present to be with us through the good and bad times of
life.  Only an ordained  pastor can lead the sacraments of Baptism and
Communion (the only two sacraments United Methodists have).  The pastor
performs the ecclesial acts of marriage and burial. (Discipline ¶340.)

      The pastor is charged with caring for the people of the church by
counseling with those who are grieving or troubled.  Many pastors have
advanced education in psychological counseling, and those who aren’t
specially trained are able to recommend counselors.  

      Even so, a pastor is a human being.  It must be very difficult to find the
words to say or the gestures to make that will help people who are suffering
from grief, or depression, or fear, or guilt, or all of those things at once.  What
happens when the pastor becomes discouraged or overstressed?  What if
the pastor suffers a loss in his own family?

      In the United Methodist church, the pastor’s pastor is the District
Superintendent, whose                responsibilities include “...pastoral support
and care to the ordained....” (Discipline ¶420.).  In the local church, the Staff-
Parish Relations Committee has among its duties “To encourage, strengthen,
nurture,   support, and respect the pastor(s) and staff and their family(s).”
(¶258).   

      All members, I think, share these duties.  My father-in-law, the Rev.
Haywood L. Martin, put it this way, “We pastors need your faith as much as
you need ours.”
    “Church and State Relations –

    The United Methodist Church has for
    many years supported the separation of
    church and state….Separation of church
    and state means no organic union of the
    two, but it does permit beliefs beliefs
    should it should it (includin
    (includinrequire prayer or worship in the
    public schools, but it should leave
    students free to practice their own
    religious convictions. We believe that the
    state should not attempt to control the
    church, nor should the church seek to
    dominate the state.  The rightful and vital
    separation of church and state, which
    has served the cause of religious liberty,
    should not be misconstrued as the
    abolition of all religious expression
    from   public life.” UM Discipline
    Paragraph 164C