A great list I came across that describes what I try to do!

Clint Pressley is the senior pastor of the Hickory Grove Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina.  He gave a pastoral reflection at the end of the chapter titled The Reconciling Pastor of Andrew Hebert's book Shepherding Like Jesus: Returning To The Wild Idea That Character Matters In Ministry.  This book is a terrific read and I fully endorse it.  Not only do pastors need to read this book but also search team leaders and denominational vetting committees.  Andrew Hebert applies the beloved Beatitudes to the life of a local pastor.  Clint Pressley gives a list of 10 to the title of his reflection, How To Bring Healing To A Hurting Congregation.  I instantly resonated with his list as I thought of how I have tried to implement these practices not only in my interim pastoral work but also as a stationed pastor.  Let me share them with you along with some of my thoughts and experiences.

• First, embrace joyful exposition.

It is more than just preaching the text but bringing the congregation along to be so excited about what God is saying to us as the people of God.  Approaching a year at WCC, we have walked together through James, Malachi, a deep dive into chapters 1 and 2 of Luke during Advent, Haggai, and spending Easter week with chapters 12-21 of John.  

• Second, become an expert on the church.

I love to study the history of a church to see how God has worked in the past.  I know that God is not done so I am also looking for history that is being made in the present and also our combined work to see God continuing to make history through this work in the future.  I love reading histories and meeting minutes of the church but I also love climbing church belfries and heading to the bowels of the building.  

• Third, clean the place up.

Maybe this is part of my make up being the son of a school janitor.  I know it is just a building and the church is actually the people but the meeting house is a reflection of us.  Just as the house, even if it is just a 1968 single wide mobile home, is an extension of Stephanie and she wants it to be the best it can be, I see the meeting places we have served, from the parsonage/chapel in Roscommon, Michigan where you could travel from our kitchen into the church foyer and our living room into the chapel, as being the best it can be to be a place where ministry happens.

• Fourth, work within the system.

As much as I love efficiency, sometimes that comes later.  You work with what you have and how it is and wait for the opportunity that God provides to make adjustments.  If it has been functioning this way for years then it probably will last a couple more before the pianist is turned to actually see the song leader.  Turning the piano around is the easy part!

• Fifth, genuinely love the people.

I work like crazy to attach names with faces.  It doesn't come easy.  I know from experience that if I can remember their name that our relationship has gone to another level.  It is the first step of loving them genuinely.  Maybe my next assignment I will take a bunch of pictures with new faces to help me recall quicker.

• Sixth, celebrate the respectable traditions; tolerate the others.

I learn much about how different people share moments with each other year after year.  Some enlist a moving expression while others might seem more like they are just doing it because they always did it and this way.  It matters how I treat each one.  I would stray from the author here and not use the word "tolerate."  I need to dig deeper and understand more about the ones that I might see at first glance as unnecessary.  

• Seventh, be consistent.

I love these words from Clint.  "Show up on time, return phone calls, make the visits, work hard in the study, and preach with intensity."  I would add to answer emails and respond to text messages.  Most likely things have slowed down at the church in transition and the temptation to cancel is heightened if not many have signed up in a church that has experienced loss.  I remember holding a Sunday evening service with myself, Stephanie and one other member.  He asked if we were going to go forward with just him there and I said, "Of course!"  Consistency is not based on outward reinforcement but inward resolve.  (This might be twitter worthy!)

• Eighth, live in hope.

I have learned to look for what to celebrate in the moment.  We all go through discouraging times, churches included, but that doesn't mean that encouraging things aren't happening.  I have learned to look for them.  I remember giving out pineapples on Sunday mornings in Gaylord, Michigan when I caught someone doing something good during that week.  When the people saw the pineapple on the pulpit, they knew what was coming.  At WCC, it was so appropriate to celebrate the Sunday when those in the pew moved to the platform and created a new worship team to help the congregation in congregational singing.

• Ninth, give yourself to that church.

In our study of Haggai I was struck by the word "sent" and its picture form of being someone who was stretched out or spent by the mission of being sent.  God sent His Son to be stretched out and spent for others to the extent of hanging on a cross.  God sent His prophets to be stretched out and spent to share unpopular messages of disobedience from God.  God sends ministers to churches to be stretched out and spent for the children of God who gather there to be His under-shepherds to them.  If I am losing sleep because I am thinking deeply about those I call brothers and sisters in Christ then that is totally okay.

• Tenth, thank God for your church and pray for its health.

Interim work will not go where it needs to go if you don't start seeing this gathering as truly your brothers and sisters in Christ.  You will not help them make needed transitions if you are not leading them in prayers for one another and for the ministry to happen there.  Your thankfulness is contagious if it is genuine but it won't be genuine unless you are spending time away from them in prayer for them and therefore we are back to sleepless night at times.

This list from Clint helped me to see what I need to keep doing.  I write this post so that I have a record of this after I have handed off this great book to another.  God help us to be Beatitude pastors.

Adam