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BY MELISSA LAUBER
UMCONNECTION STAFF

Expectations define us.

Each Sunday in the Baltimore-Washington Conference, approximately 635 pastors climb into 681 pulpits to bring the message of God's love to 71,000 people sitting in pews.

Each of those people listening to the pastors has expectations of their spiritual leader. These expectations can enhance or deflate a clergy person's ministry.

Elizabeth LeMaster, a lay speaker at Hedgesville UMC in Hedgesville, W.Va., recently illuminated some of those expectations in a sermon.

"The results of a computerized survey indicate the perfect minister preaches exactly 15 minutes. He condemns sin but never upsets anyone. He works from 8 a.m. until midnight and is also a janitor.

"He makes $50 a week, wears good clothes, buys good books, drives a good car, and gives about $50 weekly to the poor. He is 28 years old and has preached 30 years. He has a burning desire to work with teenagers and spends all of his time with senior citizens.

"The perfect minister smiles all the time with a straight face because he has a sense of humor that keeps him seriously dedicated to his work. He makes 15 calls daily to the congregation's families, shut-ins and the hospitalized, and is always in his office when needed," she joked.

Called to ‘highest ideals'

But LeMaster's humor isn't far off the mark. Paragraph 340 of the Discipline lists 36 acts under Word, Sacrament and Order for which pastors are responsible.

Paragraph 304 states that clergy are to "make a complete dedication of themselves to the highest ideals of the Christian life.

"To this end, they agree to exercise responsible self-control by personal habits conducive to bodily health, mental and emotional maturity, integrity in all personal relationships, fidelity in marriage and celibacy in singleness, social responsibility and growth in grace and in the knowledge and love of God."

The Discipline acknowledges that pastors are, in fact, "subject to all the frailties of the human condition and the pressures of society," but still requires them to "maintain the highest standards of holy living in the world."

Managing the Messiah Complex

It's a job description that can encourage "savior mentalities," and induce burn out, said the Rev. Robert Brennan, pastor of Boonsboro UMC.

"Once pastors fully realize that the job of ‘savior' has already been taken, they can often find themselves freed in the knowledge that it is not up to them, but to God, to ‘fix' the church," Brennan said. These pastors and their congregations can then "challenge themselves with the question of who does God want them to be in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ."

However, discovering such answers to God's intentions is not always easy.

Set apart by call

At the conference's Elders retreat, Jan. 30, the Rev. Karin Walker preached a sermon on this topic. At the retreat, those probationary members seeking to be ordained as Elders in The United Methodist Church were examined for observable potential and effectiveness in ministry.

Walker, superintendent for the Baltimore North District, stressed to those present that pastors are a
people "set apart by call."

"A call to preaching God's Word, the sacramental life, to the church of Jesus Christ as manifest in our denomination, to service in God's name – this is what sets us apart, what clarifies our purpose every day in ministry, keeping us focused," she said.

Walker affirmed that, even as people called by God, clergy may not live up to expectations. "We may sometimes fail," she said. "But we are set apart – not by the reverend before our names, the collars we wear, nor our robes and stoles – but set apart by our conviction, our call and our covenant, thanks to the grace of God."

She encouraged clergy to find meaning not just in the idea that they are called, but also what they are called to.

"You have learned Christ," she said. "Our conviction that Jesus Christ is our Lord and Savior gives us a joy that utters itself in gratitude and praise, and cannot help but be shared with those we meet along the way."

What do they expect?

Congregations realistically expect their pastors to be present with them, said the Rev. Mary Kay Totty of Providence-Fort Washington UMC in Fort Washington.

"A colleague has been known to say that much of what we do as pastors is not hard, it is simply time consuming. Pastors need to show up, be present, take an interest, interact with folks. Congregations also expect pastors to be able to hear their concerns for life and the world and then shine the lamp of faith on these concerns for illumination and hope and wisdom, not just offer trite platitudes."

To do this, pastors need to realize they will "live with an inbox that is rarely empty; know that flexibility is essential; and adopt an attitude that ‘it's not about me,'" Totty said. "A great deal of ministry is about not letting our stuff get in the way of God working through us for the good of the Kingdom."

As they take themselves out of the spotlight, many pastors empower the laity, which is really the point, said Peggy Ireland a laywoman from Shiloh UMC in Bryans Road.

Congregations need pastors who will encourage the laity's spiritual growth and help them embrace opportunities for ministry. We need to feel we are partners in ministry with our pastor," Ireland said.
Effective pastors know this, said the Rev. David Cooney of Towson UMC. "The true responsibility of the pastor is to effectively proclaim the Word of God and to make disciples of Jesus Christ. Enabling others to be in ministry, and thus grow disciples, is more important than the pastor doing it all."

One life at a time
But making disciples for the transformation of the world is a daunting task, at best, said the Rev. Herbert Watson of St. Mark UMC in Hanover. "With time you realize that you cannot change the whole word but you can make a difference. And that difference can change the world for an individual," he said. "In time, you realize the inner growth of souls is not always measured in numbers and there is equal value in doing as well as being."

"God may be using us to save the world one life at a time," said the Rev. Peggy Johnson of Christ United Methodist Church of the Deaf.

Defining qualities

When it comes to expectations, said the Rev. Terri Cofiell of Hedgesville UMC, a congregation should, with integrity, be able to expect a pastor who:

• is wholly devoted to the work of ministry;
  
• is passionate about Christ and his Church;
  
• is engaged in personal devotion and the practice of spiritual disciplines;
  
• knows, embraces and proclaims the doctrine of The United Methodist Church;
  
• through teaching and example, leads his or her congregation to embody the Kingdom of God; and
  
• like his or her congregants, is a sinner in need of the grace that will lead us on to perfection.
  In the end, it's all relatively simple, Brennan said. "It is love more than any other trait which best characterizes all disciples of Jesus Christ, including the clergy of the church. ... Some of the best advice I ever received was from an experienced pastor as I was just entering the ministry: ‘Just love the people.'"