Over the last few weeks I’ve been neck-deep in university assignments and exams. But, now, the studious fog has cleared I’m free to Ramble away.
At the church I attend with my kids, there’s a well-known Christian writer, speakers and thologian.
Over my ministry career, I’ve worked at churches which have contained former ministers, denominational heads and experienced ministry veterans.
I’ve wondered if those who have a rich experience in ministry and, seemingly, know “a lot” within church circles, have a harder time within church services.
Every so often I get bored, critical, or distracted in church because I’m overly familiar with a passage or concept going on before me at church.
So, how do those with a rich ministry behind them handle church?
Some, I’ve seen, struggle.
They are also critical.
They like to talk about the things they did “back in the day.”
I think that secret for those who know a lot is humility and expectation.
No matter who is leading the service or delivering the sermon, an experienced minister must be humble enough to realise they don’t know everything, thus want to learn more, and expectant that they will encounter God within the words they will hear, even if they are quite familiar.
These, I suspect, are the attitudes which keep church engaging for former ministers, just as much as older congregants who have heard decades of sermons.