With a new year comes new opportunities to build or rebuild relationships with the staff we serve with, our parishioners, parents, and especially our teens. It will be tempting to sink back into old structures, habits, and modes of doing ministry “the way things were.” However, the ways we minister going forward will require vulnerability, and we will need to continue to adapt to new needs, issues and circumstances.
I believe we need spiritual safety glasses for our lives and ministries this summer. As things continue to open up and return to varying degrees of normalcy, many of us will be wrestling with the messy reality of moving back “into the light” after spending many months shrouded by the darkness of a global pandemic.
Ministry is ironic because those of us who minister often find it difficult to be ministered to. We encourage and teach teens to pray, but how often do we pray outside of ministry? We tell others to keep holy the Sabbath, but we put in twelve-hour days on Sundays. Isn’t it ironic?
