The task of being an associate pastor

Having not been an associate since I was in my twenties when I knew very little about being a pastor, it is a challenge to be an associate now. I have forty years experience and the lead pastor has four years in pastoral ministry and several years being a missionary. Those two tasks are quite different, of course. Missionaries must be very patient and yet persistent because they serve in lands where Christianity is often not a predominate faith. Here in the USA, however, churches are well set and can sometimes be very obstinate because they do not want to change. A pastor here, in my opinion, must still be patient, but must also be pretty aggressive at times so as not to be pushed into the role of just oiling the machinery.

So, I find it very interesting, knowing what I do of American church life and watching the lead pastor try to work with the people. There are some who would push her a bit and she has to back up and deal with that. She is working to bring the parish more into line with the Great Commission of Jesus Christ.

As the associate, I find myself with the task of being an encourager to some degree and sharing from my own experiences, hoping that those experiences will help in some way. I share my successes but I also share my failures. Therefore, she knows that not everything I have tried has worked.

For myself, I am trying to find my way and wonder just what the parish board wants out of me. If they want more than they are getting, it hasn't been expressed. I did tell the Staff/Parish Relations Committee recently that they needed to come up with a job description for the associate pastor at least. They probably should have one for the lead pastor, too, in my opinion. The Book of Discipline ( Contains the Bylaws for the UMC) gives some guidelines. Of course, that's another story. If a pastor tried to do all that the BOD says, he or she would be exhausted daily.

Coping

I think I am just coping with the changes through which I have been going and not doing the best job at it. There are times when I feel angry for no apparent reason except that I either am not able to get done what I need to do or I procrastinate. After all, I'm retired. The job will always be there, won't it? I can do it any time. And I don't get it done. I wonder if other retirees become this way.

The Five-Point Parish is rolling right along and I am enjoying preaching to all the churches. I keep telling myself that this is quite a job to have when all I have to do is write a sermon every two weeks and go around preaching them. There are calls that need to be made, but that is pretty simple to do.