What sustains someone through decades of ministry? When Revd Chris Friend met with St Hild’s Baptist Ministers in Training, he reflected on leadership, holiness, accountability, innovation and the realities of serving God’s church. In this three-part series, we share some of the wisdom he has gathered along the way.
Blog Part 3
How Life Chapters Feed into Ministry Experience
I would encourage you to think about what you’ve done in life and where you are going, and how that can feed into your call to ministry today.
Life is made up of chapters. In ministry, you bring your life with you. Nothing is lost. Whatever has happened in your life up until this point can have a positive impact for good in whatever you are doing now.
When I was young, I imagined I would describe a simple life journey.. “I left school, I joined the bank, and this is what I’m doing for the rest of my life…” Actually, whilst I started my working life in TSB, but now I’m a Baptist minister in the north east. In between, I worked as a funeral director for 19 years, managing for the last 6 in the area where I still live. Now, as minister with the church, the links that I’ve previously built as a funeral director and even in the bank are very important doors into our local community and have helped to build trust.
Permission, Leadership, and Team
As a Minister, build a leadership around you that has your back, shares joys and sorrows—they are gold. Not ‘yes’ people but critical friends who can bring sanctified wisdom and ask the right questions. Give people permission to fly. If someone feels God has spoken and has accountability, sometimes it will sound wacky, but high accountability and low control can work.
Ministries in rural settings must invest in new things—missional listeners, not just ministers. The importance of ‘Double Listening’ – listening to context and listening to what God is already doing. Give people permission to try, to have a go, not to micro-manage.
The quality of leadership is about character, leaders living what they believe. In small church contexts, leadership integrity is often strongest when people try to represent Jesus. Roles should fit character, not just skills. And in all, building a team is vital, being honest about feelings, and having those who are with you in both strength and vulnerability.
Keeping the Main Thing the Main Thing
Keep the main thing, the main thing. There’s a danger that we allow the minutiae of religion to overshadow the importance of following Jesus, being like Jesus, and doing what Jesus did. The longer I’m in ministry, the more I want to strip back what is not essential and ask, “what would Jesus do in this situation?”
I once heard a CEO say, “Imagine Jesus was to walk into my church right now and ask: ‘is this a church that feels like me?’” That question helps me every time I feel bogged down with the messiness of leading in the local church. Are we a church that looks like Jesus? If our intention is to be like that, that’s okay. We’ll make mistakes. The church—ministers, chaplains, everyone—should aim to look like Jesus. Don’t let legalism and religiosity get in the way.
Three-part series take-away:
Across our conversation with Chris Friend, one theme surfaced repeatedly: ministry flourishes when we keep returning to Jesus. Programmes change, contexts shift, challenges emerge, but the call remains the same—to follow Jesus, become like Jesus and join in with what he is doing.
Revd. Chris Friend spoke to the Baptist Ministers in Training at St Hild Centre for Baptist Ministry. He is the Co-Minister at Alnwick Baptist Church and the Mission & Pioneer Development Facilitator for the Northern Baptist Association.
Find out more: sthild.org/baptist