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 1
Authenticity and Vulnerability
‘In church ministry, don’t try to be somebody who you are not. We need academic theologians, we need active practitioners. However you start out, hold on to who you are and use it fully in the service for that which God has called you to do.
When I was younger and working in youth ministry, I was encouraged to keep it radical, keep it passionate and keep it real. I’ve remembered that ever since, and I try to keep living that way, to a greater or lesser extent.
My preaching will always finish, I hope, with helping people to think about what that topic now means for them in the average everyday with the question: ‘how can I apply this to my life’. That’s what is means to be real.”
Being real is important—it requires vulnerability and that can be costly. Sometimes, when I preach on Sunday, I will talk about what I’ve got wrong within my life, because I think this is essential. I’ve seen ministers— in both local and national settings —whose churches think they are doing no wrong, put them on a pedestal and therefore raise dangerous false expectations. I think it’s really important we continue to be real, because people can ‘smell’ the inauthentic. I see this in particular with Millennials and Gen Z, they desire honesty in those in leadership.
My preaching will always finish, I hope, with helping people to think about what that topic now means for them in the average everyday with the question: ‘how can I apply this to my life’. That’s what is means to be real.
Holiness
I’ve often reflected on the biblical and ministerial call to holiness, and the importance of our posture. St Paul exhorts us to “put off” things before “putting on”. Avoid things that bog us down—putting on the fruits of the Spirit (Gal. 5:22-23; Eph. 4:22–24). I often stop to ask myself, “Am I wearing two sets of clothes?” Am I trying to put spiritual virtues on top of unresolved issues? We need to intentionally put off what gets in the way of holiness, as it says in Hebrews 12 ‘strip down, start running, never quit. No extra spiritual fat, no parasitic sins’.
Importance of Accountability
I strongly believe in accountability. Accountability should be an integral part of our Continuing Ministerial Development. We need accountability within the church—whether that’s a 360 review with our peers, or with external feedback from people we trust. Without accountability, you become complacent and risk going off the rails because you’ve got nobody who’s going to challenge you. Sadly, there are too many examples where ministers have been lauded in such a way as to have the air of invincibility, and inevitably, that leads to failure.
Take Away: Thriving in ministry is not about projecting strength but cultivating integrity. Authenticity, holiness and accountability are not separate disciplines but interconnected practices that help us remain faithful over the long haul. The goal is not perfection, but a life increasingly shaped by Christ and lived honestly before God and others.
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