Initial Obervations & Thoughts

Assignment:

As you reflect on your internship's foundational readings, what application might you make to your supervised ministry experience? What practices will you work to create in your ministry site? How might you open yourself up to learn and be formed in conversation with your supervisor and congregation/community?

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My daughter and I have arrived safely and are starting to find our rhythm in our new surroundings.  She is with me every day as I transverse this new environment which brings with it a difficulty to manage but also opportunity to see and do ministry in what I have coined a “family forward” way. 

My assignment is with the Anglican Diocese of Bermuda and my supervisor is a very interesting gentleman who happens to be very enthusiastic about ministry and who can execute well.  To date, my supervisor and I have had many talks and I find myself mining his knowledge and wisdom particularly in the area of pastoral care.  I myself am very curious about the things of God and particularly in our ability, as ministers, to provide succinct pastoral care in manners which are best understood culturally and traditionally to the people being served.  So, with these interests and resources available to me my supervised ministry experience will be on mentorship as referenced by Barbara J. Blodgett in her booking Becoming the Pastor You Hope to Be in the area of a Functionalist Mentor.

During our many discussions the subject of parochial churches and non- parochial churches and how the nature of the Anglican church in parochial arose.  This discussion and the differences between the two gave rise to how ministry is approached differently between the two.  In the Anglican tradition the entire parish (a set geographical location) is your ministry context regardless of attendance.  So Anglican clergy ministry is done outside of the four walls as they must get to know their parish and not just their congregational membership.  Another thought was that you can not minister to a people you do not know.  My supervisor talks about a level of intimacy that must be developed within a parish.  With these thoughts in mind I’m being challenged beyond my comfort zone to interact and be ministerial not only inside the church, or on the pulpit but out and amongst the community as well. 

The ways in which I have been encouraged to accomplish this task is to just get out there.  Meet and talk with the people at the gas station and grocery store.  Inquire of people while waiting in lines.  Attend community events. Develop relationships with other area clergy for fellowship and for the purposes of understanding the parish.  Listen to the news and develop and understanding from the people without assumptions and create a daily prayer practice of praying for those that I have met and their stories and their concerns.  It will be a big adjustment from inconspicuously hiding behind my shades and minding my own business however I believe the intention makes perfect sense and is in line with how I see effective ministry.