An Open Letter to Young Seminarians

The word on the street is that many, if not most of you these days are looking to do your Christian ministry in some settings other than the church. The reasons cited are those typically associated with aging congregations, slow change, hostile treatment of ministers by marauding gangs within congregations, substandard pay, and a host of other equally genuine experiences of many in church ministry.
Now before you go running any further from the body that is called to bear witness to the Christ, that is commissioned for the divine purpose of engaging the world with the Gospel, and that is empowered by the Holy Spirit to pursue the aims of teaching and discipling and baptizing in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit…before you get lost in heading someplace else to find the vision and the resources and the community that is called to follow Jesus…I beg you to reconsider.
Churches have always been made up of people. They are often full of less than mature Christ-followers who are on the road with you. And like you, they too are often enamored with the latest and greatest fads of the times, the new technologies and the eclectic tendencies that would have us all become the great homogenized culture of lowest common denominators. They too, like you, are in hopes that there is some new and better way of doing church than they have sometimes been a part of. Like you, they long for something that holds up in the storm, that stands firm in the quakes of life, and that will serve as a rock solid foundation in the midst of this ever changing world.
But please consider this: what has been missing for the most part is the integrity that demonstrates faithfulness, the message that proclaims Christ, the willingness to march into hell for a heavenly cause (thank you Don Quixote), and the truth that is discovered and shared best in those personal and unfiltered relationships of human engagement that take place as pastoral caregivers, enablers, healers, and teachers.
It is not easy. It never has been, and it never will be. Jesus always laid it out as our willingness to take up our cross daily and to follow Him. So before you jump ship, (remember Jonah) remember that Jesus doesn’t call us to personal or vocational martyrdom prior to entering the coliseum of witness and testimony and service.
Likewise, we must not presume a Lone Ranger (excuse me for showing my age) mentality in our vocational perception. Even the Lone Ranger had Tanto. To follow Christ, to serve others in His name, to be real…is to take up the task given to the church and to work with others in Jesus’ name. It is to serve the “least of these” and to risk the frustrations of “the most of these.” But no such service goes unrewarded.
There will be countless moments that will challenge the best of you…but there will also be greater experiences of being lifted up by the mercies and grace and love of God. Along the way, if you dare, you will see the hand of God at work in you…
doing more than you could ask or think or imagine possible. And there will be joy.
The church is not a love it or leave it place. It is a place of calling and purpose and mission. Please don’t mistake the errors of humanity as a lack of power or presence or meaning for the church. The church’s story is a resurrection story. The world needs the church. The world and the church need you…all of you who would share the gospel of a Risen Savior.