Henri Nouwen wrote The minister is the one who can make this search for authenticity possible, not by standing on the side as a neutral screen or an impartial observer, but as an articulate witness of Christ, who puts his own search at the disposal of others.
Whether a minister or a Christian leader, our positions make us uncomfortably, yet most naturally, vulnerable. The-man-up-front has an immediate problem before he ever approaches the stage. What in the world is he going to do about his image? Most usually he has to fake it for he knows full well he is not made of the shiny armor the church assumes.
Before filing cabinets and Internet we had a system of possessing the correct answers when in preaching school. We had an alphabetized order of answers written on 3 x 5 cards neatly rowed in a shoe box. How to answer Baptists? Look under the Bs. Jehovahs Witnesses? Js. Ah....so simple.
One of my problems was I couldn't find many who were asking questions to fit my shoe-box answers? When one heads into ministry as a young pup, intimidation reigns. I prayed I would turn multiple corners where people with matching questions would approach.
Image? It is like trying to build a snowman out of warm water.
But I learned something important. I learned to be a learner. I learned that a secret in connecting with community is to say I don't know. Many in the community are looking for God. When they encounter another (like a minister) who is also searching it provides them with an immediate common bond.
I will always be in kindergarten trying to learn the alphabet to the kingdom. It isn't that I don't apply myself in study. It's that the Topic runs so deeply....so widely....so far. So, leaders of the church, I encourage you to toss the image and return to your original hunger for God. In this fashion you will find clusters of friends searching for the same thing....Life in Christ.
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