Starting Out and Staying In
Douglas J. Rumford
The test of a vocation is the love of the drudgery it involves.
Logan Pearsall Smith
As a new pastor enters a church, several issues need to be resolved. Some are congregational: questions of authority, trust, and ministry style, for example. These important issues will be discussed in chapters five, six, and seven.
Other issues, however, reside in the psyche of the new pastor. They stem from questions we ask ourselves, such as "Who am I? What am I called to do? Can I really be a pastor?"
Douglas Rumford, pastor of First Presbyterian Church of Fairfield, Connecticut, wrote the following chapter shortly before going to a new church. "It was a break point in my own life, and the process of writing this worked to my advantage. Since that time, I've come to believe that these are issues not just for young pastors, although their needs in these areas may be more acute. It's something we need to face every time we change ministries.
"I shared the article with my Session as we talked about the job to be done at this church. I said, 'Here's who I am,' and we spent an evening talking about it.
"They appreciated it. One man said, 'We never really thought we would intimidate you, but we're glad to know so we can work to avoid doing it. And it never occurred to us that you might feel inadequate.'"
The following chapter probes the internal issues that hold the power to make or break the beginning pastor in a church, whether this is his first parish or tenth.
...
Age and experience are, of course, significant in many careers, but the ministry possesses an age dynamic different from other professions. Young pastors are immediately thrust into positions of leading people their parents' and grandparents' age.
In my second year out of seminary, ...
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