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“The Longboat Key and St. Armand’s Ministerium”
Recently, Chaplain Jay and I attended a meeting with the Longboat Key and St. Armand’s Ministerium (the “Ministerium”). That’s a big name that has a significant impact on community life on Longboat Key and St. Armand’s. What is it?
The Ministerium represents clergy on Longboat Key and St. Armand’s, essentially six congregations. It allows us to share in each other’s joys and sorrows, while also coordinating our community efforts. It’s a covenant group, united by our love and service for God.
Our work together is special. It allows us to engage in important community discussions while building bonds with one another and providing a “no judgment” zone to share what’s heavy on our hearts and minds.
Believe it or not, this is just as important for pastors as for anyone else. Having a safe space to share our thoughts and feelings is important for everyone, and the more one carries, the more one needs a safe outlet.
As part of the Chapel family, we also enjoy this benefit, even if we don’t need to lean on each other very often. We are a diverse collection of believers striving to be better people. It’s not about being perfect. Instead, it’s about the desire and effort to improve our little worlds, as well as the bigger world beyond. Without this effort, things don’t move. They don’t improve. They don’t grow.
The growth we’ve experienced at the Chapel, especially this year, is due to our faithful effort to improve ourselves and our Chapel family as a whole. Growth is not by accident. Faith doesn’t just happen because we snap our fingers. These are often slow processes that take time to develop as roots beneath the ground strengthen and extend.
At our Ministerium meetings, sharing allows us to know each other on a more personal level. This helps us build effectively, relying on each other’s strengths and helping to fill needs that may surface.
I think that’s one reason God created us for community. We’re not supposed to do everything alone. We’re not supposed to have every answer, possess every strength, or carry every burden ourselves. Sometimes, the greatest strength we have is simply knowing who is walking beside us.
That’s true for pastors. It’s true for churches. And it’s certainly true for each of us.
I’m grateful for the Ministerium because we don’t all think alike. We don’t worship exactly alike. We don’t approach every issue the same way. But those differences don’t prevent us from caring about one another or working together for the good of our community.
I think there’s something important in that. Our world spends an awful lot of energy pointing out the things that separate us. We’re pretty good at identifying differences. Maybe we need to spend more energy recognizing the things that bring us together.
At the Chapel, we’ve always understood that. We don’t have to agree about everything to worship together, serve together, laugh together, cry together, and grow together. We simply have to remember who brought us together in the first place.
God did. That’s what makes the Ministerium work, and I think it’s a pretty good model for the rest of us, too. We’re better when we don’t walk alone.
See you Sunday! God Bless, Brock
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