All Ministry is Referral | Lessons from the Last 15
An early temptation was to perform. I don’t mean a song or dance. I mean, I desperately wanted to bring something of value to people’s lives. We all know pastors who are great counselors. I should be good at counseling. We all know pastors who are great leaders. I should be a great leader. We all know pastors who are community organizers. I should be a community organizer. We all know pastors who are great at justice work. I should be great at justice work.
“Some ministry is better referred to someone who knows what they are doing.”
It didn’t take long to realize I was not a great marriage and family therapist or addiction counselor or community organizer. I wasn’t great at many other things either. Ollie observed me working with someone in addiction during a Bible Study and pulled me aside and said, “You need to call me when you are working with a drunk.” Some ministry is better referred to someone who knows what they are doing. God has called other people too, who have training, who have been to hell and back, and have a mission to help others. Pastors are not the only helpers in town, and in many areas, they are not the best.
“No, I am not out here on behalf of God. God is here. God is here with me. God is here with you. ”
One thing I’ve learned is to refer those dear souls and situations to a whole network of helpers. Even more important, I’ve learned that all ministry is referral. God has not sent me out to this post to do the best I can. My best hope is not in remembering some bit of wisdom worth sharing from Rollie Martinson’s care and counseling class from Seminary. It is not from something clever I heard about in a book.
No, I am not out here on behalf of God. God is here. God is here with me. God is here with you. Sometimes all I can say is, “I don’t know what to say.” “I’m here and I am listening.” “Ouch.” “I don’t have advice or an answer for you, but I know who does.” “Let’s go to the Lord.”
Then we ask together. We knock together. We seek together. I am not the Savior. But, I have his contact information.
Lessons from the Last 15 is a series of articles from Pastor Nathan Hoff on the occasion of his 15th year in ministry at Trinity San Pedro.
“It seems like they need me,” I said pretentiously to a dear family I was visiting in the first congregation I served. Just shy of three years at that Call, I broke the news about our upcoming relocation to Southern California. It was the Fall of 2005, and I had recently received and accepted a new Call to Trinity Lutheran in San Pedro, California. How that family managed not to roll their eyes is more impressive as the years go by. I had a lot to learn.
October 31st will mark the 15th anniversary of my installation as pastor at Trinity San Pedro. They didn’t “need” me in the way I thought they might need me. They did need the Gospel, and I needed it too—as desperately as anyone else. I still do and they still do. We are a good match.