My friend, Leonard Sweet, once noted that 79% of all Yale ministry graduates from 1702-1779 served one congregation all of their lives. The statistics highlights an earlier era where people served in the same ministry or job for their entire life.
This was not only true of ministers but people of many vocations.
Today, we live in a world where people are constantly switching jobs.
I’ve read that the average amount of time a twentysomething spends at a particular workplace has been halved from 2.2 years in the 1980’s to less than 1.1 years today. This is true in every sector of the workplace–and those in ministry are not immune.
The Lord leads. The Lord guides. The Lord redirections. We move. We grow. We change. Doors open. Doors shut. Transition is no longer the exception as much as much a quiet expectation. I recently enjoyed lunch with a woman who had served a ministry for more than two and half decades. She was now helping lead the organization but had this sense that God was going to move her on. She learned to hold the position and job with an open hand.
I think that’s wisdom. In the midst of so much transition in our world and culture, we must hold whatever job title, role, and employer we are given with an open hand.
But I also think it’s important to broaden our understanding of what we do–whether it’s in ministry, the workplace, or our families.
My best friend, Leif, has held a laundry list of jobs ranging from working at a customer service call center to serving as a youth pastor to working at the Transportation Security Administration. On one hand, the jobs couldn’t be more different. On the other, they all held something in common: in each role, Leif managed other people. Even now, as we work together-he’s still managing people (even if some days it’s only me–and, yes, for the record, he says I’m a handful!).
So maybe in the 1700’s people served a single congregations. Today, many people are still single focused-working in ministry, the arts, engineering, management, etc…–and it’s just that the definition of what we do has broadened.
How single focused are you?
