Milestone

Dear Friends:

This month represents a small milestone in my ministry. It has been one year since my certification as a lay minister and assignment to serve at First United Methodist in Seguin. I started my certified lay ministry website early on so that others would have access to the CLM forms and materials, along with some commentary about the process. I hope that some of you have found the materials useful. I sure hope that my work has made the process work more smoothly for you. Has serving as a CLM been all that I thought it would be? How do the facts compare with the theory? One year later, I have some thoughts about that.

The simple fact is that certified lay ministry has been more than I thought it would be. It has been a joy most all of the time. Juggling my work as an attorney with my service to the church has been a challenge at times. One critical thing I have learned is to compartmentalize the two as best as I can. When I am at the church, I try not to think about the law office. As I work with the pastors, staff, other laity and the folks in the congregation, I have to “be there”, and not distracted. On the other hand, when I am working as an attorney, I have to do the best I can for my clients and that requires that I focus and use my time well. Still, even at the law office, I find so many opportunities for ministry. Besides, and paraphrasing my friend Wes, no matter where I am or what I am doing, my true job is to be the best reflection of Christ that I can. I try to do just that.

There is a tab on the website “How Can A Lay Minister Serve?” The materials under this tab come from the GBOD Lay Ministry web page, and offer many different ways a CLM can be in ministry. My experience includes several of those ways, and one that I really did not expect. For instance, I expected to work in the care ministry. I enjoy the nursing home ministry and helping to better organize the care ministry for our members who are in nursing and assisted living facilities, or simply can’t easily leave their homes was a natural step for me. It was fairly easy because our “care ministers” have a real heart for the work. I am delighted and humbled by their dedication and service. They visit all of our members (and some folks who are not members) and take Holy Communion to those who will receive it.

Working on the new church start at Clear Springs is a blast. I realize that few (too few) people get that opportunity. I went to the New Church Leadership Institute (“NCLI”) and the Church Planters Boot Camp to help prepare me for that work. I would urge any of you involved in a church plant to attend NCLI and boot camp if you can, as those educational opportunities greatly enhance the CLM training. We are early in the church planting out at Clear Springs, but I can testify that the work we do in the CLM program is really good preparation for helping with a new church start.

Because of my background, I fully expected the senior pastor to use my administrative skills, and he has. I help write grant applications, do the contract work and generally assist the staff with various projects. I don’t know what other CLMs have experienced in their assignments, but I have been so blessed by the acceptance of the pastors, staff and congregation at my church. I had hoped that I would be allowed to actually help with worship and worship planning to some small degree. Instead, the pastors and staff have allowed me to serve in worship and planning most every week. That includes regularly assisting in worship on Sundays, as well as other worship events, such as our Taiźe service. I believe that the GBOD envisioned that a CLM would serve like that in smaller churches, but perhaps not in the larger churches. Of course, I am sure that the church would function just fine without me, but I would like to think that I have brought a distinctive voice to worship that is helpful. Besides serving in worship, each pastor has made sure that I get to help with other ministries in the church in an effort to round out my experience. I thank God every day for these folks and their willingness to include me in their work.

Then, there is that one thing I really did not expect. Serving as a lay minister has deeply affected my walk with Christ. Seeing ministry up close and experiencing the transforming work of God in the lives of people has changed me. When I originally started down the path of CLM, I assured myself that I was answering God’s call in a most satisfactory way. That serving as a CLM would be enough. I was wrong about that and earlier this year I began the discernment process as a step towards becoming a licensed, local pastor. I am now a declared candidate and hope to be in licensing school next year and then on to the Course of Study. In some ways, CLM has allowed me to better understand what serving as clergy would be like. Whether it is something I enjoy enough to pursue it. I don’t know if the GBOD thought that certified lay ministry would prove to be useful in that way. In my case, it was. You might find the same thing, or you might be perfectly happy in your work as a CLM.

I am going to continue my efforts to expand certified lay ministry and will remain the coordinator in my district for that purpose. As such, I will maintain this website and be an advocate for you and all others who want to pursue CLM. There are places in the process that could be easier for CLM candidates, and I am encouraging those who make those decisions to reconsider/streamline some of the steps. I really want to enhance the educational opportunities for CLM both in regard to the Four Modules, as well as for our continuing educational requirements. In short, I want to share the joy of serving as a CLM with everyone that feels called and help make the process as efficient as possible. If you have any questions at all, or just want to talk about CLM, just give me a call.

Joy!

Bill Knobles