Who You Callin’ “Non-Essential”?
Over the last few weeks I have heard people celebrate that they have been deemed “essential,” while others lament that they have been labeled “non-essential.” I have also heard ministers wonder whether their congregation will be deemed essential by their absentee members. Will giving continue? Will members return to the assembly when the quarantine lifts?
Apart from these anxious and unproductive questions, leaders are also asking a host of vital questions about how to navigate these uncharted ecclesial waters. What does an online service look like? How do we commune while socially isolating? How do we facilitate funerals that are both pastorally sensitive and ethically appropriate?
To church leaders finding yourselves overwhelmed with these pressing questions, allow me to offer a few words of encouragement. First, thank you for all you are doing to adapt and serve in this ever-evolving environment. Second, make time alone with God your non-negotiable daily appointment. Third, allow yourself plenty of grace and laugh at yourself as you learn through trial and error. You aren’t a televangelist, and your church doesn’t want you to become one. Finally, spend some serious time in the balcony.
If you’re not familiar with the concept of “balcony time,” it is a metaphor referring to time spent stepping back (or up into the balcony) in order to look at the bigger picture. It is a time to pull away from the urgent demands of planning and studying for the next Sunday, the next Wednesday, or the next special event in order to wrestle with weightier questions of congregational leadership. What is working well or not so well? How are we or are we not accomplishing Christ’s mission in our context? How does this new reality affect my understanding of church, worship, mission, and membership? These are all great questions for balcony time, but I want to encourage you to especially consider the question, “Who you callin’ non-essential?”
This distinction between essential and non-essential is currently being used to determine who may go to work, and who should shelter at home. As one deemed non-essential long before the term went viral, I can tell you that it is a disorienting, painful, and lonely experience. But this open-ended sabbatical has also provided me with a unique opportunity for balcony time. As I reflect on congregational leadership, it seems to me that one of the most powerful spiritual gifts a leader can possess is the ability to make each member feel essential.
Congregations have long been guilty of making members feel unwanted due to their age, health, or personalities. In congregations making changes, it is often the elderly who feel most ostracized. In more conservative congregations, it is often the youth who feel most unwanted. And members with serious physical and mental illnesses are likely made to feel that they can only be on the receiving end of meaningful ministry.
Every minister worth her salt will cringe upon hearing the Scrooge-like sentiments in expressions like, “Don’t worry; the coronavirus is only dangerous for the elderly.” Though all too common in our society, such Darwinian evaluations of worth have no place in the body of Christ. The strong have no more value than the weak. The healthy have no more claim to belonging than the infirm. Young and old, female and male—all are called to participate in the body of Christ by him who is the head, and they are empowered for the work of ministry by the same Spirit. As Paul writes,
There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. (1 Cor. 12:4-7, NRSV)
In the weekly grind, we tend to disproportionately assign value to those who can competently fill the handful of slots in our order of worship while unconsciously deeming others “non-essential.” As humans, we look at outward appearance and utilitarian efficiency. It is a natural tendency of the flesh to focus on such things. It takes the transformation of the Spirit to learn (weekly if needed) to see people as God sees them and to esteem them as Paul does in the passage above. It is a true gift of the Spirit to be able to help each member of Christ’s body believe that they are essential members.
So take some time this week to ask the Spirit to reveal to you who might feel non-essential. Then pray for the guidance to invite each disenfranchised member into meaningful and essential participation in the congregation you serve.
In closing, let me offer a few ministry ideas that may help generate ideas for your context (asterisks mark opportunities that are particularly good for members with physical or mental challenges).
Ask youth to write cards to elderly members. It’s an added blessing if you can include gift cards to food delivery services.*
Invite empty nesters to make care packages for young parents and families who have suddenly become home-schoolers.*
Recruit professional or retired teachers to volunteer video tutoring sessions with students whose parents are working out of the home, or are otherwise unable to meet their children’s academic needs.
Ask young adults, singles, and singles-again to participate in a shopping service for elderly members.
As you speak the truth in love, may your congregation “grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love” (Eph. 4:15-16).
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To learn more about the concept of balcony time, see “From the Trenches to the Balcony” by Daniel McGraw.
