Stewards of God's mysteries
This paper will present the research I am undertaking as the Sanderson Scholar for the Uniting Church, based at the Centre for Theology and Ministry. It is a small-scale oral history project in which I draw on the interview transcripts of ten ordained Ministers of the Word, Deacons or ministry interns in the first two years of ministry in the Uniting Church, to explore their lived experience of being newly ordained. As ‘stewards of God’s mysteries’ (1 Corinthians 4:1), ordained ministers have been called to occupy the middle ground. They have been set apart to carry out the complex tasks of ministry, within congregations, or with those on the margins of society. Ordained Ministers of the Word or Deacons are encouraged to seek spiritual direction to assist them in discerning their call and in staying true to their vocation. The spiritual director plays a key role in facilitating and supporting people in this process of discernment around issues of identity and the meaning of ordination.
Russian philosopher and philologist, Mikhail Bakhtin (1895-1975) developed a theory of dialogism, in which he believed, ‘all of life is adialogue, a dialogue between person and person, person and nature, person and God…’ (Coates 1998:8). I will use Bakhtin’s concept of the dialogic self, the dialogic I, to show how ordained ministers, as stewards of God’s mysteries, occupy the middle ground, as intermediariesbetween God and the people, in this on-going dialogue. As such, the role of ordination and ordained ministry is integral to the continuationof the Christian tradition. But taking on the identity of ordained Minister or Deacon, is neither a smooth, nor a straight forward process;it often involves struggle as ordained ministers strive to choreograph the middle ground, that space they have been set apart to occupy betweenGod and the people.
This paper will aid spiritual directors who accompany ordained ministers and deacons to understanding the dynamics of the dialogue Bakhtin describes and the ordained person’s role/identity in the middle ground in the dialogue between their communities and God. It will be of interest to spiritual directors who accompany lay people in their dialogue with God as they clarify issues of faith and identity. I will use interview excerpts to illustrate what Bakhtin called dialogic struggle, articulated by participants as they endeavour to work in the middle ground, as intermediaries between God and the people. Whereas these examples might be read as reflecting ambivalence or uncertainty about the participants’ identity as ordained Minister, I would rather read them as situations requiring discernment and ethical choice, where they act according to their interpretation of the Gospel and their understanding of the role of ordained Minister or Deacon. These instances are often articulated as ‘but’ statements, as participants describe the dilemmas or tensions with which they struggle.
Beverley Campbell PhD is an adult educator who has worked for many years in the adult literacy and basic education field in Australia. In that time, she has been involved in teacher training and in professionaldevelopment and is particularly interested in questions of professionalidentity formation. She is using the theory and methodology from her study of professional identity in adult literacy teachers to research questions of identity in newly ordained ministers in the Uniting Church.
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