A provision in our new constitution requires the establishment of a Mutual Ministry Committee.  Recently, members of our congregation attended a workshop to learn more about this ministry.  The following is intended to provide you with a brief explanation of the work of the proposed committee.

Generally defined, mutual ministry is a mission-oriented enterprise that is characterized by a broad vision of ministry and a healthy practice of mutuality.  Mutual ministry depends on a broad vision for Christian ministry – service to another in the name of Christ.  Lutherans understand baptism as the act by which one is called into Christian ministry.  When we are baptized we become members of the priesthood of all believers.  Ministry is the calling of all the baptized.  Ministry is our daily work and life.

The congregation is the primary gathering of those called to ministry.  The pastors play a central, necessary leadership role in it.  The pastor is responsible for preaching the Word and administering the sacraments, conducting public worship, providing pastoral care, and speaking publicly to the world.  The pastors bear a unique responsibility for the right proclamation of the gospel but they share that responsibility with every Christian.

The mutual ministry committee is a small group of people who work intentionally and intensively in ways that the congregation as whole cannot.  They will nurture and strengthen relationships within their group for the sake of the ministry they will do – not for the sake of the members themselves, though they will also benefit from it, but primarily for the sake of the ministry and mission of the congregation.

“Scanning” is an important part of the mutual ministry task.  What is scanned is life within the congregation and the community.  It is taking a broad vision of the whole picture of the congregation’s mission.  The focus is always on the mission of the congregation. The mutual ministry committee has no “legislative powers” in the congregation but can share observations and make recommendations to Church Council which they believe will strengthen and enhance the mission of the congregation.

Sometimes it is also helpful to understand what mutual ministry is not – it is not a committee that ministers to the pastor or meets the pastor’s personal, psychological and spiritual needs for support, nor is it the committee through which the congregation filters its complaints about the pastor.  Instead, mutual ministry is purposefully focused on the mission of this congregation helping us to discern God’s will for our ministry within our congregation and community.

In accordance with our constitution, the mutual ministry committee shall be appointed jointly by the president, vice president and the pastors.  (Five to eight members are considered ideal.)  Term of office shall be two years, with three members to be appointed each successive year.