Now and then I talk to friends who are part of Team Ministries in large churches and I hear the sound of a creaking and groaning commandment in grave danger of snapping as grass on the other side of the fence appears so incredibly lush.  I am not sufficiently green (as in naive) to think that all is roses in large churches or team ministries, but I do find I get green (as in envious) quite easily when I compare and contrast.  The nice, holy, 'I'm where God wants me' answer doesn't always work.

If I'm totally honest, I miss the camraderie of office life - the banter between colleagues, the pleasure of watching new staff grow and develop, the people to bounce ideas around with, and the 'critical friendships' with peers.  It ought, I am sure, to be possible to see these things in church life, whether you are a sole minister or part of a team, but the reality seems somewhat different.  I assume - though it may not be true - that in minstry teams there is a greater sense of being in this together and working for a common aim. 

I'm not daft enough to think that those in ministry teams do less work than I do because they 'only' have to do the sermon, and maybe 'only' once or twice a month, but I do find myself envying the time they seem to have to prepare - though at least nowadays I only preach once a Sunday most weeks.  Someone told me they spent 10 hours per sermon - I don't even get that per service... pity those poor Methodists and Anglcians who have to race around three, four or however many churches every week...

I also know that I have freedoms that have to be let go as part of a team - at least I don't have to worry which songs will be chosen, or how many 'really justs' will litter the prayers of approach let alone the structure of the service.  I know it is a privlege to choose which parts of scripture we will explore and I value the opportunity to work with a theme over several weeks rather than the kind of 'hit and run' approach that can arise if you only get one out of a set.

Whilst I'm being honest, it always grates when people perceive bigger churches as a 'step up' from small ones, (well done good and faithful servant, you have been faithful over a little church so here is your reward of a bigger one) and that the 'goal' is to be team leader in a massive church.  It grates a bit that our system means that big churches with lots of people can have two, three or more ministers, sometimes paying them obscene sums of money, while small churches may not have anyone, or if they do it's a struggle for all concerned.  Tricky not to envy the minister in the big church sometimes... 

This has the danger of turning into a self-obsessed griping session, which is neither healthy nor constructive.  I guess the truth is that if we believe that God does call some people to large churches or teams and others to small churches and solo ministry, we should see them as equally valuable, if different.  One of the things that saddens me about Baptist churches is that the richer churches tend to have more staff and/or pay them more money while the poorer churches sometimes don't have any.  If instead of choosing to pay more to 'our person' or having more people for ourselves we all paid into Home Mission maybe there would be a few less emerald coloured, commandment breaking small church ministers...

Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's church, not his worship group, nor her youth specialist, neither the four bedroomed manse with a shower nor the idyllic views over open countryside, nor anything, not anyone that is thy neighbour's...