In Jesus Name - Beloved Church & Pastor

I am one of ten students in the Pastoral Identity and Partnerships cohort in the Doctor of Ministry program at the Theological School at Drew University. This semester we have been exploring the identity of the pastor. An identity developed in relationship with God and the people to whom God calls the pastor. FBC, you are my people. I consider you in every lecture and reading. 

You were on my mind as I read Eugene Peterson’s memoir, “The Pastor.” In the memoir he chronicles becoming a pastor, not simply the office of pastor in a local church, but his pastoral identity formed by God in and through every aspect of his life. The subtitle says it all: Every step an arrival. 

I was particularly moved by something Peterson shared early in the book, “Congregation is composed of people, who, upon entering a church, leave behind what people on the street name or call them. A church can never be reduced to a place where goods and services are exchanged. It must never be a place where a person is labeled. It can never be a place where gossip is perpetuated. Before anything else, it is a place where a person is named and greeted, whether implicitly or explicitly, in Jesus's name. A place where dignity is conferred.”

I believe that this is precisely why people come to and remain at a church. To have a place where their worth is affirmed and celebrated. In a world that erodes people’s dignity, church ought to be a place where people are known,  loved, and valued as beloved people of God. We cease to be church when we tear people down with our words and actions. We cease to be church when people feel as though they are anything less than beloved children of God. So church, as we go wider in fellowship, my prayer is that we will be and will remain a place and people who are a refuge of dignity in a wearisome world.

Growing in Christ

Pastor Donna Olivia Owusu-Ansah