Cleric Why?

It's less than a couple of weeks until I find out if the Uniting Church thinks me becoming a minister is a good idea or not.

I got an email from a reader asking "why be a cleric in the UCA? I mean -- why a cleric at all? I don't myself see much justification for the setting up a class of professional ministers, thinking ... well, you can probably construct that line easily enough!"

Why should someone, including me, become a cleric? This is something I struggle with constantly and something I expect to continue to struggle with if I end up as a minister. My gut reaction to the question of becoming a cleric is to say don't. Almost every argument I’ve heard talking about why paid ministry is bad I agree with. I won't bore you by listing them all. None the less, given all that aside why would I want to become one?

Part of the problem of the clerical class is the problem of institutions. There is plenty to dislike about institutions but as long as Xy is large and wants to be organised institutions are unavoidable. So a question worth asking is what kind of institution. For me any religious institution needs to have at least these three qualities. Honest, transparent and finite.

• Honest: able to admit when things are bad. Able to admit that the denomination is flawed and will not meet needs of everybody or all the needs of one person. That the denomination is not the church just a denomination of the church.
• Transparent: transparent so that people can see when the institution is only doing things to make self look good and preserve it self and to operate in such a way that sins cannot be covered up assuming that this is always possible.
• Finite: the institution won't do everything and it will end. Denominations and institutions will die and that's ok. They may also radically change in order to survive.

Despite all the problems of the institutional church probably the greatest problem is that I can't see a viable alternative to it. Furthermore when and if there is an alternative a large part of th church will not be ready for it.

At the moment the majority of the church is used to having a minister. I think within my lifetime there will always be a place for minister type people. At the very least that role will be to shut the door turn out the lights on the current way of doing church and walk with rest of the congregation to a new way of being church a way that may not involve clerics. I know that there's plenty about the way church happens at the moment that isn't good and the kind of leader I would want to be is one that can imagine a community were my role is no longer needed if and when that is necessary.

I should just say as a postscript to this post, particularly for any newer readers, I’m not saying everything about church is fine and God will let us know if we need to change anything. Church has been in trouble for some time, personally I have really struggled to be involved and have learnt to have faith without it. Something new is emerging and I have felt a call to be a part of that and be a part of that in this particular capacity.