Hundreds of ordained ministers in Equmeniakyrkan, Sweden's largest free church denomination, now earn their living outside paid congregational service at a time when congregations are short of pastors and deacons. On 18 November the denomination's Region Mitt will bring that group together for a digital meeting, part of an effort to keep ordained ministers connected to the church and, where possible, to encourage some to return to congregational ministry.
P-O Byrskog, regional church leader for Region Mitt, speaks from his own experience. During years working in technical sales he continued to serve as a pastor on a part-time basis, at times with no paid post at all. “I was a pastor the whole time,” he told the church newspaper Sändaren, describing how the sales job gave him a network far beyond the congregation and led to conversations about faith and life. He estimates that the number of ordained people working elsewhere runs into the hundreds across the denomination, though he has no exact figure.
The meetings are meant first as fellowship and care, and also as an invitation. “We as a church also have an agenda in these meetings: to encourage someone to enter congregational service, because there is a shortage of pastors and deacons,” Byrskog said. Ordination in Equmeniakyrkan is for life, so the relationship with the church is meant to continue after an employment ends. He acknowledged that some carry wounds from earlier parish service, and that for many ordained people their first post has been their only one — one reason the church has worked on preparing new ministers better and on recommending congregations where they can make a good start.
Structure for the group has been growing: recurring meeting places in every region, a national gathering at the January Vinterkonferens that drew about ten participants, and a guidance year of conversations and training sessions for those beginning ministry. Byrskog said the church could do better at keeping contact and that this was part of the reason for building a more deliberate structure now. Not everyone, he added, needs to be in congregational service: some are called to live out their ordination in another workplace.
(Originally published in Swedish. Summary translated by CC / Connexion.)
Source: Equmeniakyrkan / Sändaren — sandaren.se
