Tending Body Life
For deacons, elders, and others in caring
ministry and spritual leadership.
Sharing our joys and concerns
By Richard A. Kauffman
Many Mennonite congregations have a time during worship when people can share both joys and concerns with the congregation, followed by a pastoral prayer. Sharing times in some Mennonite congregations were an innovation of the 1960s and ‘70s, responding to two impulses. One was to provide an opportunity for a “talk back” time after the sermon, renewing and revising an earlier Mennonite practice of an ordained minister preaching each Sunday, after which another ordained minister would give a response, testing what was said. The second impulse was to recover an Anabaptist vision for a church that welcomes the active participation of all members, and that sees itself as a mutually supportive and accountable community of faith that bears one another’s burdens.
In my experience, congregations can over time be educated to make sharing times a meaningful part of worship without the downsides.
In the Mennonite congregations where I’ve been an active participant or leader, sharing times can be a mixed blessing. As Arthur Paul Boers pointed out in a much-discussed article (THE MENNONITE, February 21, 2006; CANADIAN MENNONITE, April 3, 2006) most other parts of worship are carefully planned and the time allotted defined. But sharing time is the one place where, at least in some settings, people speak off the cuff—and often for too long. Sharing times, also, have become what a friend of mine refers to as an “organ recital,” a recitation of health problems, and that often for people who aren’t even a part of the congregation. It can also become a time used to speak for hobby horses or to make not-so-veiled announcements or to share information which shouldn’t be shared in a public setting.
In my experience, congregations can over time be educated to make sharing times a meaningful part of worship without the downsides. But it takes vigilance and skilled worship leading. In my congregation we’ve used time in congregational meetings to talk about sharing time, and we’ve given guidelines for it in our congregational newsletter. We’ve also use a congregational response after each person shares. The worship leader says, “Lord, in your mercy/goodness” (depending on whether it is a concern or joy), to which the congregation responds; “Hear our prayer.”
Some guidelines we’ve found helpful are:
1. Whatever is shared, keep it brief. Two aspects of biblical worship need to be balanced: a participatory style of worship (1 Cor. 14:26), and the need to do everything decently and in order (1 Cor. 14:40). People should be encouraged to use their small group or to talk with a pastor, elder, deacon, or spiritual director for more in-depth sharing of joys and concerns.
2. Priority should be given to joys and concerns of congregational participants and their immediate family members or cohorts.
3. Bearing each others’ burdens should include sharing the concern of the worship leader who is committed to trying to end worship on time. If the service is running late, people should ask themselves if their joy or concern is time-sensitive or whether it can wait a week.
4. The church bulletin or newsletter is the place for announcements. Someone who must make an announcement, should think of how to frame it as a prayer request. Priority should go to items that concern the life of the congregation.
5. Brief responses to the sermon are welcome that express how the sermon touched a worshipper’s life or suggest ways of applying the sermon to daily life.
6. All participants are encouraged to jot down the joys and concerns shared for follow-up prayer the coming week.
7. While it is appropriate to share concerns about national and international issues, this is not the time or place to make political statements, especially on issues that are highly controversial in the congregation and beyond.
It is important for a pastor, elder, or deacon to followup with people who have shared joys or concerns. In my congregation we have a pastoral care committee which consists of our pastors and lay members. They take turns each Sunday taking note of what people have said, and then follow-up with each person who shares through direct conversation, a greeting card, a phone call, or an email.
Richard A. Kauffman has been, until recently, the lay minister of worship at Lombard (Illinois) Mennonite Church.