More from Urban Holmes

Many a pastor is dashed against one of two sets of rocks. He or she comes to be a hired flunky, on the one hand, a functionary chaplain to the establishment, or, on the other hand, he or she assumes the role of a petulant adolescent, working out his or her hostility upon the unwitting congregation. We excuse the former on the grounds that we are pastors, and we argue for the latter by claiming to be prophets. The truth of the matter is often neither one nor the other, but that we are spiritually bankrupt.
The dangers of these alternative courses to disaster are relatively well known in ministry studies. The solutions found in continuing education, consultation, and career evaluation are valuable, but they can easily lack the one ingredient essential to the vocation: a growing awareness of God’s purpose for us. The intention to live as a symbol and symbol-bearer of that which transcends as well as incorporates our secular expertise. This cannot be accomplished unless we steer through the straits between these Scylla and Charybdis of ministry guided by a living relationship with the Lord we profess to serve. - Urban T. Holmes, Spirituality for Ministry, p.171, emphasis in the original