I think it was Eugene Peterson who said that most pastors appear invisible six days of the week and inscrutable on the seventh. Of course we try not to be so—and I assure you most of us work more than one day of the week.

That said, one of the more invisible things I have been doing the past year and a half has been going to school for the Doctor of Ministry program at Columbia Theological Seminary in Atlanta. I know this seems invisible because every once in a while I get a question like, “so aren’t you in school right now?”

Most of what I have studied so far has come into ministry inadvertently and piecemeal: an introduction to the study of Christian Spirituality, which is different than its practice; an exploration of how a congregation functions from Bowen Family Systems Theory; independent reading having to do with personal disciplines of worship—what I hope to write on eventually.

The program is part academic, part adding tools to the toolkit. One of my goals for the year is to start using some of these tools, both in thinking about how church members can find resources that “fit” their own devotional lives and how the session can use lessons from systems theory to understand how our church has changed in the past five years—and is continuing to change.

I’ll be down in Atlanta next week for some research and a class on The Bible and Poverty. I’ll be visiting Atlanta area mission projects; taking a class through the Lupton center (think Toxic Charity, for those of you who have read it); and reflecting on Biblical texts having to do with money and possessions. Some of these lessons I hope to incorporate into worship and a Lenten study beginning in February.

I hope that this kind of work can reflect our church’s shared commitment to learning and growth. And I hope that this time away benefits our community, too. To ensure that it does, ask me about school.