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How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?
Pastoral identity/formation and stability

It may seem odd to start an integration paper (or a commencement address, for that matter) on pastoral identity with a lengthy quote about why one should think twice about entering into ministry or question the “psychological health” of those who do. Furthermore, it may seem odder still to claim that the one actually writing an integration paper about pastoral identity agrees with Hauerwas’ assessment of those who enter the ministry. We are told by some that we are living in a “post-modern” time and are creeping ever closer to something called “post-Christendom.” While I am generally suspicious of how these terms are employed (most often it seems they’re selling popular, trendy, hipster books on Christian spirituality or ecclesiology), these terms do describe tendencies extant in our culture.