Alban at Duke Divinity School at Durham, North Carolina, United States for Monday, 20 November 2017 "PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS: Bishop Mariann Budde: The early seasons of ministry" - Alban Weekly
Bishop Mariann Budde: The Early Seasons of Ministry by Nathan KirkpatrickWHAT SHOULD YOU PRIORITIZE AT THE START OF A NEW MINISTRY?The following reflection on early seasons of ministry is adapted from a sermon preached by The Rt. Rev’d. Mariann Budde in the Diocese of Washington.
The beginning of a new season in ministry is a unique moment in the life of a congregation. There is so much to learn and to do, so many tasks and responsibilities that are part of the congregation’s life. There are assumptions and expectations on both sides of this new relationship. There are challenges and opportunities, some that you had anticipated and others that will surprise you. Honestly, it’s hard to know where to begin. Yet it’s also a time that follows a lengthy period of prayer and discernment on both sides. Over many months, you’ve tested what it might feel like to share a life of ministry together, resulting in a call extended and accepted.
Now you are here. God willing, there are many years of ministry ahead of you. Not everything that needs to be addressed can be addressed at once. What is most important in the this initial season life together? What comes first?
1. Relationships
The first task is always relational and organic. It takes time for one who has been selected as a spiritual leader to become the leader. There is no shortcut for the kind of relationship building that is the foundation of every healthy church. St. Paul, using an image from the natural world, writes of being grafted into the life of a community, as a seedling is grafted into a larger plant. You need time to get to know each other–as a congregation, you need to become accustomed to your new rector’s voice in the pulpit, her or his way of leading. She or he needs to come to know and love you enough to determine how best to lead.
2. Gentle, Courageous Ministry Evaluation
If only we could do nothing else in the first two years but get to know each other! But you are not a community on hiatus. Ministry is on-going: there are decisions to be made, priorities to set, budgets to manage. You need to be about that necessary work and yet also use the gift of this time for the second important set of tasks in this season: gentle, courageous ministry evaluation.
In these first months and years, it’s helpful to cultivate a kind of dual vision, where you’re paying attention as best you can to what’s happening and a larger sense of purpose and calling behind at the same time. One author on leadership defines this kind of vision as distinguishing what you see when you’re dancing on a dance floor from what you see from the balcony looking down at all the dancers, one of whom is you. The dance floor is his image for jumping right in together for the work at hand; the balcony for the kind of vision you see only from a distance, when you step back, even in part of your mind, as you’re still out there dancing. We need both perspectives, he says. In the first year or two of a new ministry, it’s especially important to both actively engage and save a little bit of time and energy for reflection and evaluation. (Ronald Heifetz and Marty Linsky, Leadership on the Line: Staying Alive Through the Dangers of Leading (Harvard Business School Publishing, 2002)).
A Methodist minister in Herndon, VA, Tom Berlin, suggests a simple method for cultivating this kind of dual-vision, and that is to invoke what he calls the two most powerful words for leadership: So that. Those who learn to use these two words, he says, will discover a way to clarify the intended, fruitful outcome of every ministry endeavor.(Tom Berlin and Lovitt H. Weems, Jr, Bearing Fruit: Ministry with Real Results (Abingdon Press, 2001))
There is a lot of biblical inspiration for this kind of thinking. Once you start looking for them, you see the words so that throughout the Bible:
“Let your light shine before others others” Jesus said, “so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
“For God so loved the world that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life. (John 3:16)
“Do not be conformed to this world but be transformed by the renewing of your minds” writes St. Paul in his letter to the Romans, “so that you may discern what is the will of God–what is good and acceptable and perfect. (Romans 12:2)
Let me give you a practical example from one pastor’s experience with a congregation that had for many years hosted a Vacation Bible School. He asked all those gathered to organize the upcoming summer’s VBS to complete the following sentence: Next summer our church will have a vacation bible school so that….At first very few people wrote anything at all, struggling to come up with the purpose of the Vacation Bible School. At last one person shared what she wrote: “Next summer our church will have a vacation bible school so that the children of our church will experience a vacation bible school.” “Are there more possibilities?” the pastor asked. Another chimed in: Next summer our church will have a vacation bible school so that our children will experience church as fun.” The pastor’s thought was, “I’m not sure we need a curriculum for that.” After some time and deeper reflection the group came up with this: “Next summer our church will have a vacation bible school so that our children will come to know and love God more and that we will reach children in the community with God’s love whom we have not reached before.” (Story told in Bearing Fruit.)
That was a purpose they could get inspired to work to accomplish and invite others to join them. It was also one that could afterwards be evaluated on the basis of fruitfulness: did the children of our church have an experience of love? Were we able to reach children in the neighborhood? If not, why not? What might we do better next time? For the purpose was no longer to have a vacation bible school. That was a means to end. If the means no longer served that ends, they were free to consider something else. So that helps shift our focus from the activities of our church toward their intended outcome, one that can be measured in terms of fruitfulness.
3. Weathering a Storm
The third task in the early season of ministry is perhaps the hardest: weathering a storm together. I don’t know what the storm will be, and unless you’ve already experienced one, neither do you. But I know that one is coming, because they always do. There may well be more than one.
Remember this: how we handle ourselves in a storm has a greater lasting impact than the storm itself. There’s no choice, when the storm comes, but to go through it, but if you can all keep in mind that how you handle yourself through it matters more than the storm itself, you will cultivate enough emotional space for needed prayer and reflection–and when the storm passes, because it will–for evaluation. What did we learn about each other? About ourselves? What mistakes did we make? How did Christ reveal himself to us in the storm? How might we plan for the future so to avoid the conditions for that kind of storm to resurface?
4. Deepening Our Relationship with Christ
There is one last task I’d like to mention, saving as it were, the best or most important for last:
In these early years, I urge you as your bishop and friend, to devote yourselves to deepen your relationship with Christ and create at least one new avenue or endeavor exclusively devoted to that endeavor in your common life. Please think as creatively and broadly as you can, so that as many people at your parish grow deeper in a loving relationship with Christ as are able. I’m not talking about another evening class for your 10 most devoted attendees, but rather a comprehensive, multi-faceted approach that will reach as many of your community as possible.
I am persuaded that the future vitality of all our congregations, depends on that kind of spiritual renewal and commitment to a deep, transformative encounter with God’s love as revealed to us in Christ. For without it, we are running on our own energies, and our energies aren’t enough. We create a church in our image, for our purposes, according to our preferences, rather than seeking to be his faithful witnesses and doing what he asks of us in this time and place.I have all sorts of ideas for how to go about this, and there are others who can be of help. And surely the Holy Spirit is hard at work among you, placing this yearning in your hearts, and that all manner of ideas and possibilities are bubbling up within and among you. Pay attention to them. Give time and energy to them, so that you might draw closer to Christ, hear his unique call for each one of you and as a community, and have something of spiritual value to invite others to share. And don’t imagine that you are doing this alone. We are all in this holy work together. Now is our time, so that the Church we love may take its humble, fruitful place in God’s mission of reconciling, healing love.
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UPCOMING WEBINAR
"Things You Must Address by December 31"
A webinar hosted by The Church NetworkDecember 7, 2017
Time: 2:30 - 3:30 p.m. EDT
0.1 CEU credit, 1 CPE credit
The year is rapidly coming to a close, and clergy and congregations need to make decisions and take action before December 31st on a number of things in order to take advantage of current tax laws. Join Frank Sommerville for a conversation about two of the most pressing -- contributions and housing allowances.
Learn more and register »
IDEAS THAT IMPACT: THE SHAPE OF MINISTRY
Faith & Leadership
INNOVATION
Every new ministry is built on a foundation
Every new ministry is built on a foundation
Innovation requires paying attention to the past -- to those who cultivated the conditions that enable today's ministries.
In my early 30s, I was recruited to “start” the Center for Congregational Health by Neil Chafin, an Episcopal lay person who was a long-time church consultant and N.C. Baptist Hospital executive.
Neil had spent the previous 10 years laying the ground work for this ministry, building constituencies, identifying services, raising money and getting institutional support. He then worked beside me, teaching me how to do the work and letting me lead.
Many a new pastor acts as if history began as the pastor arrived. Yet even when a ministry is started fresh, it is built on a foundation. Someone cultivated the conditions necessary to start. Paul points to this progression in his first letter to the Corinthians,"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6, NRSV)
American culture is focused on the star and the hero. The cultural default is to credit Steve Jobs with all of Apple’s good ideas, Bill Gates with Microsoft’s strategy of world domination and the President for the national economy. Leaders, who begin to believe the press, can lose the humility required to recognize the good work of those who came before.
As a young pastor in a 100-year-old church, I had lots of great ideas for reaching out to the community, strengthening the youth ministry, growing the Sunday school and more. People praised me for such innovation.
One day I discovered a cabinet containing 30 years of worship guides that contained announcements explaining all of the church’s activities. I began reading the bulletins from the first year of my predecessor’s ministry, 15 years prior. I discovered that most of “my” good ideas looked very much like things he led. I began to dig into when and why the innovations stopped, seeking to understand what I might do differently.
Most leaders don’t have the benefit of working concurrently with someone like Neil. Typically, the previous leaders are gone. Relics of their work can be unearthed, but effort is required. Careful listening to the hero-laden stories of the past reveals the activities and convictions led to the current circumstances.
The places I worry about most are those that gloss over the past.
I was once interviewed by a pastor search committee to be the congregation’s first pastor. The group began by pulling away from another church. In preparation for the interview, the chair told me that the group did not want to speak of the past but was focused on the future.
During the interview, my first question acknowledged that the search committee did not want to focus on the past. What, I asked, did they see for their future?
Each person told her or his story of the pain of leaving the church -- a pain each was trying to forget. Yet forgetting the past makes it likely that the next generation will repeat it.
A few years into my ministry with Neil, I asked him why he had created a job for me that included everything that he loved to do and created a job for himself that focused on difficult, life-sucking work.
Tears welled up as he told me that he was not the right person to lead the charge; God called him only to prepare the way.
Years later, in the last days of his life, I reminded Neil of our conversation about jobs. He said that he had often reflected on the question and concluded that he would not change his answer. What he needed most to fulfill the difficult parts of his work was for those who followed him to acknowledge what had come before and to learn from it.
Read more from Dave Odom »
Twelve characteristics of effective 21st century ministry
Twelve Characteristics for Effective 21st-Century Ministry by Ryn NasserThe fast-paced, constantly changing world in which we find ourselves demands diverse skills in the clergy. Here are twelve skills that every clergyperson needs to have today.
One afternoon while I was rifling through backed-up periodicals, the tag line for an advertisement caught my attention: “Think Differently about Ministry in Order to Minister Differently!” The ad showed three pastors. Two, photographed in black and white, were dressed in traditional clergy attire. The third, positioned between these two, wearing casual clothes and sunglasses, leaped off the page in living color. The ad’s subhead asked, “Ready to do something different?”
The ad was promoting a doctor of ministry degree program, claiming that this particular seminary could point the degree seeker in a new direction. Most of us know that it takes more than forsaking clerical collars to be effective in ministry today. It requires an ongoing consideration of what should remain at the bedrock of ministry and where change should occur. It requires that both pastor and congregation truly struggle to discern what’s working and what’s not, what needs to be added, and what has to be retired to make room for God’s new vision of ministry.
Martin Copenhaver, senior pastor of the Wellesley Congregational Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts, calls pastors “the last generalists” in a world of increasing specialization. In “The Good Life,” Copenhaver says, “A pastor’s work is not simply distinct tasks performed at different times. Rather, the various tasks relate to each other in dynamic ways, setting each one into a richer context.” He calls for a revival of pastoral imagination to help pastors, once again, fall in love with their vocation. Gil Rendle, senior consultant at the Alban Institute, also believes that congregations can best be served by those whom he calls “deep” generalists. In his excellent article “The Leadership We Need—Negotiating Up, Not Down,” Rendle says this about leadership for the future: “We would need to move outside of cultural norms to value the strange gifts our new leaders would bring. Those leaders would need to be exceptionally mature and able to stand outside of cultural norms, knowing that their gifts are valuable.” I agree with both authors that the vast majority of 21st-century pastors will need to be generalists. The fast-paced, constantly changing world in which we find ourselves demands diverse skills. Pastors who want to specialize may simply be out of date by the time they finish their training.
Through research, personal observation, and interviews with clergy who are widely acknowledged to be effective in leading the modern-era church into a postmodern ministry, I have developed a list of 12 characteristics of an effective 21st-century pastor:
_______________________________________
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Innovation requires paying attention to the past -- to those who cultivated the conditions that enable today's ministries.
In my early 30s, I was recruited to “start” the Center for Congregational Health by Neil Chafin, an Episcopal lay person who was a long-time church consultant and N.C. Baptist Hospital executive.
Neil had spent the previous 10 years laying the ground work for this ministry, building constituencies, identifying services, raising money and getting institutional support. He then worked beside me, teaching me how to do the work and letting me lead.
Many a new pastor acts as if history began as the pastor arrived. Yet even when a ministry is started fresh, it is built on a foundation. Someone cultivated the conditions necessary to start. Paul points to this progression in his first letter to the Corinthians,"I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth.” (1 Corinthians 3:6, NRSV)
American culture is focused on the star and the hero. The cultural default is to credit Steve Jobs with all of Apple’s good ideas, Bill Gates with Microsoft’s strategy of world domination and the President for the national economy. Leaders, who begin to believe the press, can lose the humility required to recognize the good work of those who came before.
As a young pastor in a 100-year-old church, I had lots of great ideas for reaching out to the community, strengthening the youth ministry, growing the Sunday school and more. People praised me for such innovation.
One day I discovered a cabinet containing 30 years of worship guides that contained announcements explaining all of the church’s activities. I began reading the bulletins from the first year of my predecessor’s ministry, 15 years prior. I discovered that most of “my” good ideas looked very much like things he led. I began to dig into when and why the innovations stopped, seeking to understand what I might do differently.
Most leaders don’t have the benefit of working concurrently with someone like Neil. Typically, the previous leaders are gone. Relics of their work can be unearthed, but effort is required. Careful listening to the hero-laden stories of the past reveals the activities and convictions led to the current circumstances.
The places I worry about most are those that gloss over the past.
I was once interviewed by a pastor search committee to be the congregation’s first pastor. The group began by pulling away from another church. In preparation for the interview, the chair told me that the group did not want to speak of the past but was focused on the future.
During the interview, my first question acknowledged that the search committee did not want to focus on the past. What, I asked, did they see for their future?
Each person told her or his story of the pain of leaving the church -- a pain each was trying to forget. Yet forgetting the past makes it likely that the next generation will repeat it.
A few years into my ministry with Neil, I asked him why he had created a job for me that included everything that he loved to do and created a job for himself that focused on difficult, life-sucking work.
Tears welled up as he told me that he was not the right person to lead the charge; God called him only to prepare the way.
Years later, in the last days of his life, I reminded Neil of our conversation about jobs. He said that he had often reflected on the question and concluded that he would not change his answer. What he needed most to fulfill the difficult parts of his work was for those who followed him to acknowledge what had come before and to learn from it.
Read more from Dave Odom »
Twelve characteristics of effective 21st century ministry
Twelve Characteristics for Effective 21st-Century Ministry by Ryn NasserThe fast-paced, constantly changing world in which we find ourselves demands diverse skills in the clergy. Here are twelve skills that every clergyperson needs to have today.
One afternoon while I was rifling through backed-up periodicals, the tag line for an advertisement caught my attention: “Think Differently about Ministry in Order to Minister Differently!” The ad showed three pastors. Two, photographed in black and white, were dressed in traditional clergy attire. The third, positioned between these two, wearing casual clothes and sunglasses, leaped off the page in living color. The ad’s subhead asked, “Ready to do something different?”
The ad was promoting a doctor of ministry degree program, claiming that this particular seminary could point the degree seeker in a new direction. Most of us know that it takes more than forsaking clerical collars to be effective in ministry today. It requires an ongoing consideration of what should remain at the bedrock of ministry and where change should occur. It requires that both pastor and congregation truly struggle to discern what’s working and what’s not, what needs to be added, and what has to be retired to make room for God’s new vision of ministry.
Martin Copenhaver, senior pastor of the Wellesley Congregational Church in Wellesley, Massachusetts, calls pastors “the last generalists” in a world of increasing specialization. In “The Good Life,” Copenhaver says, “A pastor’s work is not simply distinct tasks performed at different times. Rather, the various tasks relate to each other in dynamic ways, setting each one into a richer context.” He calls for a revival of pastoral imagination to help pastors, once again, fall in love with their vocation. Gil Rendle, senior consultant at the Alban Institute, also believes that congregations can best be served by those whom he calls “deep” generalists. In his excellent article “The Leadership We Need—Negotiating Up, Not Down,” Rendle says this about leadership for the future: “We would need to move outside of cultural norms to value the strange gifts our new leaders would bring. Those leaders would need to be exceptionally mature and able to stand outside of cultural norms, knowing that their gifts are valuable.” I agree with both authors that the vast majority of 21st-century pastors will need to be generalists. The fast-paced, constantly changing world in which we find ourselves demands diverse skills. Pastors who want to specialize may simply be out of date by the time they finish their training.
Through research, personal observation, and interviews with clergy who are widely acknowledged to be effective in leading the modern-era church into a postmodern ministry, I have developed a list of 12 characteristics of an effective 21st-century pastor:
- The ability to maintain personal, professional, and spiritual balance.
- The ability to guide a transformational faith experience (conversion).
- The ability to motivate and develop a congregation to be a “mission outpost” (help churches reclaim their role in reaching new believers).
- The ability to develop and communicate a vision.
- The ability to interpret and lead change.
- The ability to promote and lead spiritual formation for church members.
- The ability to provide leadership for high-quality, relevant worship experiences.
- The ability to identify, develop, and support lay leaders.
- The ability to build, inspire, and lead a “team” of both staff and volunteers.
- The ability to manage conflict.
- The ability to navigate successfully the world of technology.
- The ability to be a lifelong learner.
_______________________________________
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When Better Isn’t Enough: Evaluation Tools for the 21st Century by Jill M. HusdsonApproaching the postmodern era as a tremendous opportunity, Hudson identifies 12 characteristics by which we can measure effective ministry for the early 21st century. Based on those 12 criteria, Hudson has created evaluation tools to help congregations improve their ministry, help members and staff grow in effectiveness, deepen a sense of partnership, and add new richness to the dialogue about a congregation’s future.
Completing the Circle: Reviewing Ministries in the Congregation by David R. McMahillBased on sound principles of effective communication, this simple system of asking for descriptive feedback about various aspects of a congregation’s life together takes into account the specific setting and the unique relationship between minister and congregation. The results are a respectful, constructive, helpful review of leaders and ministries in a congregation and the creation of a culture of healthy communication.
Read more from Jill Hudson »
FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY
Four Seasons of Ministry: Gathering a Harvest of Righteousnessby Bruce Epperly and Katherine Gould EpperlyMinisters often find themselves caught in the day-to-day pressures of leading a congregation and yearn to experience the unfolding of their professional lives from a larger perspective. Four Seasons of Ministry serves as a guide for what you will find on your ministerial journey and gives meaning to the routine and repetitive tasks of ministry. Authors Bruce G. and Katherine Gould Epperly, each of whom has over 25 years of experience in various pastoral roles, invite clergy to see their ministries in the present as part of a life-long adventure in companionship with God, their loved ones, and their congregations.
There is a time and a season to every ministry. Healthy and vital pastors look for the signs of the times and the gifts of each swiftly passing season, but they also take responsibility for engaging the creative opportunities of each season of ministry. Those who listen well to the gentle rhythm of God moving through their lives and the responsibilities and challenges that attend the passing of the years, vocationally as well as chronologically, will be amazed at the beauty and truth that shapes and characterizes the development of their ministries.
Learn more and order the book »
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Alban at Duke Divinity School
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