PRACTICAL WISDOM FOR LEADING CONGREGATIONS
Nathan Kirkpatrick: Passing wisdom to the next generation of leaders
iStock / Giorgiomtb1
As our clergy population ages, younger ministers are stepping into senior roles at big-steeple churches. How must we mentor and form them so they will thrive?You’ve no doubt seen studies showing that American mainline Protestant clergy are aging.
More than 68 percent of clergy in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) are over the age of 56, an increase of almost 10 percent in the last decade. In the Episcopal Church, more than 55 percent of clergy are over 55, with more than 40 percent of priests expected to retire in the next eight years. The average United Methodist elder is 53.5 years old, the average local pastor is 54.1, and the average deacon is 51.4. In more than one Protestant denomination, retirements outpace ordinations by 2 to 1.
Denominational meetings are filled with discussion and anxiety about what these statistics mean for the life, health and future of the church. Will we have enough clergy to serve our congregations when the wave of retirements hits? Will we be able to pay retirement benefits and rising health care costs? Should we rethink educational requirements for ministry and consider new ways to encourage more people to pursue lay and ordained ministerial vocations? Some denominations have initiatives to recruit and support younger clergy, but will those be enough?
These are all significant institutional questions, and we have no choice but to continue to wrestle with them in hopeful, candid, careful ways. Indeed, these questions may well represent opportunities for the renewal and growth of congregations and denominations alike. Together, we will find a way forward, most likely with a greater need for congregational lay leadership, with fewer clergy and probably with higher bills all around.
As I look at the statistics, though, I wonder more about wisdom -- specifically, the transfer of wisdom from one generation to the next, and what may get lost along the way.
I remember being a new seminary graduate and attending my first summer denominational meeting as a clergyperson. I was there with several classmates, all of us about 25 years old, and we were ready to serve and save the church. We had more passion, energy and confidence than experience, skill or wisdom. Scores of retired clergy were also there. At breaks, they would find us -- the newly ordained -- and tell stories and offer advice. We would listen politely, but we were confident that their stories had little to do with us. They were the past, and we were the future. We were there to change the church.
And then we went to serve our congregations.
We learned -- some of us more quickly than others -- that congregations are complex gatherings of people who can be difficult to lead when forced to change. We learned that what seem like simple acts -- changing the order of worship, inviting a new musician, removing the flag from the sanctuary -- can be near-fatal pastoral decisions. We learned that even the most committed members will withhold their pledges if they do not like what’s happening in their congregations.
At the next denominational gathering a year later, each of us made contact with at least one retiree to pose questions, listen to stories and seek advice. To be sure, some of what we heard still did not address what we were facing; times were different. Some of it, though, moved internal mountains of assumptions and expectations about congregational leadership. All of it reassured us that we were not alone in this beautiful, challenging work of ministry.
In my denomination, more than 40 percent of priests will retire in the next eight years. This means that a number of us will inevitably be asked to assume senior leadership positions in flagship congregations at younger ages -- 5, 10, sometimes 15 years younger -- than our predecessors did a generation ago. We will bring fewer years of experience into these roles from the first day we’re on the job. Others of us will follow priests who were called as senior clergy at a similar age, but few in our congregations will remember when those priests were just starting; they will have known them only as seasoned senior pastors. Some of these transitions have already begun. It is not uncommon now to hear that a 35- to 40-year-old has become the senior pastor of a big-steeple church, the kind that has historically been the pinnacle of someone’s career rather than a midcareer call.
We will need to find ways to harvest the wisdom of those who have come before, of capturing their stories and advice, of honoring those gifts and passing them on. Beyond addressing the technical questions and practical challenges of an aging clergy, this work is a means of expressing gratitude for faithful service and celebrating beautiful lives.
Read more from Nathan E. Kirkpatrick »
IDEAS THAT IMPACT: MENTORING
Faith & Leadership
A learning resource for Christian leaders and their institutions from Leadership Education at Duke Divinity
Mentors in ministry teach one another
Neaners, his daughter Adelita, Chris Hoke and Hoke's wife, Rachel, celebrating Neaners' release from prison at a backyard barbecue. Hoke was mentored by Bob Ekblad, and then served as a mentor to Neaners. Neaners, in turn, plans to help others by founding a new ministry.
Relationships are the way in which Tierra Nueva empowers teachers and learners. Three men -- Bob Ekblad, Chris Hoke and Neaners -- have taken the lessons they learned and put them into practice.
Bob and Gracie Ekblad: Tierra Nueva founders
Bob and Gracie Ekblad grew up together in an upscale community outside Seattle, and they both attended Seattle Pacific University, a Christian institution founded by Free Methodist pioneers.
Inspired by the words of Isaiah (65:17-25) praising God’s “new earth,” as well as by the humanitarian teachings of Catholic philosopher Jean Vanier, they became involved in teaching sustainable farming on the outskirts of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Their work began in the early 1980s, at a time of extreme political ferment in Central America.
“We knew nothing about farming, and we weren’t experts,” Bob Ekblad said. “We just wanted to serve the people. We wanted to come under them as learners and give them a voice.”
It was an ideal opportunity to help. The tiny country, positioned between two revolutionary governments and having been dominated by the military for the past decade, was plagued by erosion and poor water practices.
A member of the Honduras Department of Natural Resources introduced them to a man named Fernando Andrade, a 53-year-old campesino in Minas de Oro who had turned his land into a model farm and was willing to teach his methods.
“Don Fernando was a true ‘Wendell Berry’ kind of farmer,” Ekblad said. “He knew things like how to choose the perfect branch to make a yoke for the oxen to plow the fields. He was a master with a machete and other local tools.”
Gracie and Bob Ekblad, who founded ministries in Honduras and Washington state.
Photo courtesy of Tierra Nueva
The American couple partnered with Andrade and another local person, Catalina Toc, to help the community revive and expand the use of traditional methods and tools that worked with local conditions instead of against them.
Their efforts literally bore fruit. Three years into their time on the project they called “Tierra Nueva” (New Earth), the number of sustainable farms around them had grown into the thousands. Crops and people were thriving. That is when the Ekblads were asked by the Honduran community to lead a Bible study group.
“We weren’t going to any church,” Ekblad said. “It was always in cornfields, in people’s homes. Faith had been important to us, big time, but we had not been [intentional] about sharing it.”
Much like the farming practices they helped introduce, the informal Bible study meetings took off, and the Ekblads found themselves invited by a group of liberation theology Jesuits to serve in nearby villages. “They welcomed us into their network of communities, and it was then that we realized we were really being called into pastoring people.”
The Ekblads felt they needed more training in order to follow their calling to ministry, but bad feelings about the United States’ involvement in the Central American crisis led them to seek schooling elsewhere. Ultimately, they were accepted into a Huguenot seminary in southern France, where they studied under Daniel Bourguet, a Protestant hermit who is now prior of the Order of Watchers community.
It was in France that both Bob and Gracie were ordained in the Presbyterian Church, to which they had family ties. Their return to the organized church was encouraged by the humility and faith they found in France.
“It was through these French pastors who were so humble,” Ekblad said, “that we felt, maybe we can be pastors as well.”
They maintained a connection with Tierra Nueva, leaving the ministry in the hands of 15 of the leaders they had raised up, and going back to Honduras for a monthlong visit each year. And in 1994, when Bob was offered a position as chaplain at the Skagit County Jail in Burlington, Washington -- a community with a significant Latino population -- they established Tierra Nueva del Norte, extending the ministry into the U.S.
“We felt a little stirring in our hearts, since the Skagit Valley was so much closer to our families,” Ekblad said. “Wondering about other needs we might serve, we investigated and found there were 25,000 immigrants in the area and not a single Spanish-speaking pastor.”
Today Bob and Gracie serve as the ministry's general directors, as well as traveling and teaching people around the world who seek to do ministry with the poor.
Chris Hoke: Tierra Nueva’s Gang Initiative founder
As a child of conservative evangelical Christians in Southern California, Chris Hoke always knew he wanted to follow Jesus. As he grew into a young man, however, he refused the path he was offered.
He saw hypocrisy, and rejected the notion of a God that responds to “badness” with punishment. For Hoke, the faith he had been taught was antithetical to the Jesus he wanted to give his life to.
“Here is this marginalized person who did not get along with religious authorities, who spent all his time with people on the margins of Galilee, hanging out with prostitutes and bad guys, and who was homeless,” Hoke said. And it troubled him that “leading that [lifestyle] doesn’t work well with the system that is teaching you about that very Jesus.”
Before becoming a student at the University of California, Berkeley, Hoke did a stint with an urban ministry organization called Mission Year. Stationed in a rough part of Oakland, Hoke found the experience catalyzing.
“I spent all my time there with gang members and kids from violent families, and I loved it so much because my life wasn’t about upward mobility; it was about loving my neighbors.”
Chris Hoke, right, with Neaners. The two men met in the county jail and developed a deep friendship.
When Hoke later heard about a “radical theologian” in Washington state who was ministering to lost souls caught up in an overcrowded county penal system, something clicked. He was intrigued by this man and his wife, Bob and Gracie Ekblad, who had dedicated themselves to serving the poor and disenfranchised in Honduras and then brought that social justice ministry to jail inmates and migrant workers in a corner of the Pacific Northwest.
His urban experience with Mission Year had led Hoke to realize that he, too, felt drawn to the people in the shadows, the ones that his childhood role models had told him to avoid at all costs. He wanted to follow Bob Ekblad into those shadows and help in casting the light.
In his recent book, “Wanted: A Spiritual Pursuit Through Jail, Among Outlaws, and Across Borders,” Hoke describes his search for God’s presence in seemingly unlikely places as “a mix of true crime and spiritual adventure.”
In 2005, Hoke joined Ekblad at Tierra Nueva. Entering the jail with his newly adopted teacher and reading the Bible shoulder to shoulder with inmates brought him closer to spiritual fraternity than he had ever been.
Hoke went on to found Tierra Nueva’s Gang Initiative and co-found its Underground Coffee business.
“I was looking to go to seminary,” he said, “but these gang members ended up being the best fellow seminary students I could have asked for.
Like Hoke, they were dissatisfied young men desperate for connection and understanding -- be it a handshake, a hug or a blessing bestowed. “In our jail Bible studies,” Hoke’s website notes, “it was always the skinny, tattooed gangsters who had the most energizing insights into the mission and work of Jesus.”
Neaners: Gang outreach assistant
Youths that are drawn to gangs do not have strong family ties; they are like lost sheep seeking a place to belong. Hoke was new to Tierra Nueva and still a bit of a lost sheep himself when he met the man called Neaners, a heavily tattooed Mexican gang leader with a shaved head who had started attending the jail Bible studies. Born José Israel Garcia, he got his nickname when he joined a gang at age 10, as a “niño”; over time, that label became playfully or mockingly stretched to become the only name he now uses.
Only two months apart in age, the young men formed an unexpected bond.
After years in jail and prison, Neaners now is working to help former gang members.
Neaners did his time in county jail and was released, but was eventually arrested again and convicted of tampering with a witness, unlawful possession of a firearm and assault.
He spent seven years in prisons around Washington state, including five years in solitary confinement.
Hoke supported Neaners throughout his incarceration, including keeping up regular correspondence, reconnecting him with his estranged daughter and providing him with some money while in prison.
“He walked with me through a lot of things, like losing my brother,” Neaners said. When Neaners began changing and moving away from gang culture, “[Chris] told me, ‘This is God’s work.’ He had seen a bigger picture than I did.”
In July 2014, Neaners was released from prison into Hoke’s custody. During his time in prison, the former gang leader had grown in faith and became clear about working with Hoke and Tierra Nueva when he got out.
A year later, Neaners is newly married, in the process of tattoo removal and now employed as the gang ministry’s outreach assistant.
He regularly corresponds with more than 40 men who are currently in prison and is very active in engaging local youths who are at high risk of gang violence.
“We take them out on Thursdays, to give them a glimpse of the world outside their 4-block radius and expand their minds more,” Neaners said. “For example, we took them to the kangaroo farm here in Arlington. Next we are thinking of taking them to a trampoline park. It’s amazing!”
Neaners is also working toward a project of his own he calls “Hope for Homies,” a vision of a gang ministry and farm he developed during those many hours of solitary confinement.
“I want to give other guys a reason to move forward instead of being trapped in the same boat we get stuck in all our lives,” he said.
A former Alban consultant offers three hints about finding a mentor even when it seems many people have difficulty finding the mentors that they know they need.
Ask Alban: Mentoring: Don't Wait to Be Invited
Q: Parish ministry is learned largely through experience. How do I find a mentor to guide and challenge me now that I am out of seminary? My denomination seems more inclined to give me additional study requirements than to provide help in learning about ministry.A: Mentoring is a form of coaching or teaching (often by example) that is usually initiated when an experienced person takes a younger colleague under his or her wing. Your experience of a lack of mentors for congregational leaders is shared by a lot of other people. There was once a good deal more of this informal leadership development being exercised in congregations, for the benefit of both clergy and leading members. For the present, it seems as if overburdened schedules, the less hierarchical nature of our congregations and denominations, concerns over exclusiveness, and perhaps a few other issues have conspired to minimize opportunities for mentoring. Also, differences between generations regarding assumptions and expectations has limited the mentoring that does occur.
I would invite you to consider three ideas:
1. Ask to be mentored You do not need to waith to be invited or simply hope to fall into a mentoring relationship. Look around for a person whose skills and insight attract you. Do not limit yourself by looking only at denominational colleagues or at people who share your role. Clergy have often found laity who are leaders in business or nonreligious professions to be wonderful mentors, and lay people have often turned to clergy for mentoring. However, when you talk to the person you have selected as a mentor, be as clear and precise as you can about what role or function of leadership you would like to address. The mentoring relationship is purposeful, and you will want to find someone who can offer both guidance and challenge in your chosen areas. Being clear about what you hope to work on can help both of you assess whether your time together will be beneficial.
2. Consider peer mentoring. As generational expectations create larger differences between younger and older clergy in the understanding and practice of ministry, peer learning becomes important. You may want to consider “reciprocal mentoring,” in which you agree with peers in ministry to study together and to practice a structured and systematic review of your ministry. An increasing number of peer mentoring groups are being formed whose participants, having found one another because they are facing similar questions or challenges, are convenanting to work and learn together. It is not uncommon for such a group to call in one of our Alban consultants for a one- or two-day learning experience and then follow up with reading and discussion on a regular basis. Often these groups intentionally use case study methods to review their own practice.
3. Commit to ongoing learning. Whether you work alone, with another individual, or with a group who shares your questions, please know the importance of a commitment to ongoing learning. In this sense, you may want to think about what it means to mentor yourself. Be aware of where your questions lie and where you feel uncomfortable, and do your prayer, reading, studying, and discussion in these areas. Many leaders fall into the trap of always studying and learning in those areas in which they already feel well prepared and comfortable. The need to pursue mastery in an area where we seem to know what we are doing is understandable. But ministry is the practice of a generalist who is able to stand firmly in the teaching and traditions of the faith and who can also work broadly—and across disciplines—to address the multiple and varied conditions of humanity.
Rev. Dr. Gil Rendle is a former senior consultant at the Alban Institute. His areas of expertise include strategic planning, change management, coping with congregational conflict, team building, and leadership.
Read more from Gil Rendle »
An experienced mentor reflects how important it is for new clergy to have a safe learning environment and multiple support systems especially in their first two years of ministry.
Creating the Conditions for New Pastors' Success
Two classmates graduate from seminary. Each has done well academically, and received glowing recommendations from the faculty. Each was affirmed by a field placement parish during the seminary experience. And each performed well amid the challenges of clinical pastoral education. Two classmates, both filled with promise and the potential to be highly effective pastors, transition into their first full-time positions in parish ministry. Fast- forward 35 years. One of these individuals is retiring after a rich and rewarding career in parish ministry. The other is retiring from a secular career, having left parish ministry within a few years following negative experiences in two parishes.What happened? Why do some seminary graduates committed to the pastoral life successfully navigate the transition into full-time ministry and others don’t? Why do some pastors flourish while others do not? Why do some parishes seem to have a knack for producing great, young pastors? It is my conviction that the first two years of full-time parish ministry are the most critical. And my seven years of experience leading the Foundations for Spiritual Leadership program at Christ Church in Alexandria, Virginia, a pilot program funded by the Lilly Endowment, has taught me many lessons about how we can create the conditions for success for new pastors during these formative years.
We most often associate success in ministry with accumulated years of experience. Success can mean many years of ministry in one congregation, sharing their joys and tragedies and triumphs. It can mean starting a new parish, identifying a mission, and building a new community of faith where previously there was none. It can mean sequential parishes, each larger and more complex than the previous. Success can also mean transforming a struggling congregation into one that is engaged and flourishing, or creating and nurturing a unique and powerful “niche” ministry that is a catalyst for the transformation of individuals and communities. Success might also mean election to a position of enhanced responsibility within a denomination.
What if success in ministry was available to every clergyperson? What if success was created rather than achieved? What if clergy and congregations intentionally planned for success? Success could then be understood as a set of conditions that create life-giving ministry for the clergyperson and the congregation. With this in mind, what if success could be created most especially for new pastors, for those making the transition into what we hope will be a lifetime of ministry?
Creating the conditions for success for new pastors begins with understanding the significance of the initial years of ordained ministry.
The vocational formation of seminary carries over into the first two years of parish ministry. Adaptation and learning, innovation and meeting new challenges, attempting to balance personal and professional considerations all happen at an intense pace. Every ministry experience is new. Amid the intensity associated with this time, the full identity of the pastor as scholar, teacher, shepherd, and spiritual and congregational leader takes shape. The foundations for holy habits and healthy leadership practices for an individual’s entire ministry are also put in place. Herein lies the significance of these first two years of ministry.
Traditionally these first years have been viewed as a time of trial and error, a time when new pastors learn what not to do by painful mistakes, a time when recently ordained clergy have to figure out on their own how to balance vocational, personal, and family needs. Certainly, positive vocational formation can and does take place in the context of a trial-and-error model. Sadly, more often than not, formation in this context is negative, leaves scars for future years in ministry, and can even lead new clergy to leave ministry. Creating the conditions for success honors the first two years as unique in an individual’s ministry, as his or her identity takes shape through positive experiences and a structured learning model that embraces the pastoral life as both joy-filled and demanding, both intellectually stimulating and emotionally intense. Rather than trial and error, this context for vocational formation is both active and reflective, providing an opportunity to celebrate the privilege and responsibility of walking with others in their faith journey and to embrace the challenges of daily ministry.
Creating the conditions for success for new clergy recognizes that two distinct processes of vocational formation take place during these initial years: the integration of academic learning with the daily experience of ministry, and the mastery of basic skills in the practice of ministry.
From Classroom to Pastorate
The first vocational formation process is to integrate the formal theological training of seminary into the specific context and experience of parish life. One bishop compared these early years of parish ministry to the novitiate for those who take monastic vows. He observed that a monastic cannot really learn what it is like to live in community until he or she lives in community. The same is true for a pastor. A pastor cannot really know what it is like to pastor a congregation until she or he has the experience of shepherding a congregation.
Academic study and the cultivation of rigorous theological reasoning are essential for success in ministry. One cannot preach the entire development of trinitarian theology using the sermons of the early church fathers. However, knowledge of that theological development serves as a powerful resource for a sermon on the Trinity. One cannot preach on a given Sunday a sampler of the types of sermons covered in homiletics. However, with the knowledge of different sermon styles for different purposes, one can choose the most appropriate for a given circumstance or text. With respect to all the disciplines in theological education, strong and vital academic preparation provides an essential foundational resource for the experience-based learning that occurs in ministry.
This experiential learning takes formal academic study and applies it to the practice of ministry through an action-reflection process. This is a new style of learning for many people. It requires setting aside time to reflect on a particular experience, and identifying theological, personal, and other perspectives offered by a mentor. What happened? What could have been done differently? What would you do the next time and why? These are all questions that arise from experience and shape identity. How did you understand yourself as a pastor in this situation? How did you bring the compassion of Christ to a grieving family, or how did you explain that marriage is a life you create together in God’s love? What is your theology of stewardship and what do you think is the theology of the stewardship committee members you are dealing with? These are questions for the new pastor to contemplate. Reflection follows action, which follows reflection. This iterative process aims for integration and begins to shape identity in deep and powerful ways. Experiential learning incorporates academic learning with the daily experience of ministry.
Mastering Many “Firsts”
The second vocational formation process is developing the skills for ministry. In the first two years, a new pastor experiences many activities of ministry for the first time: the first wedding, the first wedding rehearsal, the first funeral, the first baptism, the first confirmation class, the first time preaching sequentially and regularly, the first time conducting worship in this particular congregation, the first time balancing full-time ministry with personal and family activities. Often these firsts occur amid the emotional ups and downs that are common in the daily life of a pastor. A parishioner has died and the grieving spouse is on hold, waiting
to talk to the pastor. This conversation cannot be scheduled nor can it wait until after the Sunday sermon has been written. Building skills for ministry occurs at a rapid pace in the first two years. Confidence comes when situations or tasks have been handled appropriately. Competence is built over time by reflecting on experience, receiving effective and informed feedback from caring others, and completing the task to one’s own satisfaction. As new pastors begin to feel competent in the basic skills of ministry, their confidence grows.
The integration of academic learning with the experience of ministry and the mastery of basic skills for ministry are key aspects of positive vocational formation for new clergy. Both processes shape pastoral identity in important ways. Moreover, both processes are steep learning curves for newly ordained pastors. Navigating these learning curves effectively requires creating three conditions for success: a safe learning environment, mentoring from experienced clergy, and peer learning.
The Safety to Learn
Creating a safe learning environment is the first and most important element to help new pastors succeed. All pastors make mistakes. What is crucial is that mistakes not become determinative of a pastor’s ministry. Instead of repeating stories of what went wrong, the focus should be on naming and celebrating what went right. Creating a safe learning environment means that mistakes are viewed as learning opportunities, mechanisms are established for effective feedback, and the congregation views its ministry as one of playing an active role in shaping clergy for ministry. Congregations that offer a safe learning environment can be understood as “teaching congregations.” Some teaching congregations have discovered this ministry through their dedication to serving young pastors. Through effort and in some cases intentional learning, these congregations have come to understand what makes ministry life-giving for them and for new clergy.
However, any congregation that welcomes a new pastor can offer a safe learning environment and pattern itself as a teaching congregation. A teaching congregation forms a relationship with the new pastor with the understanding that the congregation has as much to give to the new pastor as the pastor has to give to them. A teaching congregation appreciates the unique importance of the first two years of ministry in shaping pastoral identity. The relationship between the new pastor and the congregation has different dimensions from the relationship between the congregation and the senior pastor or other more experienced assistants. The relationship between new pastor and congregation is often time-bound, for a period of two or three years; it is fluent in praise and judicious with criticism; it is open to new ideas; and it provides time and opportunities for learning. Though this relationship has a different dimension, it is equally important that the congregation fully embrace the new pastor as a pastor. An analogy from the practice of medicine is apt. Medical residents treat patients and are appropriately called “doctors.” Even though the resident is supervised by a more senior physician, the resident has both the authority and the requisite skill to be fully engaged in the care and treatment of the patient. Both the learning and the care-giving take place in what we call a “teaching hospital.”
Similarly, in a teaching congregation, it is understood that the new pastor is learning and therefore needs time for preparation, reflection, and feedback in navigating the steep learning curves described above. Although the new pastor is involved in tending the flock, it is also understood that the new pastor will not be involved in every aspect of the congregation’s life all the time. Instead, there will be focused times for concentrating on preaching, or stewardship, or Christian formation, or developing lay leadership. There is a support team formed to meet monthly with the new pastor. The members of this team serve for the duration of the new pastor’s tenure, are trained in effective feedback, and serve as advocates and guides. In addition, a teaching congregation ensures that a portion of a more senior pastor’s time is set aside for mentoring the new pastor.
Finding a Mentor
Mentoring is the second form of support that creates the conditions for success. While a mentoring relationship cannot be forced, the most effective mentor is an experienced clergyperson who knows the particular context and dynamics of the congregation the new pastor is serving. In a multiple-staff church, more senior clergy can serve as mentors. If the new pastor is a solo pastor, then a previous interim minister or another person familiar with that congregation can serve as a mentor. The important thing is that the integration of academic and experiential learning and the mastery of the basic skills of ministry take place in community, in conversation, in the context of a relationship with someone who has detailed, on-the-ground knowledge of the congregation.
The formative process of mentoring goes beyond a general conversation of how things are going. Instead, the mentor and new pastor review the ministry activities of the last week or month. The mentor helps the new pastor explore key questions about pastoral identity: How did you experience yourself as a pastor in that situation? How did you experience God in that moment? What were the dynamics in the room? What worked and what would you do differently? How did you feel when that comment was made?
The mentor also anticipates the “firsts” with the new pastor. Walking through the first wedding rehearsal reveals details that the new pastor needs to know. Preparing for the first funeral, the first baptismal preparation class, the first confirmation class are all opportunities for dialogue and teaching. Preparing for the first time when parish duties interrupt family or personal plans can be an opportunity to explore where to compromise and where to hold firm. Whatever the circumstance, the mentor anticipates the learning curve and offers assistance, guidance, and support. The conversation between mentor and new pastor follows the action-reflection model that forms the deeper levels of pastoral identity. The mentor’s role is to help the new pastor gain perspective, which in turn creates positive formation experiences that build success.
Learning with Peers
In addition to support from a more experienced mentor, the third condition for success is peer learning. Again, ministry is based on relationships. Supportive relationships with mentoring clergy and with the teaching congregation are vital. However, without peers, without conversation with those who are at a similar stage in their journey, ministry can feel isolating. Peers share strategies for navigating the learning curve. Peers add perspective on ministry. They add a dimension of community and of self-understanding in the context of that community. Not every congregation will have more than one new pastor at a time. At a multiple-staff church a cohort of two or three new pastors can create a peer learning group. Across a judicatory or seminary alumni network new pastors can form colleague groups. Facilitated peer colleague groups can be a particularly effective way of providing meaningful connections with others whose experience most closely reflects their own. In the flurry of the first two years of ministry, new pastors will often forgo these groups in favor of the many other things they want to say yes to in ministry. Creating a structure where peer support can occur and designating that time as important to vocational formation often gives the new pastor permission to deeply engage in these groups. Just like mentoring relationships, peer groups cannot be forced. They can, however, be designed to go beyond casual lunch conversations to reflect on deeper questions: What particular gifts does our generati
on bring to ministry? What do we want to do differently? When we consider our call to ministry, how does it contrast and compare to that of our mentors? Where is there a disconnect between our generation’s seminary experience and parish life? How do we creatively bridge that gap? Where are the places of celebration? What do we need to learn?
All Can Teach
Any congregation can create the conditions that provide the foundations for success and spiritual leadership among new pastors—a safe learning environment, mentoring, and peer learning. Small congregations can call a newly ordained pastor and create a life-giving ministry for all, knowing they will soon send this pastor forth to serve the wider church. Larger congregations may call one new pastor to assist the senior pastor, knowing that part of their ministry is to serve as a teaching congregation. And the largest congregations may call several new pastors at once to learn from more senior clergypersons, knowing their ministry is to set the standards of leadership and shape these new leaders for the future. Neither the size of the church nor the number of new pastors called determines the conditions for success. Instead, success can be created by any new pastor in partnership with any community of faith that is committed to the ministry of being a teaching congregation. The realization of this vision is life-giving and life-sustaining both to new pastors and to the congregations they are called to serve.
_______________________________________
Questions for Reflection:
- Describe the experience of your congregation’s most recent newly ordained pastor.
- Name three ways to create in your congregation a process for experiential learning that integrates academic learning with parish life and builds the basic skills of ministry.
- How can your congregation be helped to understand that they play an essential role in shaping new pastors?
- What would a safe learning environment, mentoring, and peer learning look like in your context?
FROM THE ALBAN LIBRARY
A Guide to Ministry Self-Care: Negotiating Today's Challenges with Resilience and Grace by Richard P. Olson, Ruth Lofgren Rosell, Nathan S. Marsh, and Angela Barker Jackson
Ministry has never been an easy path, and the challenges of today's changing church landscape only heighten the stress and burn-out of congregational leaders. A Guide to Ministry Self-Care offers a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of both the causes of stress and strategies for effective self-care. Written for both new and long-time ministers, the book draws on current research and offers practical and spiritual insights into building and maintaining personal health and sustaining ministry long term. The book addresses a wide range of life situations and explores many forms of self-care, from physical and financial to relational and spiritual.Learn more and order the book »
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