At the Crossroads of Pastoral Leadership
Internal Bearings at Intersection
Imagine a pastor standing at a unique intersection where many roads meet. At times, the intersection, like the lives of most people today, can be a busy, confusing, and even dangerous place. Among all the possible routes, which way will the pastor go? What direction will he or she take? What is the correct path?
At the Pastoral Leadership Program, the SPE program at Seattle University’s School of Theology and Ministry, this image of the intersection has played a critical role in helping our pastors visualize their current circumstances and guide them as they plot their futures.
For us, the intersection makes clear two key ideas that undergird our entire program. First, pastoral leaders need internal bearings. They must know their own purpose and be able to guide themselves in the midst of much confusion. Second, one of the best ways pastors can improve their sense of internal bearings and their knowledge of self is by exploring a number of different roads. In the Pastoral Leadership Program, we nurture a “safe space” where pastors can to get in tune again with their call or their internal bearings, and we also create a “brave space” with challenging diversity that allows pastors to sharpen and clarify their inner bearings more fully. Diversity challenges and enhances integrity.
But how do pastoral leaders who navigate by their internal bearings act? What enables pastors to live and act with integrity? Over the past four years, we have seen a few common patterns emerge among our participants. These are highlighted below, along with questions for reflection that we offer for all pastors.
Boundaries
Repeatedly, our graduates have expressed deep gratitude to the Pastoral Leadership Program for affirming the importance of and commitment to definite boundaries for effective ministry.
What boundaries do I need to set in place in terms of my schedule, appointments and responsibilities to ensure that I can sustain excellence in my pastoral leadership?
Balance
Many participants talk about the drudgery, burden, and discouragement they have experienced in ministry. Over the course of our program, however, they find new ways to cope with the inevitable struggles of pastoral ministry, new ways to live balanced lives. After graduating, some alums return from ski trips speaking of the mountains as sacred holy sites. Others send us poetry from days of reflection and tell us they have rediscovered how to put balance into their lives. Still other graduates have formed ongoing support groups. Structured time and tools for self-renewal and support are key to long-term ministry effectiveness. They help connect us with our internal bearings.
What do I have built into my schedule in terms of times for renewal, creativity, spiritual nourishment and times for supportive peer relationships?
Self-Care
One of the most liberating concepts pastors learn in the Pastoral Leadership Program is to live into the integrity of their own humanity. That is, that they are not to become their “role.” Some participants said they felt they had to live their pastoral role 24 hours a day, seven days a week, always being “on” and always being upbeat and cheerful. Through their work with spiritual coaches and one another, however, these pastors began to drop these facades, becoming more and more their authentic selves.
Is it time for me to begin to working with a spiritual director, coach or counselor? As I live attuned to my own integrity and authenticity, what supportive relationship do I need?
Delegation
Across denominations, pastors are under unrealistic pressure to take care of problems in their ministries by themselves. But, as we teach in the PLP program, good leadership empowers others to action and authority. When our pastors hear that message, their sense of relief is tangible. In delegating to others, pastors discover they are free to take on whole new ventures in creative ministry.
How can I raise my delegation skills to the next level? How can the staff and volunteers I work with be empowered to take on new responsibilities?
Safety
One of the most significant lessons we have learned from our work with a diverse group of participants is the importance of providing pastors with a safe environment. There, generativity is unleashed. Rather than feeling threatened and insecure, pastors feel liberated when they are given a safe place. Creating such safety for a group, however, is no small task in a world where competition, one-upmanship, and caution are the predominant social norms. During the initial stages of group formation, some participants may be unable and unwilling to be fully and intentionally present. Fortunately, over time, a new atmosphere begins to prevail, we have found. Participants begin to understand and to know that they are actually in a place that is safe enough to tell the truth, be supportive, and engage in the deep intimacy required for integrity. At this point a great release occurs. The safer our participants feel, the more they are able to let go of preconceived limits and habits of guardedness. To the extent that they are able to live out of their own deep truths, and admit with humility the struggles that they are dealing with, new growth can occur. Over the last four years we have seen a direct correlation between the quality of safety that we are able to create and the spirit of freedom and expansiveness that is released among our participants.
In what context am I most safe and free to live my own authenticity? If this is missing from my life, what individual or group relationships can I cultivate to fill this need?
We live in a stressful and confusing world where pastoral leaders can let the demands of that world crush them, or they can get their internal bearings in God. The Pastoral Leadership Program uses a wide range of methods, particularly those focusing on the intersection of safety and diversity, to help pastoral leaders achieve this goal of realigning their faith, practice and service.
Dr. Marianne LaBarre is director of the Pastoral Leadership Program at the Seattle University School of Theology and Ministry. The program was the subject of an SPE “spotlight” article in August 2006.
