Jump to     PRACTICES Time for Personal Spiritual Practices Shared Leadership Sustaining a Focus on Mission

Pastoring Basics

by DAVID SCHAAL

You are a pastor. Thank you.

Thank you for your willingness to give your life to the sacred call of leading and caring for a congregation. Thank you for saying “yes” to a stewardship that makes you vulnerable to frustration, while opening possibilities for wonderful adventure and joy.

A Sacred Call

People serve as pastors for various reasons. For some, it is in response to a deep and abiding sense of call. For others, it is because no one else is available or willing to serve. For some, it is because they believe it is their responsibility to “take their turn.”

Whatever the reason may be for accepting the invitation to serve as pastor, the invitation itself is a sacred call. It is not a call to give direc­tions or to have all the answers. It is, however, a call to care deeply about a congregation of people, and to work with a team of ministers in caring for and leading those people. It is a call to help people deepen their relationship with God and one another. It is a call to lead people in discerning and pursuing meaningful mission.

Importance of Spiritual Practice

Serving as pastor is first and foremost a spiritual matter. The pastor’s first stewardship is to be as faithful as possible in her or his relationship with God. This sounds obvious, but it is easy to forget in the midst of so many responsibilities that compete for the pastor’s time and attention.
There are ministries to sustain, conflicts to address, planning to do, and people to organize and support. Even one’s ideas, dreams, and agendas—as noble and well-motivated as they may be—can distract a pastor from this primary stewardship.

Spiritual leadership requires every pastor to give adequate time to dis­ciplines of prayer, meditation, scripture, or whatever practice helps create a deeper personal relationship with God. This is important for many reasons, and this article will share a couple of them.

First, a life of prayer and personal spiritual renewal is essential for the pastor to maintain adequate levels of energy, creativity, and joy. Engaging headlong in the needs of people is important. At the same time, it can be exhausting as people look to the pastor for comfort, spiritual guidance, moral support, conflict resolution, and information. Over time, the demands placed on pastors can erode their own spiritual energy. So, it is essential for pastors to follow Jesus’ example and deliberately care for their own spiritual life.

Second, effective pastors and congregational leaders seek the Holy Spirit to shape their leadership. Pastoral leadership is not about hunting for the right program to “install and run.” Effective pastoral leader­ship has more to do with discerning (with others) what God may be inviting the congregation to be and do. It’s easy for leaders to be swept away in the tides of their own ideas, or be consumed in program management and conflict resolution. Wise pastors ground their leadership team in spiritual practice so they and their team are more available for spiritual insight, and so their efforts may flow out of lives of increasing spiritual awareness.

It’s About Shared Leadership

No pastor has all the answers. No pastor can be every member’s personal chaplain. It is not the pastor’s job to personally handle the congregation’s outreach or pastoral care ministries.
Effective pastoral leadership is shared leadership.

What is shared leadership? To begin with, shared leadership is not simply “delegation.” The “delegation model” has its strengths, but it can easily devolve into individuals doing their own thing, with little sense of real community. Shared leadership is when a group of leaders choose to journey together. They have individual roles, but they also try to understand one another’s stewardship and how each fits into the whole. In shared leadership, ministers spend time in prayer together. They see the way ahead together. They mutually “own” the vision that God is birthing among them. They care for one another. They consider together how to care for the congregation while leading the congregation in mission.

In shared leadership, the above principles are not limited to the pastor’s leadership team. The leadership team uses these principles in the congregation to draw congregational members and friends into the ministries of the church according to their various gifts.

The point to all this is simple. Pastors are not called to be all things to all people. Pastors are not called to be the primary caregiver to everyone’s needs. Pastors are not responsible for managing all congregational programs, or single-handedly deciding the vision and direction for the congregation. Pastors are called to cultivate a team of people who share leadership. With and under the pastor’s leadership, the team cares for the congregation’s needs and leads people in mission. (See the articles “Sharing Leadership and Ministry” and “Building the Pastor’s Leadership Team” in this field guide).

The Need for Discernment

The mission of the church is clear:

Invite People to Christ Christ’s mission of evangelism Abolish Poverty, End Suffering Christ’s mission of compassion Pursue Peace on Earth Christ’s mission of justice and peace

Develop Disciples to Serve Equip individuals for Christ’s mission Experience Congregations in Mission Equip congregations for Christ’s mission

How the congregation lives out its mission will depend on the needs in its community, the gifts of its members, and how God may be calling the congregation to serve.

With this being the case, discerning God’s call to mission for the congregation is important. Discernment is differ­ent than goal setting. Discernment involves personal and congregational prayer, as well as data gathering and study. It encompasses both quiet contemplation and group discussion. It includes examining the congregation’s gifts, as well as trusting in God’s guidance. Discernment is an ongoing practice in which inspiration comes as it will. It does not imply that the congregation just sits idly by until it hears God calling it to act. To the contrary, discernment includes experimenting with missional behaviors to “test” the congregation’s compatibilities with different types of ministry. (See the article “Discerning God’s Call to Mission” in this field guide.)

The Basics of Administration

Spiritual practice, shared leadership, and discernment are three “basics” for leading mission. Another set of basics, less exciting (for some people at least) yet critical, is the basics of administration.

Pastors do not need to be experts in administrative mat­ters. At the same time, handling administrative matters effectively can save time and energy. Handling adminis­trative matters effectively and in harmony with the poli­cies and procedures of the church builds credibility as the people observe the pastor and the pastor’s leadership team. Skillful administration builds trust.

So let’s make this simple. Don’t worry about having all the answers. However, when in doubt about a policy or procedure, consult the Church Administrator’s Handbook (2005 edition). If still unclear about a matter, call the mis­sion center president. Administration is not the arena for guesswork. Take your time to get the information needed. Lead according to the policies and procedures of the church. Doing so will lessen administrative messes. It will build trust. It will help the congregation have more time and energy for mission.

Good pastors ask important questions. The specific ques­tions you ask will depend on your congregational context. The following though, are three questions that every pastor should ask.

“How will I schedule time for personal prayer and spiritual practice?” We can practice spiritual disciplines anywhere at almost any time. However, unless we reserve specific times for spiritual practice, our frantic, busy schedules can unduly shape our spiritual lives.

One of the traps that some pastors fall into is the trap of having their spiritual life defined by their role as pastor. As pastors, we obviously need to pray for our congregations and our stewardship of leading and caring for people. At the same time though, it’s important to not neglect our own relationship with God, which must be—to some degree at least—independent of the roles we occupy.

A second question is: “Knowing what I know about leaders in the congregation, what can I do to help the pastor’s leadership team form true community with one another?” Remember, the leadership team is not just a group of people to whom you delegate responsibility. The leader­ship team should be a fellowship of companions who have agreed to go on a journey of leading mission together.

A third question is: “How can I keep the focus on mission?” Many pastors discover that although they begin with a focus on mission, it’s easy to lose sight of this focus as other responsibilities demand their time and attention. It is important to keep personal and congregational mat­ters in perspective to maintain a mission focus.

Help for addressing these questions is in the practices that follow this article.

As stated in the beginning, “thank you” for your willingness to serve as a pastor. God is eager to bless your leadership.

		Time for Personal Spiritual Practices
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OBJECTIVE
To create an environment in the pastor’s life that allows for ongoing renewal, continued insight for leadership, and grounding in one’s primary relationship—a relationship with the living God.

PROCESS
Everyone’s spirit is renewed and shaped in ways that are unique to that person. When it comes to spiritual practice, one size does not fit all. Please consider the following:

• Make a list of all the personal spiritual practices that you have ever experienced or heard of, such as prayer, meditation, scripture study, journaling, and being present with nature.
• Circle the ones that you find to be the most meaningful or helpful.
• Look at the ones you circled. What time of day is it easiest for you to give attention to spiritual practices on a regular basis?
• Make a list of any of other actions that renew your spirit or cause you to be more fully aware of God’s presence. This will vary greatly from person to person.
• What can you do to experience these things more often?
• Who can you talk with on a monthly basis to discuss your spiritual life? This needs to be someone trustworthy who won’t try to “advise” you as much as simply help you to explore your own spiritual practice experiences.
• Now, how can you arrange your schedule to honor your commitment to pursue personal spiritual practices?

		Shared Leadership
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OBJECTIVE
To deepen the relationships on the pastor’s leadership team and increase the team’s sense of community.

PROCESS
Relationships can be complicated. However, they can deepen when we do a few simple things.

• Pray for your leadership team every day.
• Read and discuss the article “Shared Leadership and Ministry” (found in this field guide) with the pastor’s leadership team.
• Discuss what kind of team you will choose to be.
• Take time in every leadership team meeting for prayer, contemplating a selected scripture passage, and “checking in” with one another to see what’s happening in everyone’s personal lives. These are the behaviors of companions on a missional journey, as opposed to the behaviors of people who are just attending a meeting.

		Sustaining a Focus on Mission
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OBJECTIVE
To help the pastor and the pastor’s leadership team keep their focus on mission, even when other needs demand their time and attention.

PROCESS
Every pastor faces expected and unexpected needs and demands that compete for time, attention, and energy. Many times, these things can pull leaders away from the focus on mission that they wish they could attend to. This is especially challenging if the congregation is only beginning to adopt a focus on mission. The following two suggestions are quite simple, but helpful.

1. Organize every leadership team meeting agenda, every congregational conference, and every budget around the one or more of the five mission priorities of the church:
   
   

Invite People to Christ Christ’s mission of evangelism Abolish Poverty, End Suffering Christ’s mission of compassion Pursue Peace on Earth Christ’s mission of justice and peace Develop Disciples to Serve Equip individuals for Christ’s mission Experience Congregations in Mission Equip congregations for Christ’s mission

2. Every time an idea for the congregation is raised, and every time a program or activity is planned, be the voice in the room that asks: How does this (or how could this) relate to the five mission initiatives? Every time.
   
   
   • If the congregation is doing something that does not clearly fit under one of these initiatives, consider whether or not it is really necessary.