Significance of clergy leadership
Friday, January 07, 2011
"The United Methodist Church ... needs a revival of ministers captured by transformational personal discipleship, women and men compelled to share the Good News and to motivate other Christians to do the same."
That provocative statement comes from Derek Maul in a recent op/ed column. He reports on what he finds when sitting down and talking with pastors in the UMC, and he focuses especially on a conversation he had not long ago with well-known pastor and author James Harnish. It's a great article and you should check it out.
"Leadership" is a big catchword in the church these days. Its easy to take trendy terms or ideas and turn them into fetishes. But we need not do that if we look at why such concepts have gained traction in the first place. In the case of pastoral leadership, it is because there is a widespread recognition on the need for strong leadership in order for congregations to grow and thrive. So leadership is an essential idea and one that I think we can do a great deal more theological work around.
And after all, it shouldn't surprise us that we are recognizing how important leadership in the church really is. The word "pastor" is simply the Latin term for "shepherd," and that's exactly what a pastor is supposed to be. As the shepherd over a flock, a pastor has got to be a good leader if he expects his sheep to follow him.
That provocative statement comes from Derek Maul in a recent op/ed column. He reports on what he finds when sitting down and talking with pastors in the UMC, and he focuses especially on a conversation he had not long ago with well-known pastor and author James Harnish. It's a great article and you should check it out.
"Leadership" is a big catchword in the church these days. Its easy to take trendy terms or ideas and turn them into fetishes. But we need not do that if we look at why such concepts have gained traction in the first place. In the case of pastoral leadership, it is because there is a widespread recognition on the need for strong leadership in order for congregations to grow and thrive. So leadership is an essential idea and one that I think we can do a great deal more theological work around.
And after all, it shouldn't surprise us that we are recognizing how important leadership in the church really is. The word "pastor" is simply the Latin term for "shepherd," and that's exactly what a pastor is supposed to be. As the shepherd over a flock, a pastor has got to be a good leader if he expects his sheep to follow him.
Labels: Clergy, Pastoral Leadership, UMC
posted by Andrew C. Thompson at 8:53 AM
2 Comments:
It seems to me that administrative compentence and numbers/programs growth are the primary expectations of pastors in the UMC (at least in my conference).
I would like to see a greater expectation and encouragement that pastors be a people of prayer, of fasting, and of deep Bible-engagement.
How often do you hear anyone talk about some pastor and say, "He is a great shepherd of souls who has helped many people flee from sin and be filled with Christ's Spirit?" (these being the sort of goals laid out in the General Rules).
I never hear anything even remotely like that said in conversations around clergy. There is some talk in our conference about moving toward the expectations that pastors be in covenant groups guided by (some kind of) General Rule of life. I think this is an important first step in the right direction, but we've still a ways to go on this front.
Daniel -
These are great thoughts. For the very reasons you are mentioning, I've often thought that the Methodist ministry would benefit from a clergy order whose members would be committed to a regula fidei. By this I mean an order apart from the Order of Deacons and Order of Elders, one of which all clergy join by virtue of their ordination. I see no reason why such a voluntary order should not exist, particularly if there are ministers who are experiencing a calling to a more particular rule of discipleship.
- Andrew
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