Learning in the pastoral vocation involves:
1.
Skills the
pastor needs to acquire
2.
Habits the
pastor needs to develop
3.
Frameworks within
which the pastor works
“The desert – the wilderness – is a lonely,
frightening, and trying place. It is fraught with danger and can be a place of
death. The wind shifts its sands, covers our tracks, blinds our eyes, and hides
the horizon. The stakes are very high for desert pilgrims. But desert can also
be a place of mystery, magic, and beauty.” (XV)
Pastoral vocational clarity + empowered laity =
congregational vitality (XV)
Ministry’s fundamental purpose: to help us make it
through the night. (XV)
Part One: Desert Reflections on the Pastoral
Vocation
1.
Confusions and
Current Conditions
a.
In the late
sixties and early seventies, many pastors began to feel irrelevant and
ancillary to the burning issues of the day. (4)
b.
P began to search
for other ways to express their humanitarian concerns. (4)
c.
Many turned to
such callings as psychotherapy, social work, and community organizing. (4)
d.
Relevance continues
to be a major issue for many pastors, and those of therapist, community organizer,
…, and CEO of a corporation. (4)
e.
Gimmicks often
replaces reflective practice; techniques replace theology; and career replaces
vocation. (5)
f.
Without vocational
clarity, clergy self-understanding gets lost in the immediacy and urgency of
demands. (5)
g.
Few realities:
(8-9)
i.
The disestablished
of mainline churches
ii.
Declining
membership in many congregations
iii.
Concern for the
survival of both congregations and denominations
iv.
The disappearance
of denominational loyalty
v.
Clergy shortages
vi.
A growing chasm
between ideological camps, including the triumph of “ideology” in all camps as
a means of thinking and speaking
vii.
Cultural wars
within and without the church
viii.
Biblical and
theological ignorance
ix.
The death of
Christendom
x.
The death of
modernism
xi.
The radical
growth of pluralism, often turned to factionalism
xii.
The reemergence
of overt racism and nationalism
xiii.
Lack of stable
communities
xiv.
Detachment from
cultural hope
xv.
Lack of
consensus on the nature of moral authority, history, and the theory of
knowledge
xvi.
Personal and
social fear
h.
What there is of
Christology in the megachurches, the church growth churches, the churches that
encourage the homogeneous quotient in order to grow and be successful, is not a
Jesus who comes as God’s silent whisper upon the earth, speaking of and
demonstrating the reign of God and finally giving his life on the cross of
suffering love, but an individualistic and privatistic Jesus who comes to meet
the needs of people. (10)
2.
Compasses and
the Journey
a.
UMC vows: An elder is called to share in the
ministry of Christ and of the whole Church: to preach and teach the
Word of God and faithfully administer the Sacraments of Holy Baptism and
Holy Communion; to lead the people of God in worship and in prayer; to
lead persons to faith in Jesus Chris; to exercise pastoral supervision, order
the life of the congregation, counsel the troubled, and declare
the forgiveness of sin; to lead the people of God in obedience to mission in
the world, to seek justice, peace, and freedom for all people; and to take
a responsible place in the government of the Church in service in and to
the community. (29-30)
3.
Clarity and Ten
Theses
a.
Ten Thesis:
i.
Preaching
ii.
Practice
Sacraments: baptism and Holy Communion
iii.
Faithfulness
iv.
Practice and
teaching of prayer
v.
Study Bible
vi.
Lead worship
(liturgy)
vii.
Ministerium
(the ordered ministry)
viii.
Pastoral care;
integrity with people
ix.
Good of the
whole people of God.
x.
Faith in Jesus
Christ
4.
Creativity:
Images and Imagination
a.
Develop vision,
mission, and values within a congregation.
5.
Confessions and
Theological Foundations
a.
The struggle to
develop and maintain vocational integrity begins the first day of one’s
ministry and will last a lifetime. (55)
b.
One’s ministry
and vocational identity must be rooted in theology, for ministry itself is
concerned with life that flows from God, in God, to God. (55)
c.
The knowledge of
God in Hebrew thought is passionate relationship rather than facts and
information. (55)
d.
Ministry should
be grounded in this Hebrew perspective rather than the Greek philosophical categories
of omnipotence, omniscience, omnipresence, immutability, and impassibility. (55)
e.
Functioning from
the Foundations:
i.
The pastor as
person:
1.
Be true to
yourself in light of your faith. (63)
2.
Is the life I am
living the same life that wants to live in me? (63)
3.
Too often the
personhood of the pastor is lost by the pastor’s allowing herself or himself to
“become” the functionary of the church’s goals, plans, programs, and agendas.
4.
Treating oneself
with sacred care is not selfishness. (63)
5.
Ethics emerge
from character, and character is one’s personhood. (63)
ii.
The pastor as
servant:
1.
To be the pastor
as servant is thus to give equal attention to “living in the
word/prayer/liturgy of the spiritual life” and “living among the people in
their needs and fulfillments, longings and disappointments, sorrows and joys.”
(65)
2.
Eugene Peterson,
“The pastor is to pray, preach and listen.” (65)
iii.
The pastor as
living reminder of: (66)
1.
The healing
Christ
2.
The sustaining
Christ
3.
The guiding
Christ
4.
The reconciling
Christ
5.
The teaching
Christ
6.
The serving
Christ
7.
The Holy Christ
8.
The loving Christ
9.
The challenging
and prophetic Christ
10. The Christ of table fellowship that ministry might
welcome the stranger and the outsider
11. The crucified and risen Christ
iv.
The Pastor as
searcher for the tears of Christ: (67)
1.
As prince of
peace, Christ weeps because we do not know the things that make for peace.
2.
As passionate
lover, he weeps for all those who labor and are heavy laden under the burden of
their own lives.
3.
As the incarnation
of reconciliation, he weeps for every broken tie in family, in friendship, in
church, in class, in gender, in nation against nation.
4.
As bridge-building
priest, he weeps for every gulf that cannot be bridged and every chasm that
cannot be crossed in our relationships with one another and with God.
5.
Healer and
physician/bread/…
v.
The pastor as
grassroots theologian in the community
6.
A Regula Pastorum
(Rule for pastors) for Contemporary Pastors
a.
The Rule: (72-75)
Part Two: Healing Fountains in the Pastoral Vocation
1.
The Pastor under
Many and Varied Conditions
2.
The Pastor and
Worship
a.
Lack of clarity
in the pastoral vocation has contributed to this disaster; religious busyness
robs the pastor of the theological vocation. (86)
b.
The pastor with
clear vocational identity knows that worship is the central act of the
Christian community in which the community’s life is centered in God. (89)
c.
Being = doing (89)
d.
The healing fountains
are baptism, preaching, eucharist, prayer, confession and absolution, and
engagement of suffering.
3.
The Pastor with
the People – How shall I live?
a.
In solidarity:
unity of sympathies and interests. (105)
b.
With perspective:
solidarity with the people of God requires not only empathetic involvement, but
empathetic involvement that includes the pastoral perspective. (106)
c.
Out of integrity:
not only living with honesty and steadfastness but also living with a sense of
wholeness and integration. (107)
d.
Thorough approachability:
making love, making believe, and creating hope – all central to the pastoral
vocation – require a leisurely pace, a place of connection and touch, and a
period of time filled with patient possibility. (109)
e.
By tenacity: a
resolve to live with certain tenacity is an important quality for the pastor
among the people. (109)
f.
With passion
g.
The four
historic functions of pastoral care:
i.
Healing/Sustaining/Guiding/Reconciliation
4.
The Pastor and
Christian Community
a.
Community building
grows out of the sanctification of time, intentional focus, availability,
vulnerability, and storytelling. Within
these dynamics, lonely desert hearts find the living fountains of community. (122)
b.
Pastoral vocational
clarity in these ways of forming community will contribute to ecclesial
identity and the empowering of the laity in being the church. (122)
5.
The Pastor as
Leader and Administrator
a.
Leadership
(defined by Oxford Dictionary): to show the way by going first; to precedes; to
guide by the hand; to cause to live or experience. (123)
b.
Administration (defined
by Oxford Dictionary): to govern; to manage as a steward. (123)
c.
Alvin J.
Lindgren, “Powerful church administration is the involvement of the church in
the discovery of her nature and mission and in moving in a coherent and
comprehensive manner toward providing such experiences as will enable the
church to utilize all her resources and personnel in the fulfillment of her
mission in making known God’s love for all people.” (125)
d.
Seven principles
leadership should know: (128)
i.
People do not
pay to listen to an organization, but to an orchestra.
ii.
No matter how
hard you work, there are some things you do over and over again.
iii.
Identify problems
together, and together look for solution.
All of us are smarter than any of us.
In the beginning is chaos. So be
it. Chaos always precedes the creative
act.
iv.
Lead without
telling people what to do. Leave room
for their own personhood and initiative.
v.
Know that the
right “employees” make all the difference.
In terms of right employees, develop leaders that are creative,
flexible, and collegial.
vi.
Stand up for
what you believe and encourage others to do the same. This does not mean dogmatic intractability,
but the free exchange of passionate ideas.
vii.
Understand that
God is not necessarily efficient, but passionate.
6.
The Pastor’s
Survival Kit
a.
Everything,
animate and inanimate, needs care. Without care, everything, animate and
inanimate, disintegrates. (133)
b.
Groome, Five
movements that are informative for the development of a theology of ministry
between a pastor and a congregation: (137)
i.
Naming present
action
ii.
Critical reflection
on that action
iii.
Dialogue
iv.
Attention to the
story of the tradition
v.
Vision-making
toward a new action
c.
A Theology of Self-care:
i.
Ministry is more
than a living, but it is less than a life. (141)
ii.
The rhythms of
creation and rest, work and play, community and solitude, expenditure and
renewal are built into our humanity. (141-142)
iii.
A theology of
self-care is greatly enhanced by a deep-seated understanding of and
appreciation for the doctrine of the Sabbath. (142)
iv.
Need of a spiritual
life (145)
7.
How Beautiful
Are the Feet
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