Resources in response to “Downward Mobility”
Ordained ministers are called upon to develop many skills and exhibit many gifts: preaching, teaching, pastoral care, administration, leadership, and more. Sooner or later, John Berntsen admits, we’ll be required to “do things we’re no good at.” Those things vary from one person to another, and yet there simply is no one who can be top-notch at it all.
Berntsen, author of this week’s Alban Weekly article (“Downward Mobility“, excerpted from his book, Cross-Shaped Leadership), confesses that his particular “weak spot” is “equipping the saints for ministry,” or recruiting and empowering lay leaders and volunteers in his congregation. He invites us to consider our own weak spots, to tell the truth about them, and to develop the humility to recognize that living by the Christian promise of the cross means letting go of “our set ways of doing everything.”
What resources might help you in this regard? You might pay special attention to Graham Standish’s excellent book, Humble Leadership: Being Radically Open to God’s Guidance and Grace. We also ask you to consider the essay collection, Leadership in Congregations, as well as All for God’s Glory: Redeeming Church Scutwork.
What are your thoughts on this topic? And what resources do you recommend? We look forward to hearing from you!
Thank you for this article! I am reading it as I prepare for an interview for a post which would mean a considerable step forward and a real challenge to my capabilities. Reading this has helped me to focus on the cost of discipleship as we take on any ministry role – the cost to our self-regard, self-esteem, our lack of confidence or our over-inflated ego – the business of dismantling ourselves in order to listen better to the promptings of God and to know that it is God who equips, prepares and sustains us, “as we are”. That’s not to say that we remain “as we are”. The joy of discipleship is that we are continually being made new – our lectionary reading this Sunday – we are being changed from glory into glory (2 CCor 3: 12-18).
I’ve been receiving the Alban eLetters for some time and am an Alban member. But I’ve never commented on an article before. However, this piece spoke a truth that compelled me to respond. For after twenty years in ordained ministry, I’m just “getting it.” I am not prefect. This is a bold confession that it takes me a while to get some things.
Perhaps my work on the Committee on Ministry and the Conciliation Team of my presbytery have brought this home in a powerful way. Congregations expect their pastors to walk on water and turn that water into wine AND THEN serve up a feast with the fish they’ve produced from thin air. And pastors? “Where’s the lake and table and hillside?” All the while, we’re very busy putting together teams to resolve conflicts.
The admission that we don’t have all the skills (we and they think we should possess) is a very healthy (yes THAT word) admission, one which we all might consider proclaiming during Lent.
Finally, someone at or with Alban Institute is telling the plain truth about ministry, without all the “systems theories”, “equipping theories”, “healthy/dysfunctional theories” and everything else that has been coming down the continuing education pike for the past 15 years. Another fairly solid book along these same lines is “The Crucifixion of Ministry” by Andrew Purves.
Thank you!
How timely. How honest. When Winchester first arrived at MASH 4077 and complained about surgical practices compared to “Boston,” Col. Potter lectured him off his pedestal with a discourse on Meatball Surgery. Who said it about Meatball Exegesis a few years ago? Yesterday (Sunday), when a parishioner called to ask what time they should be here to be ready for the baptism during worship later that morning, I froze. They had asked several weeks ago but never confirmed (at least in my memory). Several family members had come in from out of town. We did it. Nobody knew I was not prepared. But as I said to the chair of my Diaconate Board that morning, temporarily without an Associate, with me teaching Confirmation before worship, with yadi yadi yadi, I felt like everything was Meatball these days. And it was alright. Because it forced me to rely upon many whom I didn’t think I could rely upon. And our congregation is better for it.
Keep up the HONEST discussions. Much better than the sugar-coated kind.
Thanks to John Bernsten for a great article. One of my weaknesses as a pastor seems to be allowing the saints to do the work of the church. Coming to a clergy position from a layman’s position, I know all the jobs, so I am inclined to do them, rather than ask/recruit someone else to do them. But I’m getting better. Preaching is also a chore for me.
The other side of Bernsten’s discussion is be happy by doing the things well that you are good at…i.e., using the gifts that God gave you inspires others. We celebrate a free weekly dinner in our church for the community. It’s outreach that speaks to many, both inside and outside the church. We do this well, and we have seen great results!
Blessings, Paul H.
Bernsten’s article is a wonderful reminder of the power of the cross in all we do. We don’t need to be “successful.” What people need is not a church where everything runs smoothly. What they need is a Savior. When our primary goal is to point people to Jesus, it frees us to do that using whatever gifts God has given us in the process. I feel the whole picture of equipping and empowering people for ministry fits this view well. The church worker who isn’t good at equipping (or at any other ministry task) aims to partner with someone who is strong where they are weak. That’s the body of Christ picture in Romans 12, I Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4. But our victory comes through the cross, not our efforts.
Good article…thanks!
Good article! “Downward mobility” was coined by Henri Nouwen some 30 years ago and his writing continues to enrich all persons who seek to be servant leaders.
A well entitled article with useful insights.
Moreover, let me add another dimension. As an aging pastor in an United Methodist system and having chosen retirement for next summer, I know I have been faced with the defintion of “downwardly mobile” by institutional measures, i.e. smaller congregation, less salary, more limited leadership. And at the same time the system continues to expect me to meet all the measures of ABC (attendance, building, cash). And in a culture that measures worth by productivity, accomplishment, and other measureable status symbols, this new defintiion may need to be dealt with.
I have found two images that speak to me.
First I remind myself that I am appointed to serve my Lord in this context, not serve the people of the congregation. This gives me some distance to admit my limits and claim some giftedness. Downwardly mobile is not a definition I have to accept. However, I am responsible to use the gifts God has given me to build up the Body. This way I avoid (sometimes)a sense of being a lame duck.
Most helpful, I have reminded myself that this is an “inwardly mobile” time of my professioinal life. I can wrestle with my failures and successes, however measured, with the help of the Spirit. In other words, it is a time to be “formed” by the Spirit rather than “de-formed” by some of the many expectations imposed by myself and others.
Grace and Peace,
John
This is a very helpful perspective as I prepare to meet with parish search committees.
This article speaks a truth that resonates with me in my many moments when I feel as though I am dropping a ministerial ball that I am supposed to keep in the air with all of the others. I have come to accept some of my limitations and have begun to communicate them with congregational leadership, but worry over the times when I don’t pick up that ball someone else should be juggling and it just sits there on the floor or rolls behind the couch and gets forgotten. I am much too aware that we pastors make for easy targets and scapegoats. This feeds my anxiety and opens the lid on my tendency toward perfectionism that I try to keep contained.
I am just starting out as a recently ordained clergy. Bertram’s article so much affirms what I had always suspected; afterall, the One whom we call Lord, died upon a CROSS!
Thank you Rev. Bertram.
This article leaped off the computer monitor! I couldn’t help but think, “Did the author write this article for me?” I chastise myself for my administrative and evangelistic weaknesses on a daily basis. Yet to claim those weaknesses in the name of Christ’s death and resurrection makes me want to shout “Felix culpa” from the rooftops (if they weren’t covered with ice and snow right now!) Thank you Claudia for reframing those so-called weaknesses into acceptable places of grace. This time of Lent, I believe, makes your article especially germane. Thanks again.
Jeff Walker
Marietta, OH
Whoops! Thank you, John Berntsen, for your terrific article; thank you, Claudia Greer, for the resource summary and important links. I want to give appropriate credit where credit is due!
Jeff Walker
Marietta, OH
Honesty and truth telling are suspect among some clergy and lay people in my experience. Such people wish to talk you out of your truth and talk you into another. As a recovering alcoholic and member of AA for five years, “to speak the truth in love” and admit my shortcomings daily is a gift that keeps me alive literally and figuratively. I have been waiting for someone to write about humility. It is the touchstone of my faith and practice… something to grow towards but never quite achieve. My weaknesses help keep me humble… this article hits it right on the head! I will read the above resources with appreciation and enthusiasm. Now I don’t have to imagine writing “Humility is Not a Dirty Word” and instead celebrate my downward mobility. peace
Thank you for this thought-provoking article.
Roundtablers, All!
“Downward mobility”, indeed! A clever play of words to highlight an all-too-frequent phenomenon. The author’s clarity of sight is not limited here to clever metaphors, as he delights our inner selves with what we know has always been true about parish ministry. I especially appreciate the hopeful tone to his writing, a jargon-free forum for each parish pastor — and those that work alongside them — to enter with every expectation for a new way of thinking and being.
Congratulations on the reprint from Berntsen’s book and the spotlight it provides for a poignant conversation about parish life. And kudos to Berntsen for his skill in writing and the thinking that lies under it!
Bob Sitze
Thank you John, for your wise and insightful words. Humble leadership begs for response, not reaction, a way of being that is counter-intuitive and yet the Holiest of Holies! I alternately love and fear my life-work as a priest, and I drank deeply from your offering!
This was a good article.
Nobody wants to die to self. In the same way, dying to our well-laid ministry plans calls for trust that there’s new life on the other side of their demise.
While this was geared to the “ministry professional,” i.e. clergy, it is also very applicable to laity. I am in the middle of convincing several of my parishioners about the importance and centrality of death and resurrection. And while they can all certainly proclaim that in a catechism course or on Sunday morning, it’s a whole different ball game when you are talking about MY program, or MY way of doing things, or adjusting the way we’ve ALWAYS done things.
Convincing oneself or a colleague of this truth is one thing; convincing your parishioners that things need to change is something else entirely.
During my last two settled pastorates, the leaders focused on my shortcomings, and I allowed them to do so. At the end of the second, when I was forced to resign, I believed that, professionally, I was dead. When I entered intentional interim ministry, I found that once you have died, you need never die again. In the 7 transitional pastorates I have never worried about what I could not do, but rather emphasized what I could. It has been liberating.
I notice that Jerry above wrote his comment at 11:58pm. We all put in long days and sleepless nights, and get up and do it all again the next day. I presided over a large funeral yesterday for one of my wonderful church leaders. She died very suddenly. Most of us (at church) thought she was away in Florida for the winter, but she was sick at home with pancreatic cancer. We failed her, and her family when they most needed us. I was very upset by her death. After 8 years here, I know these people, and each loss hurts. I felt rather dead inside as I performed the “celebration” of her life. After the funeral, so many people commented on what a lovely service it was. I thought I was just following the book, (Anglican, can’t help it) but somehow God was able to use me. Thanks, God!
Thank you for this article. It is so rare that pastors/rabbis/ ministers will admit to shortcomings and it is so important that we do. I always enjoy reading the Alban Institute materials and can usually translate them from the Christian language and ideas to the Jewish context in which I exist. In this case, however, I was not able to do so.
I wonder if the author can give us a more universal message that those of us non-Christians can find useful?
In a practical way, I would think that we pastors can “solve” the predicament of dealing with our shortcomings by realising that even the greatest leaders of the Bible had their limitations. Some were unaware of them (think of King David, King Saul, Jacob and others) and that was ultimately their downfall. Moses was one who WAS aware of his limitations and he asked for help. He admits to being “slow of speech” and God enlists his brother Aaron to act as a mouthpiece for Moses. There is no judegement here. Moses is not judged as “less than” a leader because he delegated a duty. On the contrary!
We church/synagogue leaders need to be able to do the same–especially those who work in larger “corporate-type” models. Even Moses was not good at everything! How much the more so can we admit to our limitations?! We need to use the people and resources around us to delegate those tasks that we either are not good at, don’t have time for, or interest in–perhaps there is a junior pastor who would like to take on more leadership or has skills that we do not possess. We will be viewed as visionary leaders if we can identify the people around us who can rise to the occasion–and maybe even teach us something along the way.
Thanks, I appreciated the article. It has encouraged me to keep going in my ministry work, despite feeling inadequate. It is also good timing for the transition my church is dealing with and I will read one of the paragraphs this evening at our executive meeting.
Just what I needed when I needed it on the macro and micro levels both (congregational-me and personal-me) at a time when things are dying literally and figuratively and I find myself more ready for (some) Easter Triumph than (more) Lenten humility. Thanks.
As a member of a Candidacy Committee I am grateful for the suggested question for candidates. I think the competition between pastors begins in seminary (or perhaps even earlier in that part of our selves that moves us towards ministry) and generally prevents pastors from having the kinds of conversations that John has experienced with some of his colleagues. I long for the day when pastors can have good, honest discussions about ministry without feeling the need to either justify oneself by putting up a good front, or the need to judge other pastors because they don’t have the gifts we think the should have.
After constantly being stretched, pulled, pushed and challenged (all of which I need at times) to excel at being all things to all people, I am grateful to hear someone who speaks what is often in my heart–that I am called in spite of my gifts and because of my weaknesses. To be able to pastor the people I serve with love and humility about both my gifts and weaknesses is a high goal that I pray I can stoop to, following the example of Jesus.
When I grew up I had the luxury of knowing wonderful pastors. Pastors who were at once brilliant and kind. I confess I had a skewed vision of ministry – especially since these pastors were men and I wasn’t. Since my call 15 years ago (when I was a homemaker and mother minding my own business!) I have realized there is only one thing more difficult than being a stay-at-home-Mom and that’s being a pastor. But God has been merciful in a lot of ways. The difficulties have taught me strength and honed my beliefs. I have found that “God is Love” in such complicated and deep ways I almost cannot comprehend them. I AM humbled – and enriched. And I’m still wondering what in the world God wanted with me!! But, it’s OK. God’s in control. Not me. I knew that before but it seems I didn’t realize how much.
It is interesting that both pastors and laity recognize this problem but none seem terribly interested in doing anything about it. Perhaps the model we have “pastor who does everything” is a poor model. The church where I served for nine years was filled with very talented people most of whom were unwilling to help do “the pastor’s job.” Though I was very good at many things, there were plenty of other areas where I fell miserably short. We need to rethink the concept of “church” and take seriously the idea of “the priesthood of all believers.”
I thought this was going someplace completely different from where it went. I thought he was going to make the point other leadership journals and coaches make — that UNLIKE the training we received as kids, where we were told we needed to get good at EVERYTHING from math to shop, no matter how our gifts made those easy or impossible, leadership is MADE and institutions with them when we lean into what we are strong at because there is where we shine. And that we try to offload what we are mediocre at because at best we’ll only raise that to an above-average mediocrity after years of struggle.
So, yes, a parish minister who cannot preach — cannot let that go entirely. A parish minister needs to be able read a budget enough to know that the Finance Committee isn’t neglecting their job, and to know where pockets of available resources are. But otherwise, dig in to your gifts and get clear about letting go of where you fumble sadly along. I found that liberating news. Not that I had faults, but that leadership was about not wasting my time trying to make my weaknesses into strength and get busy liberating my strengths.
I humbly quote the following from the article:
“Because of Easter and the promise of the resurrection, maybe, just maybe, the future of our church is not closed but open.”