sustain:if:able kiwi

pioneers and pastors? poles apart or creative tensions

Mark Berry has written an honest and thoughtful reflection on leadership, using the lens of pioneer and pastor. He’s used the angle of entreprenuer to ask why we don’t allow some leaders to start and move on. (This of course flies against the big mantra/urban legend in Kiwi Baptist churches at the moment “long term ministry = healthy churches.” However, while there is one anecdote, I am still waiting for some systematic or statistical analysis of this). The comments on Mark’s post, including the facebook discussion, have tended to go in a structural way. Personally, denominational structural discussions drive me crazy. Most of us can’t fix denominational structures. But what we can do is reflect upon how we structure our own lives, where we place our energy, what drains our energy, what replenishes our energy.

So, here, practically are some of my reflections, based on 9 years pioneer/astoring at Graceway, starting from scratch, and now 6 years pioneer/astoring at Opawa, helping a 95 year old church explore a mission future. Both contexts have strengths and weaknesses. Both have required my pioneering and pastoring skills.

0. Know your own thumprint. Only one person can be Steve Taylor and my task as a disciple of Jesus is to fulfill my God-given thumbprint. (So while categories of pioneer and pastor are helpful, they are simply names). How I spend my time needs to be sheeted as closely as possible to my thumbprint. The more I know me, know my wiring, the better.

1. Keep the best parts of your day for the things that energise my thumbprint. If it’s people, then be with people when you’re at your best. If it’s new things, then work on those when you are at your best.

2. See church as projects. Yes, there are plenty of weekly cycles, you have to attend to. But there are always projects. This week Sunday is coming, along with team meetings and Board meetings and a number of regular pastoral encounters. But I have also put time into Advent. And started to think about the 2010 Bible days. And done some dreaming around some film/faith projects. Keeping a number of project balls in the air, and implementing (1) – Keep the best parts of your day for the things that energise you is useful.

3. Evaluate well. I try and finish most projects with some sort of relational evaluation. Usually 3 questions – what went well, what could have gone better? Take notes and file it. This creates healthy feedback loops and celebration times. Pioneers don’t do this well because they are onto the next thing, but this is pastoral and makes up for the inevitable stress around projects.

4. Take spot checks of your time. I’m spontanous, so I don’t plan my day much. Every now and again, I take note of where my time has been been spent over a day. And then I group that under the headings of my call. For me, my call is about leadership and creativity. So looking back helps remind me of what I did, and whether I need to make intentional adjustments.

5. Think thirds. I tend to have three people categories in my head: leadership/pastoral in church/pastoral beyond church. It reminds me that each is important and to give time, regularly, to people in each. Related to this I always have regular time for people on the fringes of the church. I need to be sitting with the brokenhearted and that is part of my call as a gospel minister. One of the personal joys for me was being able to invite people I know to Back to Church Sunday. I love it that as a minister, I have relationships inside and outside the church. But the “thirds” concept helps me be intentional about where I spend my time.

6. Think aloud. This is partly a personality thing, but I use coffees to dream with people. And in my reports to the Board I have a template (with my 5 – Think thirds) and a section called “Thinking aloud.” In there I drop my “tentative projects” and it allows people to shape vision with me and to keep the pioneering thing in front of me and my team. When that section has nothing in it, it’s a worry.

7. Develop good review processes. I insist on regular personal performance reviews. Pioneers have weaknesses and we need to, as part of our gift to our communities, create ways for people to challenge us and develop us.

8. Use the magic words “I have an appointment.” It might be an appointment with a book, or with a creative project, or a person outside the church, or with my family. If you are becoming unbalanced, simply write “appointment” across your coming week.

9. Just for fun, every now and again imagine charge out your time. Consider how much you are paid and ask if you have just spent that pay well. Seriously. There are plenty of lazy pastors. There are plenty of driven pastors. There are plenty of poorly focused pastors. So every now and again, charge your time out. Was that last 60 minutes really worth $40 (or whatever rate)! Could someone else have done it? If a minister is paid about $50,000 a year, (including allowances) and you offer 1 service a week, is that service really worth $1000. Yes I know you do more than preach, but seriously, what else could your community do with that money?

Those are my practices. Always evolving. Critique welcomed. And I would love to hear what do others do?

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This post follows on from the quote about pastoral curators. See also Pioneers and pastors? part 2 – the community.