Reflections
WHAT KIND OF PASTOR WILL MOST LIKELY EMPOWER LAITY?
By Edward A. White
It takes a certain kind of pastor to truly empower laity to discern and fulfill their God-given vocation in the world. What are some of the qualities of such a pastor?
A Pastor Who Is Secure In His/Her Sense of Self!
One who is not threatened by those who seem bigger or smarter or stronger than they are.
Do you remember a book called “Anna and The King of Siam,” which was written by a Presbyterian missionary named Margaret Landon? It was made into a movie called “The King and I,” starring Yul Brynner as the king.
In the movie there is a striking scene where Anna meets the king for the first time. She is taller than he is. He informs her that one of the rules is that no one’s head must be higher than the king’s. She dutifully stoops to oblige whereupon he stoops. She is required to bend even further, until eventually both of them are kneeling with their heads on the floor.
How many times do our clergy leaders do this their followers? They are threatened by anyone who appears to stand taller than they are. Staff and laity get the message and are constantly stooping to oblige. How does this impact the people who are trying to grow in the faith— that is— to grow up!? Because they have not attended to their own inward journey, spiritually immature and insecure leaders stifle the spiritual growth of their followers.
By contrast, I remember Bishop William Creighton. Some years ago, he was the Episcopal Bishop of Washington D.C. He stood six feet tall. But he was secure enough to relish attracting into the Diocese many bright young clergy who were “ten feet tall.” He wasn’t threatened in the least. He just supported them and rejoiced in their triumphs. The results included Tilden Edwards, who founded the Shalom Institute of Spiritual Formation; Loren Mead, who founded the Alban Institute; Jim Anderson, who founded the
A Pastor Who Can Clearly Define Him/Her Self!
One who can state clearly where he/she stands and why—without being judgmental. Can he/she speak with inward authority and send clear “I” messages?
The days when there was an automatic authority accorded to the clergy are long gone. People don’t bow and bend anymore just because we [clergy] wear our collar backwards. If there is any authority, it consists of the personal authenticity and credibility that is grounded in the quality of our relationship to the community within which we serve.
I once heard an Episcopal priest named Jack Harris say, “Every pastor has to make a choice as to whether they want to be in control or whether they want to be taken seriously.” If you want to take me seriously, I must surrender my control and give you the freedom and the permission to weigh my statements on their merits and to disagree with my ideas if they aren’t convincing. Clergy need to care more about internal authority and less about external control.
A Pastor Who Is Grounded In The Midst of Ambiguity and Conflict.
One who conveys inner peace that passes understanding, rather than anxiety. One who does not instinctively avoid issues. One who is able to live into and learn from pain. One who has comes to terms with his/her own fear of death.
Rabbi Edwin Friedman says that a clergy leader has two primary tasks. One is to define where they stand on any issue in a clear, non-judgmental way. The other is to remain connected to the members of the congregational community in a non-anxious way, as the people struggle with issue, often in heated and anxiety-producing confrontations. The capacity to fulfill these two responsibilities rest on one’s level of spiritual maturity.
The capacity of the congregational community to deal with conflictive issues varies inversely with the anxiety level of the congregational community. If the leader conveys anxiety, it will escalate the anxiety of the congregational community. If the leader conveys that “inner peace,” it can help to reduce the anxiety level of the congregational community and thereby increase their capacity to cope with the issues.
A Pastor Who Is Clear About His/Her Own Abilities and Limitations.
One who asks him/her self, “Is the outcome of the struggle entirely up to me?” (Functional atheism). “Do I,” in the words of that great prayer, have “the courage to change what can be changed, the serenity to accept what cannot be changed and the wisdom to know the one from the other?”
I have a letter from God on my desk. It reads as follows: “Do not feel totally, personally, irrevocably responsible for everything. That’s my job. Love, God.”
What kind of inflated self-importance leads us to believe that human destiny rests on our shoulders? It is precisely that kind of illusion that compels many clergy to need to be the center stage constantly in the life of their congregation.
A Pastor Who Doesn’t Win at Someone Else’s Expense.
One who shares victory with others; carries the banner of collaboration in a society that is compulsively competitive. One who practices solidarity.
There is the World War II story of when the Nazis took over
Then the King of Denmark, who was a Lutheran, put on a yellow arm band. When the King did it, all the Danes did it. Everyone was wearing a yellow arm band and the Nazis just couldn’t tell who was Jewish. That is solidarity… the opposite of a society where the gap between rich and poor grows ever wider.
I am told that many people experienced solidarity during the Great Depression. Testimonies went like this: “We were dirt poor then. But it wasn’t altogether hopeless, because everyone around us was dirt poor. We all knew that we were in this thing together and that we had to see our way through it together.”
That is solidarity. But somehow, after World War II, when prosperity came to some in a big way and others stayed poor, the mentality of solidarity was replaced by the mentality of charity. “What must we do for them?” And as the rich have gotten richer, the answer has increasingly been, “Not very much!”
People need solidarity with, not charity from, their pastor!
A Pastor Who Is Free From The Constraints of Careerism and Consumerism.
One who understands the difference between the Gospel of Grace and the Gospel of Success, or the Gospel of Fulfillment. One who understands the real ground of his/her sense of worth and what drives him/her. One who questions if his/her own compulsive workaholism conveys a message of justification by works that drowns out the message of justification by Grace?
Conclusion:
The era of the “promised land” is over for the mainline church in
Ed White is a full-time trainer and consultant with churches and church-related organizations, and Senior Consultant for the Alban Institute. Ed is also the found and former editor of LayNet, the newsletter for the Coalition for Ministry in Daily Life, an international ecumenical not-for-profit partnership for individuals, congregations, local judicatories, denominations, colleges, seminaries, publishers, and independent organizations in support of the ministries in daily life of all Christians. For more information on the Coalition for Ministry in Daily Life, write CMDL,
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