Pastor as Catalyst: Four Transformational Postures for Pastoral Leadership, Part 11 of 11

Conclusion

Pastoral leadership has been mired in a model that asks it to surrender the story of the church, that of Jesus crucified and risen, to the wills, whims and needs of the state. As we come into the 21st century and as the church/state relationship begins to unravel, the church has a unique opportunity to reconnect itself and its priorities with the story of the resurrecting God that formed it so long ago. With this reclamation of identity and calling comes the opportunity for pastoral leaders in the church to reconnect with the deep identity and calling of the church and to utilize their systemic presence as a catalyst for the transformation of Christian communities.

Pastoral leaders can do this work of catalyzing transformation through how they function, dream and self-define in Christian community. In this work there are at least four intentional postures of transformation. The first posture is that of discipleship where the pastoral leader understands that his first work as a Christian and as a leader in Christ’s church is that of a follower of the risen Jesus. The second posture is that of perspective where the pastoral leader works to create the communal capacity to frame and see the work and challenges of the church in the present in light of the future reign of God disclosed in the Lordship of Jesus’ resurrection. The third posture is that of birth which asserts that pastors function with an attitude of expectation in Christian community, fostering the capacity to give birth to new ideas and mission and to frame the anxiety and pain related to these changes as temporary signposts that God is up to new life in their midst. The fourth posture is that of engagement which functions to create as much systemic space for people to find meaning, purpose and life in the body of Christ as possible so that the Christian community naturally engenders engagement and community in all who come into relationship with it.

These catalytic postures are not exhaustive, nor has the purpose of this essay been to create another list of “must do’s” for the work of leadership in the church. Rather, this essay has been an attempt to frame the work of pastoral leadership as it was and as I believe it has the potential to be in Christian community, not for its own purposes and gain, but for the purposes of the God who in fact, does make all things new.

Appendix: Practical Outcomes Report

In the book Presence, the authors write, "We’ve come to believe that the core capacity needed to access the field of the future is presence. We first thought of presence as being fully conscious and aware in the present moment. Then we began to appreciate presence as deep listening, of being open beyond one’s preconceptions and historical ways of making sense. We came to see the importance of letting go of old identities and the need to control and as Salk said, making choices to serve the evolution of life. "

I think that ministry has the opportunity to move in some fundamentally new ways. This vocational movement will be directed by an awareness of where we have come from, the God we are called to serve, and the future he calls us into. The notion of catalyst that I used to shape imagery for the possibilities of a new sort of expectation for pastoral ministry is not some sort of new paint by the numbers technical schemata. Nor should it be downloaded into congregational life as such. It has to do with an adaptation in how I as a pastoral leader think and function in and with God’s people. All I have asserted is that the systemic pastoral role privileges it to work well as a fulcrum for the systemic transformation of God’s people. I have been finding that these postures form powerful lenses that help me shape my questions for maximum impact and prioritize my work.

In seminary I was taught not to take risks, not to push or articulate change, and not to expect too much from God’s people. I believe this is because the model of pastoral ministry I was trained in operates from the premise that pastors are there to shepherd and herd disengaged sheep rather than equip, train, and challenge what Bill Hybels calls God’s fulcrum for the transformation of the world: the local congregation.

The practical application of these four catalytic postures is a new sort of functional awareness for me. It shapes how I am handling preparation for the new budget year. I am asking questions like these. Do we build the budget based upon what we believe God is birthing in and through us this next year, or do we base it upon what we spent categorically last year as usual? Do we risk the financial strain of new buildings trusting that the God who raises the dead can provide for and through us? Or do we duck the opportunity because we believe we simply do not have the capacity to engage the future God calls us into?

I think that the practical application of these four postures is a new sort of awareness that engenders new sorts of questions that challenge us to step consciously into engaged lives of faith for God’s sake and the sake of the kingdom. They are adaptive mental frames of reference through which new realities and possibilities are communicated. The communication event, in verbiage and action and the differentiation that comes through it cause a conscious systemic differentiation in response. The localized articulation of a new awareness and way of seeing in the pastoral leader facilitates a new sort of consciousness in the community at large. In this, its capacity to see and dream anew and to reframe its life together expands and grows. The reality is these sorts of consciousness actually transform people and community and cause wholesale new sorts of functioning. What I am trying to articulate is not some program that can be rolled out into a congregation. Programs are technical and do not demand that people see who they are and what they do in a new sort of light. But a differentiated leader who functions from the perspective of the doorway of the empty tomb does.

Bibliography

Barger, Rick. A New and Right Spirit : Creating an Authentic Church in a Consumer Culture. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2005.

Barna, George . The Power of Vision: Discover and Apply God’s Vision for Your Ministry. Ventura, CA: Regal, 2003.

Bass, Diana Butler. The Practicing Congregation: Imagining a New Old Church. Herndon, VA: Alban Institute, 2004.

________. Christianity for the Rest of Us : How the Neighborhood Church Is Revitalizing the Faith. 1st ed. San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 2006.

Bliese, Richard H., and Craig Van Gelder. The Evangelizing Church : A Lutheran Contribution: Augsburg Fortress Press, 2005. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip055/2004030681.html
Materials specified: Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip055/2004030681.html.

Boyatzis, Richard E. Resonant Leadership : Renewing Yourself and Connecting with Others through Mindfulness, Hope, and Compassion, ed. Annie McKee. Boston: Harvard Business School Press, 2005.

Brueggemann, Walter. Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism : Living in a Three-Storied Universe. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1993.

Collins, James C. Good to Great : Why Some Companies Make the Leap--and Others Don't. 1st ed. New York, NY: HarperBusiness, 2001.

________. Good to Great and the Social Sectors : Why Business Thinking Is Not the Answer : A Monograph to Accompany Good to Great : Why Some Companies Make the Leap--and Others Don't, ed. James C. Good to great Collins. [Boulder, CO: J. Collins], 2005.

Dawn, Marva J. The Unnecessary Pastor : Rediscovering the Call, ed. Eugene H. Peterson and Peter Santucci. Grand Rapids, Mich. : Vancouver: W.B. Eerdmans; Regent College Pub., 2000.

Friedman, Edwin H. Generation to Generation : Family Process in Church and Synagogue. New York :: Guilford Press, 1985.

________. Friedman's Fables: Guilford Press, 1990. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/bios/guilford051/90047336.html
Materials specified: Contributor biographical information http://www.loc.gov/catdir/bios/guilford051/90047336.html.

Friedman, Thomas L. The Lexus and the Olive Tree. 1st Anchor Books ed. New York: Anchor Books, 2000.

Gardner, Howard. Changing Minds: The Art and Science of Changing Our Own and Other People's Minds. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2004.

Goleman, Daniel. Primal Leadership : Realizing the Power of Emotional Intelligence, ed. Richard E. Boyatzis and Annie McKee. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

Heifetz, Ronald A. Linsky Martin. Leadership on the Line : Staying Alive through the Dangers of Leading. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 2002.

Horton, H. Robert, Laurence A. Moran, Raymond S. Ochs, J. David Rawn, and K. Gray Scrimgeour, Principles of Biochemistry, 2nd ed. (Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 1996) 119.


Kotter, John P. Leading Change. Boston, MA: Harvard Business School Press, 1996.

Lull, Timothy F. On Being Lutheran : Reflections on Church, Theology, and Faith Lutheran voices series; Variation: Lutheran voices.: Augsburg Fortress, 2006. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0519/2005027514.html
Materials specified: Table of contents http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip0519/2005027514.html.

Mead, Loren B. The Once and Future Church: Reinventing the Congregation for a New Mission Frontier. Herndon, VA: Alban, 2001.

New Revised Standard Version Bible. Nashville: World Publishing, 1989.

Senge, Peter M., and Society for Organizational Learning. Presence : Human Purpose and the Field of the Future. 1st ed. Cambridge, MA: SoL, 2004.

Steinke, Peter L. Congregational Leadership in Anxious Times : Being Calm and Courageous No Matter What: Alban Institute, 2006. http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip074/2006036119.html
Materials specified: Table of contents only http://www.loc.gov/catdir/toc/ecip074/2006036119.html.

Stevens, R. Paul. The Equipping Pastor : A Systems Approach to Congregational Leadership, ed. Phil Dr Collins. [Washington, DC] : Alban Institute, 1993.

Sweet, Leonard I. Summoned to Lead. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2004.

Tillich, Paul. The Courage to Be. New Haven: Yale University Press, 1952.

Willimon, William H. Calling & Character : Virtues of the Ordained Life Calling and Character. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2000.

________. Pastor : A Reader for Ordained Ministry. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002.

________. Pastor : The Theology and Practice of Ordained Ministry. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 2002.

Winseman, Albert L. Growing and Engaged Church: How to Stop “Doing Church” and Start BEING the Church. New York: Gallup Press, 2007.

Zumdahl, Steven S. Chemistry, 3rd ed. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath and Company, 1993.