Transition into Ministry: Programs Offer Hope for Revitalizing Congregational Leadership

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1 Transition into Ministry: Programs Offer Hope for Revitalizing Congregational Leadership By Tracy Schier An Interview with David Wood Pastor, First Baptist Church, Gardiner, Maine It is probably safe to say that when most people go to church on Sunday, or attend any number of programs sponsored by their congregation, they don t put a lot of thought into the multiple dynamics that contribute to the success or failure of their pastor. Congregation members may grumble if the sermon is off, be upset if the music is not to their liking, or be absolutely irate if the youth ministry program runs into difficulties. Without realizing it, many congregation members expect their pastor to be all things to all people. Somehow, they consciously or unconsciously expect that the process of call or ordination has put this man or woman a notch above ordinary folk. Somehow, a person with a vocation to the ministry after all, this is a call from God is expected to be holier, more patient, more able to cope, simply more of everything. Now think of young ministers, until recently seminary students, who are plunged into congregations with very little on-the-job training and sometimes very little work experience as well. Their book learning may be exemplary; they could have received A s on all exams and term papers. But young ministers still have much to learn, and without a controlled environment and without honest critiquing and mentoring by seasoned ministers, they can find themselves as disillusioned and lonely persons, questioning or even rejecting their vocation. Program officers in the Religion Division of Lilly Endowment had been noticing this and other congregationally related problems over time. Educators, practitioners, and observers of ministry were making it known that revitalization and renewal of pastoral ministry was a must. A number of issues clergy burnout, declining numbers of ministers in many denominations, among others triggered the Lilly staffers interest and prompted development of several programs that go to the heart of the ministerial, and the congregational, experience. One of the programs focuses specifically on recent seminary graduates entering into their first call, since, across the country a number of concerns were becoming well documented. Among these were the declining numbers of young people choosing to enter into ministry; increasing numbers of seminary graduates opting out of ministry within the first five years; and shifting interest among 1

2 seminary students away from pastoral ministry and toward academic life or work in the non-profit sector. The specific Lilly Endowment initiative for recent seminary graduates is known as Transition-into-Ministry. Launched in 1999 and funded until 2007, Transition-into- Ministry is coordinated by the Fund for Theological Education and operates some 24 programs throughout the country. Fifteen programs are congregation-based and nine are institution-based. A wide spread of denominations is currently involved: Presbyterian, Disciples of Christ, U.C.C., ELCA, American Baptist, United Methodist, AME, Episcopal, and the Christian Reformed Church. Rev. David Wood, pastor of the First Baptist Church in Gardiner, Maine, is the program coordinator. He says that the program aims to provide a communal ecology necessary for effective ministry. We are, he says, consciously working at bringing together the seminaries, congregations and denominational leadership. We feel that if we can create conditions for conversations and engagements among the three that can address the needs recent seminary graduates have when they begin their pastoral lives then, we will have a learning environment that will benefit everyone. Our seminaries do a good job of imparting expert, theoretical knowledge. Graduates have a solid background in theology, Biblical studies and the other areas of study necessary for pastoral leadership. What they don t get enough of is craft knowledge that can only be gained on-the-job with solid mentoring and peer support. Transition-into-Ministry has a variety of project models that engage new ministers. The first model, Congregational Residencies, brings two or three recent seminary graduates into a single congregation for two years where they participate in all aspects of pastoral ministry under the mentorship of a seasoned pastor and the congregation s senior staff. A second model, First Call, is specifically for newly ordained pastors in their first call and operates within a single denomination. A few of these programs are national in scope, most are judicatory/diocese-based programs. The young men and women in these programs come together as a cohort at regular intervals and over a period of three or more years. Under guidance of an experienced pastor, they study, receive encouragement, and engage in reflection and prayer. Importantly, as is the case with all the models, they have the opportunity to come to realization that ministry is not a solitary assignment and that they will benefit enormously from collegiality and bonding among peers. The third model, known as the Demographic Based model and another version of the First Call model, focuses on those young pastors serving in rural areas or in small congregations. They may be of varying denominations. A fourth model yet one more version of the First Call model is a seminary based program in which seminary graduates are convened regularly in covenanted groups with mentors to reflect upon their experience in their first call situations. 2

3 According to Wood, these models are rooted in a number of assumptions about congregational life, theological education, and the nature and practice of ministry itself. First among these assumptions is the notion that congregations should not simply be consumers of pastoral ministry but rather need to be incubators of ministry and of pastors. To bring this assumption to life, pastors and their staffs, along with members of the congregations, need to assume the role of a teaching congregation. Wood further emphasizes that the congregation-based residency programs do not rest on an assumption that seminaries are failing to prepare students for ministry. This is far from the truth, he asserts. Rather, congregation-based residency programs are rooted in the assumption that there is a kind of learning that seminaries are not well situated to provide. If we think of seminary life and its rigorous engagement with scholars and academic disciplines, it is the context where expert knowledge is gained; then, when a person leaves seminary, congregational life and the intensive engagement with colleagues and pastoral practice is the context where craft knowledge can flourish. Wood stresses that education for effective ministry requires both kinds of knowledge: expert and craft. The Transition-into-Ministry programs, he says, provide for a high level of reflection IN ministry, whereas seminary provides, primarily, a context for reflection ON ministry. Wood says that CPE and Field Education programs in seminaries do provide students with a reflective encounter with the practice of ministry, but they are, by necessity, limited in scope and duration. He adds also that seminary faculty often have had little or no experience in the practice of ordained ministry, something that inevitably increases the distance between classroom learning and the realities of ministry within a congregation. Wood hopes the programs can integrate the realms of seminary and congregation thus easing the movement between them. As we go on, our project should have a great deal to say to field educators in seminaries today. He notes that seminaries are starting to make efforts to create an environment that supports alumni in a number of ways. After all, he says, many in ministerial life find that some of their most treasured colleagues are those from their seminary days. Seminaries need to do more to highlight for their graduates the significance these collegial relationships have for the practice of ministry over the course of a lifetime. Exacerbating the challenges that many new ministers face is their own limited experience. Wood notes, Many students enter seminary with limited backgrounds in congregational life and ministry. Some even come to know the church only as college students. Consequently, a sustained first hand knowledge of congregational life and the mentoring relationships that are so important to vocational formation are often missing from the lives of many seminary graduates. The strength of the Transition-into-Ministry programs is that they seek to combine the quality of reflection that characterizes the best CPE and Field Education programs with ministry that a full-time position within a congregational setting provides. 3

4 Wood further relates the results of a question posed to directors in the program. They responded to the following: From your interaction with Residents in your program, what are the three competencies you perceive as being least developed in recent seminary graduates? By far, the ability to interpret congregational dynamics was the competency most mentioned as least developed, followed by pastoral identity/role, leadership, liturgy, conflict, and time management. Relational boundaries, self care, and administration were also cited as being least developed. Interestingly, when Residents were asked to name the three competencies they wish they had gained in seminary, church administration and money/stewardship/budgets came in as the top two. Following close behind were knowing the Bible as a whole, liturgy/sacraments/planning, and vocation formation/peer groups/pastoral identity. The bottom three in the Residents list were being a teacher, preaching, and mission/church growth. One of the most important aspects of all of the models in the program is what Wood calls the time spent in face-to-face engagement with colleagues. It is well known that young seminary graduates can find themselves in their first call as solo-pastors in congregations that are struggling or isolated or both. In these situations the young pastor has limited collegial or institutional support, thus leading to professional, relational, intellectual, and cultural isolation that is detrimental to the individual s formation of vocational identity. Each of the models in the Transition-into-Ministry program helps newly minted ministers to be part of a collegial community with fellow graduates, seasoned pastors, and strong lay leaders. Wood points out that at this stage of their vocation, patterns and habits of learning along with patterns and habits of prayer and other personal practices can be enhanced through the interactions that take place in a like-minded and sharing community of peers and mentors. Wood points to the liminality of the first few years of ministry, when a new minister is authorized externally by virtue of academic and ecclesiastical qualifications, and yet, internally, one s pastoral identity is still taking shape. He says there is a certain kind of learning and formation happening in these initial years that shape a vision of ministry and establish the initial contours of what Craig Dykstra has identified as the pastoral imagination. The experiences of these first years of ministry, according to Wood, have enduring implications for the practice of ministry throughout a pastoral career. The formation of pastoral identity is inextricably bound up with the act of being a pastor. Also crucial to each model in the Transition-into-Ministry program is the choosing of those seasoned pastors who either host residents in their congregations or who participate as mentors and teachers in the non-residency models. Wood describes such pastors as being highly reflective. They are men and women who have the ability to teach out of what they do. And they have to be able to lead a staff culture that is vital. Further, we look for pastors who have the ability to interpret the program within their congregation as well as externally. 4

5 Wood explains the challenge of the residency model: You bring two to four people into an existing, well developed staff culture this places a huge demand on the pastor, the staff and even on the congregation members. These residents are a part of the staff, but everyone knows they are only temporary and their job description may not be totally clear. After some trial and error, leaders of Plymouth Congregational Church in Minneapolis came to realization that specific job descriptions for the Residents are necessary. Thus, at Plymouth, the Resident s title is Minister of Outreach with responsibility for the Outreach Board and supervising activities of two workers in neighborhood programs. At First Church in Minneapolis the Resident is an Associate Minister with general responsibilities, including regular preaching and worship leadership, pastoral care, specific committee assignments, and generally working in close relationship with the Principal Minister. At Hyde Park Union Church in Chicago one resident has primary project focus on expanding programs for children, youth, parents and families while the other resident is focused on a part-time chaplaincy at Jackson Park Hospital where one of the church members is a staff physician. The emphasis of this project is to create community service opportunities for church members, especially those related to the hospital. Residents at Central Christian Church in Lexington, KY, have had opportunity to determine how their own gifts and interests match perceived needs in the congregation. According to Rev. Michael Mooty, the congregation s senior pastor, the church s three Residents were encouraged to create opportunities for ministry. Two began intentional engagement with college students, one has initiated a young adult movie and theological discussion group, one started a mentoring program for pre-adolescent girls that pairs them with older women in the congregation. One wrote a number of prayers and hymn texts for Advent and one is leading a writers group, among other initiatives. Mooty relates that all three residents have taken initiative in pastoral care situations and are participating with the Capital Campaign Steering Committee. Wood reports that in the most successful instances, a level of educational intentionality happens and the congregational leadership and membership recognize that the young people are there to learn and to be deeply involved. The Rev. Carol Pinkham Oak, Associate Rector at Christ Episcopal Church in Alexandria, VA notes that, The congregation is also a participant [in the program] as a teaching congregation. Part of the mission of Christ Church is now the nurturing and sending of new clergy. A teaching congregation creates a safe learning environment for the residents as well as a willingness to learn with them and from them. Many people on church staffs have told Wood that one of the greatest benefits of the program for them is that they are forced to think about what they do in new ways, providing new levels of reflection and selfanalysis. Wood sees as a by-product a recognition on the part of pastors and their staffs that the program and the interaction with the young seminary graduates has prompted them to be more effective in their overall ministry. Among the projects that are denomination/institution based is one at Princeton Theological Seminary designed to develop research on effective, life-giving practices of 5

6 youth ministry as well as to discover effective approaches to youth ministry and address the burnout rate common to youth ministers in their first years. Called Bridges: Linking Theological Education to the Practice of Youth Ministry, the program is coordinated by Rev. Leslie Dobbs-Allsopp. In addition to the research components, the Bridges Pastors Program is a pilot effort that supports pastors who are in transition from seminary to professional youth ministry. Serving some 20 pastors who graduated in the classes of 2000 or 2001 from 9 different seminaries, the program brings the participants together four weekends over two years for work in pastoral formation, youth ministry issues, opportunity for solo time with a pastor, and recreation and Sabbath with peer colleagues. An on-line discussion board assists the young pastors to stay in contact when they are back in their congregations. Perhaps in no setting is pastoral isolation a greater issue than in rural and small town congregations. In Hayesville, NC, the Hinton Rural Life Center s project in the Transition-into-Ministry program is geared for recent seminary graduates entering their first full-time ministry position in a church of small membership, small being defined as a church with average worship attendance under 100. It is assumed that the growing-up experience of the majority of young clergy has been in middle to large size congregations in urban or suburban settings. According to the project director, Rev. Delmer L. Chilton, such young people are not well prepared to respond to the unique characteristics and contexts of smaller membership churches, whether rural or urban. The full name of the Hinton project tells a lot: The First Parish Project: A Colleague Support Group Program to Increase Clergy Retention Rates and Enhance Pastoral Performance. Participants are an ecumenical group of 25 beginning pastors for each of three years. Each group meets at Hinton s retreat lodge for one week, Monday through Friday, in fall, winter and spring of two successive years. In the final session of the second year the curriculum centers on evaluation and feedback, consolidation of learning, and identification of next steps in each pastor s journey to become a more effective minister. Hinton staff visit each pastor in his or her parish for visioning and planning with the congregation. Chilton describes the curriculum for each of the weeks as including topics in three primary areas: pastoral leadership skills, spiritual formation and discipline for clergy and continuing education in the context of ministry. Chilton also says that the program will use technology as a vital key to resisting the isolation that often accompanies serving small membership churches. Revitalization of anything worthwhile takes thoughtful planning and work. Wood hopes that the Transition-into-Ministry program can indeed lead to renewal of pastoral ministry. He notes, We only have a few years of experience and we are only starting to collate our learnings. But we have high intentions that our program can spur congregations, seminaries and judicatories to use what we are doing and learning as a context. Wood cites results of a question asked of Residents concerning their most important learnings in the Transition-into-Ministry experience. The overwhelming most important aspect is collegiality/peer groups/friends, a finding that underscores one of the lead premises of the program: that ministry should not be a solitary endeavor. Other issues, 6

7 in declining order of importance, are pastoral identity/role, importance of practice, modeling good preaching, liturgy, renewed hope, and dealing with culture shift. Wood continues, We might say that the program is a controlled experiment. But we are certain that we are creating a learning environment that can be generative of other models that can contribute to ongoing revitalization and reshaping of congregational ministry. We want to help overcome those experiences that foster a dim view of local church life. This program solidifies young seminary graduates intention to go into pastoral ministry. The culture shock of going from seminary to a local church, or to a congregation that is vastly different from their home church, is softened for these young people. Everyone benefits the young seminary graduate, the congregations, and the denominations themselves. 7