Photo by Carf.
Ministry training must offer healthy mentoring and leadership models. It should provide a mentoring experience that will be so valued by the laity that they will seek other mentors in the future to help them pursue lifelong discipleship. Learning opportunities must be provided throughout a minister's years of mentoring to address Christian responses to new situations, current events and the popular culture of Canada. A recent series in the National Post called the "Virtues of Austerity" have highlighted the trend towards spiritual revival during this current economic whirlwind.
The very practice of modeling and mentoring or apprenticing others is a critical leadership characteristic in The United Church. However, it is not accidental; it is a intentional practice of your minister, or instigated by the one doing the mentoring, that takes time and commitment. Is your minister a mentor or is he or she trapped spending the bulk of their time in managing the minutiae of daily church life? Is your minister a mentor or does the lay leadership try to abdicate their responsibilties, taking the attitude that they pay the minister to run the church? Is your minister swamped by details, lost an awareness of a unified vision or withdrawn into survival mode?
Ministers who are mentors tend to be initiative takers who are prepared to accept the risks involved in innovative ministries. They are internally motivated, creative and sometimes gregarious, and they surround themselves with people who share many of these same characteristics.
Is your minister the prime influence for recruiting and mentoring more leaders to maintain further momentum toward the kingdom of God? In a postmodern Canadian culture your minister is likely to receive far fewer "strokes" than in bygone generations. Ask whether your minister has mutual mentoring with a theologian, with other successful peers, with spiritual advisors, and with apprentices sharing life lessons and encouragement to the ministries of your church.
The very practice of modeling and mentoring or apprenticing others is a critical leadership characteristic in The United Church. However, it is not accidental; it is a intentional practice of your minister, or instigated by the one doing the mentoring, that takes time and commitment. Is your minister a mentor or is he or she trapped spending the bulk of their time in managing the minutiae of daily church life? Is your minister a mentor or does the lay leadership try to abdicate their responsibilties, taking the attitude that they pay the minister to run the church? Is your minister swamped by details, lost an awareness of a unified vision or withdrawn into survival mode?
Ministers who are mentors tend to be initiative takers who are prepared to accept the risks involved in innovative ministries. They are internally motivated, creative and sometimes gregarious, and they surround themselves with people who share many of these same characteristics.
We were designed by God to need other people in our path: someone to mentor us (Paul), someone to encourage us (Barnabas), and someone for us to mentor (Timothy).
Is your minister the prime influence for recruiting and mentoring more leaders to maintain further momentum toward the kingdom of God? In a postmodern Canadian culture your minister is likely to receive far fewer "strokes" than in bygone generations. Ask whether your minister has mutual mentoring with a theologian, with other successful peers, with spiritual advisors, and with apprentices sharing life lessons and encouragement to the ministries of your church.
This was a little bit of a consumer's guide to how to pick your minister, I think. Thanks for the links to the background info - it was helpful. (btw, they worked! Yippee!)
ReplyDeleteAs the closest I get to a church is reading the inspirational, sometimes ironic, and often "pun"ny messages I see on the notice boards outside the churches I drive by, I've appreciated your posts about church life from a minister's point of view.