By Kathleen Milligan
As I began to write this
blog entry, we were commemorating Gregory the Great, who took for himself a
title the Popes of Rome have used ever since:
“The Servant of the Servants of God”.
It seems appropriate as we look at the conversation Robinson invites us
to engage in his chapter on Leaders.
Jesus himself reminded his disciples that if they would be leaders they
must first be servants. We connect with
that every Maundy Thursday when we wash each other’s feet.
I went to seminary in the
late 1970s, and the model we were trained for was very much as the Servant
Leader. Women were just beginning to
come into the seminaries in significant numbers, and it was thought that we
might be particularly well suited to a vocation conceived along these
lines. I spent the first few years of my
ministry trying to serve everyone who asked.
I was often very busy, but it didn’t always feel very productive. I came to realize that my training had taught
us to be servants, without really giving us the skills and tools to lead
effectively.
I am sure that I fit most
comfortably into the kinds of pastoral roles that Robinson portrays. And I find
myself echoing some of the things Torey shared in his comments about the last
chapter. The book makes difficult and painful reading at times, as I recognize
the ways I could have been more effective had I been willing to be a little
less comfortable. After 34 years as a pastor, 28 of them in the Episcopal
Church, I wonder if I would be able to operate in new ways. I find
it easy to fall in love with congregations, and to want to be there for
them. But I do recognize the weaknesses
of that model. It becomes difficult to
encourage people to use the gifts God has given them; gifts of intelligence,
creativity, and edginess, if we don’t challenge them and indeed, ourselves, to
look more deeply at our faith commitment; to examine what we really do believe,
and to discern the moral and ethical dimensions of our lives in the world
outside the church walls, as well as within.
I like the whole concept of
“Conversation” when it comes to leadership.
When I first got to St. Alban’s, Davenport, almost 18 years ago, I was
told that the average age was in the fifties, and that there weren’t many young
children. Actually, there were a number
of young families with children; but they weren’t in the inner circle. St. Alban’s had suffered a devastating fire
in the 1970s, and the worship space had burned to the ground. What I discovered almost 20 years later, was
that the leadership group all had been at the church when the fire took
place. I made the observation casually
to a few people and within a few weeks, it was being talked about at coffee
hour. When it was brought to the Vestry,
(and not by me) a concerted effort was made to begin to include some of the
newer members on the vestry and in other ways around the church. Simply helping people to notice what is going
on can be a powerful way to begin conversations.
Robinson seems to be
pitching his argument at congregations which have a larger membership than many
of ours in Iowa. At least in this
chapter, he assumes a paid staff, for example.
One of the leadership difficulties facing smaller churches is the
“personpower” shortage. We often have
difficulty filling a slate for vestry, let alone building a separate leadership
team. Thus one aspect of congregational discernment will always be the question
of what we have the resources to do well.
A number of years ago, I became
convinced that having committees just because “we’ve always done that”, was
counterproductive. We now do a great
deal more of our planning and work on an ad hoc basis, and people can get involved
in an area that currently interests them, rather than getting locked into
something they made a commitment to once and can’t seem to get free of
now.
I take to heart the need to
be more careful about education and training, first as catechesis, and then as
a means of providing genuine support and encouragement, as well as
accountability. Thus, it will be
important that the leadership training will be a part of an ongoing and
mutually supportive process of discipleship development. It will be important to encourage people,
one on one, to seek out the kinds of training that is offered on local and
diocesan levels. It won’t be enough
simply to announce the various opportunities.
Part of the process of discerning the leadership group will need to be
assessing education, training and indeed formation needs. We may need to find some funding sources for
helping people to seek this training out.
I acknowledged earlier that
my reading of this book left me feeling somewhat deflated and inadequate. I find myself wondering as did Nicodemus “how
can one be born again, when he or she is old”.
But I will choose to believe that this is possible, and will be possible
as we desire and pray for the power of the Holy Spirit to renew leaders and
congregations.
Kathleen Milligan,
Rector, St. John’s Episcopal
Church
Dubuque, Iowa
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