Sustaining Pastoral Excellence

Reflections On Excellence In Ministry

Faithful To The Call

A report on consultations by the Fund for Theological Education named 10 attributes of an excellent minister. These attributes highlight what was heard from ministers participating in the FTE consultations on Excellence in Ministry. The list is not intended to be exhaustive nor exclusive, but it does highlight attributes of excellence worth reflecting on.

1. Excellence ministers believe what they are proclaiming. Excellent ministers remain captivated by the story of the Gospel and cannot leave it alone.
2. Excellent ministers love their communities.
3. Excellent ministers display agility, flexibility and grace under pressure.
4. Excellent ministers know how to ask the right questions.
5. Excellent ministers are courageous.
6. Excellent ministers lead with strength and humility. Excellent ministers . . . are compelling people with a remarkabl capacity to turn attention away from themselves and lift up the work of Christ.
7. Excellent ministers know their limits. To be persuasive in their Christian witness, ministers must cultivate a strong sense of self-awareness.
8. Excellent ministers have thriving imagination.
9. Excellent ministers embrace lifelong learning.
10. Excellent ministers mentor.

This list did not provide precise definition for each of these attributes. However, the list does add to the dialog of excellence.

By Bob Wells
SPE Spotlight

Though 1300-miles apart, the Revs. Tim Bukowski and Greg Du Bois had much in common a year and a half ago. Ministers in the Evangelical Covenant Church, they both pastored small congregations, Bukowski in Machesney Park, Ill., and Du Bois in Glenburn, Maine. They were both married, with families to support. And in mid-career, after 20 years as a pastor for Bukowski and 11 and a half for Du Bois, they were both discouraged and increasingly questioning their call to ministry.

“I was feeling stuck,” recalls Bukowski. “Things were becoming routine and mechanical. I was looking for something to help me come out of that and to help me go into deeper water. I felt like I was thirsty for something, but I just wasn’t able to name it.”

“I was at a time in my ministry when I had become uncertain about whether or not I was cut out to be a pastor,” says Du Bois. “Although I could see spiritual growth in a few individuals in my church, overall the congregation was reluctant to reach out and share the gospel. I wondered if the church just closed its doors, would anyone in town even notice?”

In May 2006, however, Bukowski and Du Bois spent a life-changing week on a “Revisioning Retreat” with eight other pastors at Pilgrim Pines, an Evangelical Covenant camp and conference center in Swanzey, N.H. Part of a much broader Sustaining Pastoral Excellence program sponsored by the Evangelical Covenant Church, the revisioning retreats are designed to give pastors a chance to examine deeply their sense of call in a safe and supportive environment, according to the Rev. Dan Pietrzyk, SPE director for the Evangelical Covenant Church.

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Eugene Cho, pastor of Quest Church in Seattle, is blogging on pastoral health.

Pastors need to be healthy - in every way. Not perfect. Not saintly. Not complete. But, yet, committed to experience holistic health which includes ‘physical’ or ‘medical health.’ This article from the Pulpit & Pew (Research on Pastoral Leadereship) speaks to the issue of importance of health in pastoral ministry:

Although data is limited, research indicates that some of the most critical issues facing clergy appear to be in the areas of weight, mental health, heart disease and stress:

• A national survey of more than 2,500 religious leaders conducted last year by Pulpit and Pew, a research project on pastoral leadership based at Duke Divinity School, found that 76 per cent of clergy were either overweight or obese, compared to 61 per cent of the general population.

• The same study also found that 10 percent of those surveyed reported being depressed - about the same as the general population - while 40 percent said they were depressed at times, or worn out “some or most of the time.”

• A survey of Lutheran ministers found that 68 percent were overweight or obese, while 16 percent of male pastors and 24 percent of female pastors complained of problems with depression.

To access the entire article, click here.