Excellence in Ministry

I wrote this essay as part of my application for the Ministry Fellowship at the Fund for Theological Education in 1999, but it still characterizes many of my views on ministry quite well.

Stephen A. Whitney
February 26, 1999

What is ministry? The first thing that comes to most people's minds is probably someone in a long robe preaching from a pulpit, but we must be careful not to narrow our definition of ministry unnecessarily. Rather than make a list of things that are ministry, I define ministry as following and helping others to follow what Jesus said were the two greatest commandments: "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind" and "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." (Matthew 22:37,39) Ministry occurs wherever someone meets the physical, emotional, or spiritual needs of God's people or enables others to love their God and their neighbor. To be effective in ministry, one must obey both of these commandments, embodying a living and growing faith. People can see through anything else.

In order to discuss excellence in ministry without writing an entire book, I will narrow the scope of discussion to gifts, skills, and practices that lead to effective vocational ministry as a pastor. These are effective leadership, a solid academic background, the ability to teach, the gift of caring for others, and relying on the Holy Spirit.

In my time as a software development manager, I have seen a wide variety of management techniques, and the leadership style that I strove to emulate is applicable not just to the business world, but to the church as well. The key concept is the idea of pushing decision making and responsibility as far down in an organization as possible so that as many people as possible can contribute as much as possible.

In the short run, one can minister very effectively by the power of a charismatic personality and a great deal of energy. Over time, this model of ministry proves unsustainable and even wasteful. It is unsustainable because it relies on the energy of one individual to continue. If that person burns out, takes a new job, or has to focus attention on a different need, the ministry collapses. It is wasteful because the potential of the individuals who are part of that ministry simply goes to waste. One person simply cannot have all of the gifts that are out there. "For as in one body, we have many members, and not all members have the same function." (Romans 12:4) Individuals in a congregation or other Christian organization need to use their gifts to feel fulfilled. I like to think of this as a model for sustainable ministry.

Finally, we do a disservice to our message by personally becoming the focus of ministry. A Buddhist story tells of a beautiful night on which the Buddha was in a garden with some of his followers. The full moon was so beautiful that he was afraid to spoil it with human language so he simply pointed to the moon that his followers might appreciate it. Unfortunately, all they could see was his finger pointing to the sky, not the moon that he was trying to show them. We must be careful to call attention to the moon, not our own fingers.

It is, however, unreasonable to expect to go straight from a concept to a self-sufficient organization. The leader must - at least initially - inspire and energize participants and possibly make many of the decisions. After others have been trained and feel comfortable in their roles, the job of the leader changes. He or she must step back and allow the others to take on responsibility, while still remaining accessible for help, continuing to provide vision and guidance, and intervening when the group makes a misstep, and supporting people vigorously when they need it.

A small example in my own church experience of such "enabling leadership" was a Youth Sunday worship service led by our youth group. I was the adult leader, but I did my best to stay out of the spotlight. I helped the youth write prayers and come up with sermon ideas, but they did the planning, and they led worship on their own. Seeing the youth take responsibility for worship and lead it in a way that adults could not was extremely gratifying. Sometimes, the best way to lead is simply to empower others, and the rewards to the leader are at least as great.

Leadership skills alone are not sufficient to create excellence in ministry. Leaders of the church must be equipped to support their positions, understand other interpretations, and present their own beliefs convincingly. In order to do that, they need a strong theological education. In order to answer a parishioner's questions about, for example, what the first chapter of John's gospel means, a pastor must be able to read and interpret the Greek text (since it translates into English badly), understand the historical context it was written in, and understand a number of theologies in order to phrase the answer in a way that the parishioner can understand. Other questions require similar knowledge and skills.

Possessing knowledge is useless to ministry if we cannot impart it to others. The gift of teaching is essential for pastors. How else can we share the Good News? How else can we help people to transform their lives and the lives of others? But teaching need not be limited to lecturing to a group of people. St. Francis of Assisi once said, “Preach the Gospel at all times; if necessary, use words.” In fact, we can teach many things by example and it is extremely powerful. If the way we live our lives conflicts with what we teach, our teaching becomes meaningless.

When a parishioner comes with a personal problem, training in counseling is imperative. What sorts of problems can the pastor handle? What is the best way to address grief and anger with God? What problems are beyond our abilities and should be referred out? But training only goes so far. For true excellence in ministry, the pastor must really care about the people he or she leads, must be able to express that concern so the parishioner feels cared for, and must be able to take appropriate action to start the healing process.

When I consider my own potential for excellence in ministry, I am heartened by the story of Peter. With the help of the Holy Spirit, he was able to become the rock on which the church was built. Without that help, he had faith but was by no means an eloquent speaker. I do believe that people need some particular gifts to go into vocational ministry (for example the ability to listen, lead, and teach), but we cannot have all of the gifts that are necessary. In fact, those in ministry should not appear to “have it all together.” That leads to others placing unreasonable expectations on themselves. By fully utilizing our gifts through the power of the Holy Spirit and acknowledging our weakness, we can encourage others to use their gifts and equip them to fulfill their calling at the same time that we fulfill our own. That is excellence in ministry.

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