Pastoral Leadership

Foundation for Pastoral Leadership

  1. Personal Foundation
    1. Intimacy with God
    2. Godly character
    3. Maturity
  2. Know yourself
    1. Fundamental convictions
    2. Preferences
    3. Culture
    4. Experiences
    5. Personality
    6. Gifts, skills, weaknesses
    7. Goals and ambitions
  3. Know God
    1. Sovereign
    2. Head of the Church
    3. Chief shepherd
    4. Chief recruiter
    5. Chief trainer
    6. Chief deployer
    7. Chief supervisor
  4. Know your calling
    1. Internal call
    2. External call
    3. Called to faithfulness
    4. Called to suffer
    5. Called to triumph
    6. Ordained call is to minister the means of grace
  5. Know your job
    1. Job description
      1. Requirements
      2. Tasks
      3. Skills
      4. Supervision
    2. Acquire and improve required skills
  6. Know your people
    1. History
    2. Culture
    3. Politics
    4. Families
    5. Individuals
  7. Know your work
    1. Spiritual war
    2. Spiritual tools
    3. Spiritual strength
    4. Prepare for casualties
    5. Hope for victory
  8. Know your position
    1. Director
    2. Manager
    3. Coordinator
    4. Coach

Practice of Pastoral Leadership

  1. Overall principles
    1. Adapt leadership to the culture
    2. Adapt leadership to yourself
  2. Leadership: recruiting, training, motivating, deploying, and supervising a group of people to accomplish a specific task that they would not otherwise have done together
    1. Recruit
    2. Train
    3. Motivate
    4. Deploy
    5. Supervise
  3. Aspects of leadership
    1. Vision
    2. Pastoral care
    3. Management
    4. Energy
  4. Cultivate team character
    1. Confidence and joy (fear)
    2. Ambition and diligence (laziness)
    3. Humility and love (pride)
    4. Contentment and peace (covetousness: Greed, Lust, Envy)
    5. Patience and self-control (anger)
  5. Lead by Preaching
    1. The gospel transforms
    2. The gospel imparts vision
    3. The gospel strengthens and encourages
    4. The gospel motivates
  6. Motivate by the Gospel
    1. Our new nature
    2. Our new identity
    3. Our partnership with Jesus
    4. Vision of the Kingdom
    5. Aware of temptations and accusations
  7. Leading a Team Meeting
    1. Types of Team Meetings
      1. Mission/ministry
      2. Relationships/social
      3. Announce clearly the purpose of the meeting
    2. Worship
    3. Pastoral care of the team
    4. Pastoral care of the congregation
    5. Business
    6. Avoid whatever can by done better by email, etc.
    7. Keep it moving
    8. Begin and end promptly
  8. Decision-making styles
    1. Autocratic
    2. Consulting
    3. Democratic
    4. Consensus
    5. Laissez-faire
  9. Develop team members
    1. Individual development plan for each member
    2. Each one according to his gifts,etc.
    3. Scripture in every meeting
    4. Prayer in every meeting
    5. Lord’s Supper every week

Responsibilities of a Leader

  1. Maintain the values of the ministry
    1. Most important role of a leader
    2. Embody the values
    3. Reinforce in all you say and do
    4. Praise examples of people and events which exhibit the values
  2. Maintain the vision and purpose of the ministry
    1. Most important role of a leader
    2. Breathe the vision and purpose
    3. Reinforce in all you say and do
    4. Praise examples of people and events which exhibit the vision and purpose
  3. Make decisions
    1. Most important function of a leader
    2. Whatever decision-making style you use, you must make the final decision
  4. Communicate
    1. Second most important function of a leader
    2. Written occasional (Email, messaging, etc.)
    3. Written reports
    4. Team Meetings
    5. Oral individual
    6. Transparency, not secrecy
  5. Execute
    1. Implement decisions promptly: neither rashly nor casually
    2. Avoid endless discussion
    3. Require prompt action from subordinates
  6. Take responsibility
    1. The buck stops with you – always
  7. Persuade, don’t manipulate
    1. Persuasion: changing people’s hearts and minds so that they want to do something different
    2. Manipulation: getting people to do something they don’t want to do
  8. Stay focused
    1. Strategy focused on vision/mission
    2. Programs that support the strategy
    3. Communication
      1. Focused on vision and strategy
      2. Concise; avoid word salads

Emotional Consequences of Leadership

  1. Fear
  2. Joy
  3. Confusion
  4. Opposition
  5. These must be anticipated and dealt with

Challenges of Pastoral Leadership

  1. Conflict and failure
    1. Urgency
      1. Some conflicts and failures get worse over time
      2. Some conflicts and failures resolve themselves
      3. Learn to distinguish the difference
    2. Danger of cover-up
      1. Dishonest
      2. Erodes trust
      3. Short-circuits learning
      4. Harms all parties
    3. Addressing with the gospel
      1. Clear identification of situation
      2. Clear evaluation of situation
      3. Resolution that affirms/corrects/restores/repositions participants
      4. Clear, appropriate, public communication
  2. Loneliness
    1. Find comfort and encouragement in God
    2. Welcome human friendships
    3. Avoid overworking
  3. Workload
    1. Tasks
    2. People
    3. Stay focused on job, position, strategy, vision
    4. Resist other people’s agendas
  4. Unprepared
    1. Prepare
    2. Delegate/refer
    3. No one can or should be expert in everything
  5. Confusion
    1. Learn
    2. Trust God
  6. Resistance
    1. Check your pace
    2. Continue your path
    3. Teach, persuade, encourage
  7. Accusation
    1. True: change, improve
    2. False private: ignore
    3. False public: simple statement of correction
  8. Attack
    1. Feint: ignore
    2. Real: engage to win
  9. Personal failure
    1. Admit – take responsibility
    2. Apologize/repent
    3. Learn and adapt so that it doesn’t happen again
  10. Success
    1. Boast in God
    2. Beware of pride
  11. Response to challenge: remember your call
  12. Support for leaders
    1. Presbytery
    2. Supervisor
    3. Friends who are not colleagues
    4. Spouse
    5. God

Bibliography

  • Friedman, Edwin H. A Failure of Nerve. New York, NY: Church Publishing, 2017.
  • Hyde, Douglas. Dedication and Leadership. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press, 1966.
  • Lencioni, Patrick. The Advantage. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2012.
  • Lencioni, Patrick. The Five Dysfunctions of a Team. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 2002.
  • Peters, Thomas J. and Robert H. Waterman, Jr. In Search of Excellence. New York, NY: HarperBusiness Essentials, 2004.

C. David Green
Easter 2025