What are some of the things you notice when you travel, even
in your own country? For convenience and safety there are some things which are
standardized. Highway signs are pretty universal. The malls and shopping
centers are fairly standardized, a few of the store names are different. The
big chain grocery stores are the ones which will frequently have different
names: Kroger, Publix, Giant Eagle, Piggly Wiggly and so forth. There are many
dialects even to the same language. It is not difficult to tell the difference
in the spoken language between a person reared in Connecticut and a person from
Mississippi. Except for chain restaurants, the taste of food can be
significantly different. The local cuisine has a distinctiveness across the
country.
Customs of the local populace are often different. Driving
can be confusing and sometimes dangerous if you do not know the local patterns.
Roundabouts in Boston can perplex a person whose driving has only been in the
open spaces of Texas. In some places, when the traffic signals changes from
green to red, the facing drivers give way to the remaining vehicle seeking to
make a cross traffic turn. In other places one dare not try to make that turn
because the facing traffic already will be moving forward in anticipation of
the light change.
When I was in college my minor was in speech and drama. The
college was small and did not have all the latest sets, props, lighting and
sound equipment. We has to make our own set flats, from framing, covering with
fabric, sizing with glue, base coating and then decorating. We built our own rheostat
lighting board. Our coach, Bob Franks, knew many of us would be going to serve
as teachers in smaller poorer school systems. He said, “If you had everything
of the latest equipment here, you would be lost when you go where they have
nothing. If you learn to improvise and make your own here, and go someplace
where they have everything you will do fine.”
If one has been a long time member of a larger church the
shock of moving to a radically smaller one can be overwhelming. Many you go to
seminary are from mid-size to large congregations, but are often called to serve
much smaller congregations. They may be used to a situation where program
development and implementation was the primary expectation. In many smaller
congregations they have neither the person nor the financial resources to
support an unending string of programs. What they want most is a pastor who
will love and care for them.
As a general presbyter, I used to say to new pastors coming
into the presbytery, “Welcome to the mission field. If you were to go to serve
in any other country would you expect things there to be the same as they were
at home? Unless you are native born and reared in this particular culture of
western Pennsylvania, do not expect things here to be the same as where you are
coming from.” Even within the local cultural context each congregation will
have its own culture and ways of doing things. Unless pastors take the time to
learn the local ways, the pastorate can come to a premature screeching crash.
This is another example of where a coach can be of
significant help to the minister. The coach can help the pastor reflect on and
adapt to the new culture in which they are serving. Every time a minister
relocates there is a new local and congregational culture to learn. The coach
can be a valuable to the pastor as a guide through a new terrain in a distant
land. Every time a minister relocates they enter the new congregation needing
to learn the ways of the local inhabitants. A coach can facilitate the cultural
adaptations necessary for a fruitful pastorate.
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