In season 4
episode 5 of The Voice, the musical artist Usher stated, “Being a coach on The
Voice is to make an investment in people.”1 Coaching is a
self-investment by the minister and an investment by the coach in the minister.
When congregations and presbyteries encourage pastors to have a coach -- and help fund the coaching costs -- they are making an investment in the minister.
Through this multilevel investment, coaching has the potential for lengthening
pastoral tenure and stemming the attrition rate of those in the early years of
pastoral ministry.
Every minister can
benefit by having a ministry coach, especially those in their early years of
serving a congregation. It does not matter whether one has taken the path from high
school to college to seminary to first call, or is a second career pastor. Serving
a congregation is different than anything done before. Pastoral ministry is an
art learned best through intentional reflection on one’s ministry.
Coaching begins with the conviction that the minister is whole, resourceful and
creative. Coaching draws upon the minister's gifts, skills, knowledge, insights
and wisdom to establish future oriented goals addressing personal and ministry
oriented issues, and developing concrete steps to realize the fulfillment of
the goals. Coaching focuses on the minister not the ministry context. The coach
maintains a strict standard of confidentiality. Unless it is part of the
coaching contract, the coach does not report to the session or to the
presbytery about the person being coached or the coaching content.
No pastor goes
into their first, or any successive, call expecting it to be short-term.
Coaching helps the pastor avoid the short-term call syndrome by:
Ø
Providing a safe arena for intentional reflection
on the practice of ministry
Ø
Clarifying one’s role as a pastor
Ø
Dealing with multiple expectations from congregation
members
Ø
Sorting the important from the urgent
Ø
Gaining perspective and avoiding blind spots in
ministry
Ø
Dealing constructively with conflict
Ø
Handling frustration, failure and anger
Ø
Being a less anxious presence in a highly anxious
situation
A Google search
for “why pastors quit” reveals a multitude of articles listing reasons for and
statistics on the startling attrition of ministers across the theological
spectrum.
A frightening
number of ministers face dissolution of their call within the first five years.
An alarming number of ministers become disillusioned and leave ministry in the
first five years. Duke University, Alban Institute and Fuller Seminary have produced
studies which indicate a dropout rate of ministers in the first five years
ranging from fifty percent to eighty-five percent.2 In today’s
church environment very few will remain in ministry from ordination to
retirement.
Secular employers
know it is less expensive to retain an employee than constantly training new
employees. On the Presbyterian Mission Agency website, it states, It costs your Presbyterian seminaries an
average $109,000 to educate a Master of Divinity student for three years.3
That is a
significant investment by the individual and by seminary benefactors. Short
term pastorates are harmful to congregations,4 and disheartening to
ministers.
In 2004, the
Board of Pensions produced a report on clergy recruitment and retention.5 In 2006, the Board produced another study on mid-career ministers. Both studies
raised the concern of attrition in the first years of pastoral service.
The 2004 report identified
three primary contributors to the attrition: stress, conflict, and burnout. Ministers,
whether new to ministry or with several years of experience, are hesitant to go
to colleagues or mid-council staff with their frustrations or unfulfilled dreams.
Nobody likes to admit they are having difficulties or are deeply discouraged in
their present call. Due to the referencing
function of presbytery executive staff and the stigma of contacting those who
fill the role of the Committee on Ministry, ministers are reluctant to seek help
from them. It is unwise for ministers to bare the burdens of one’s soul to
congregants. The minister is left with few options other than to internalize. Internalized
difficulties and unfulfilled dreams are the seedbeds for weed like growth of
the contributors to attrition. A coach helps the minister and increases the
potential for lengthening pastoral tenure and lessening pastoral attrition.
Coaching and
having a coach is an investment worth making in the minister and the congregation(s)
they serve.
1.
Zayda Rivera, April 9, 2013 http://www.nydailynews.com/blogs/channel-surfer/2013/04/the-voice-season-4-episode-5-recap-usher-shakira-starting-to-hold-own-as-new-
2.
Keeping Your Pastor: An Emerging Challenge,
Kristin Stewart, Oakland City University 2009. http://www.oak.edu/~oakedu/assets/ck/files/Stewart+(SU+09).pdf
3.
Short-term Pastorates, Arnold Kurtz, January,
1980. https://www.ministrymagazine.org/archive/1980/01/short-term-pastorates
5.
Report on Clergy Recruitment and Retention (2004)
6.
Supporting Mid-Career Pastors of the Presbyterian
Church (U.S.A.) (2006) http://www.pensions.org/AvailableResources/BookletsandPublications/Documents/pub-501.pdf
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