I have just completed offering a Webinar, in conjunction with The Presbyterian Outlook called “Teaming With your Clergy.” I’ve watched the DVD from the webinar and think it would be good resource for churches who care for their clergy and especially for churches who are about to welcome a new pastor. It can be acquired by contacting Jana Blazek at the Presbyterian Outlook. jblazek@pres-outlook.org or 800/446-6008 Ext. 758. If a higher judicatory wanted to order several DVDs to help their churches, there is even a discount for multiple orders.
In the Webinar, after guiding a session through some exercises to help them understand the complexity of ministry and some specific ways they can offer support for their pastor, I suggest the following plan.
Assign your elders across the twelve months of the year so that all elders are involved at least in one month. Then on the assigned month, the elder(s) call the pastor and invite the pastor for breakfast, lunch, or coffee at a place outside the church.
When the meeting takes place, there will be the usual “How are things going” and “Are there any particular concerns that you would like brought before the session for action.”
Then the following three questions will be asked every month, with the elder taking notes.
1. What has been a particularly satisfying experience of ministry in the past month?
2. What has been a challenging or frustrating experience this past month?
3. If you had the full support of the session, what is one new idea you would like to pursue that might help the congregation prepare for their own future?
At least a couple of times a year, the session would gather to have the various elders report in what they had heard. The session would look for patterns for what is satisfying and what is either frustrating or challenging for their pastor. Sometimes a challenging experience is good but it still is exhausting. It is also good to know what types of ministry brings satisfaction to the pastor. They also listen to the types of ideas about which the pastor is thinking with respect to the future of the church. Not all ideas are fully developed and when it is heard later in this cumulative report, it may be clear that the concern is real but the response may need further development.
What this does is help the session be in tune with their pastor and together they can strengthen the ministry of the church.
