Again, I want to emphasize that the better and more sensitive a pastor is, the more taxing is his or her exercise of ministry. So for a session to want to care for the clergy of their church is to recognize the strengths, not the weaknesses, of the pastor(s). It is from this perspective that I want to suggest a team concept of ministry between the pastor(s) and the session. The plan I want to suggest will not only be supportive of the pastor, but will likely deepen the spiritual experience of the elders as they participate.
There is some adaptation necessary depending on the size of the session. Let the elders assign themselves equally over a twelve-month period. If there are twelve elders, that is easy but you can also have some months where more than one elder is involved or if there are fewer than twelve elders, some may have to have more than one month. It is important that this not be assigned to a few elders but by end of the year, all elders have been involved.
Each month, the identified Elder(s) take the pastor out for a meeting away from the church –breakfast, coffee, lunch, etc. At that informal meeting, both pastor and elder know that the following will be discussed. After the normal “How are things going” is shared, the following three questions will be asked. First, in the past month what have been some of the more satisfying experiences of ministry — small or large. Second, in the past month, what have been some of the more challenging and/or frustrating experiences. Third, in preparing the congregation for the future, if you had the support of the session, what is one change you’d like to explore.
These are not discussions that will normally lead to any specific action. Each elder is to keep notes so that they can later be looked at as a cumulative report. More on that tomorrow.
