A Way Forward: Ideas Post-Lang

The last week has continued to see more people provide feedback regarding Alex Lang’s post on leaving the ministry. I offered my critique, as well as provided that there were some precautions that we clergy and laity should bear in mind. I wanted to put together some recommendations for a more practical way forward.

I preface this by saying my recommendations are specifically for the PCUSA, although some may be helpful for any pastor.

1. Developing better care networks for clergy (or marketing them better!). One of the apparent implications of Lang and others is that he and many others feel isolated in their work. I’d argue there continues to be a traditional model of ministry that claims that we, as clergy, should be self-sufficient. All we need is from God, so why must we require community?
   One of the stories that persist in my congregation is the story of our longest-tenured pastor, Dr. Steven Harvin. From what I gather, the man was tireless in his commitment to SJPC and the greater community, and the fruits of his labor, coupled with the expansive growth of the community during his time, saw the church grow to its height in the 70s. But, he wasn’t alone: he had a staff supporting him, and one of my favorite stories is that one of the car dealerships nearby gave him a free Oldsmobile as a lease every year that he was pastor. I cannot imagine today’s world where a pastor was given a car gratis.
   
   That doesn’t mean there is a lack of pastoral support networks out there - the CREDO program that many denominations provide helps pastors spend two weeks reflecting on their ministry through a holistic curriculum, focusing on financial, physical, and spiritual health. The Lilly Foundation has created multiple clergy renewal programs, some of which I had the advantage of utilizing. Yet, as with many things, they are constrained by the scarcity of funding, and many more people need the help than can access it.
   
   Greater commitment on the part of any ecclesial body - the local church to the denominational headquarters - on setting aside funds (and, when those funds aren’t available, finding other organizations who can) for clergy to find renewal and continue to define themselves will only help reduce the potential for burnout over time.
   
   Clergy must also not buy into the idea that they must be all things to everyone. Some of that can be antiquated ministry ideals (some of my mentors who were most active in ministry in the 50s and 60s told me how they’d end their Sundays sweeping the floors of the sanctuary). Some of it can be ego-driven: we want to feel important in a role that is supposed to lead the masses. Some of it is a necessity: my pastoral bingo card is full of things like running ethernet cable in our attic, acting as tech support, and becoming the backstop for programming throughout the church. But I do those things because of my gifts and curiosity, and so they become life-giving. Even things like unclogging a toilet during VBS might not be life-giving, but they are part of demonstrating what living in a community is like. But when those become expected by the congregation (especially if it becomes a blasé “Well, I pay the pastor, why can she do it?”), then it becomes ripe for the burnout Lang describes, something I’ll touch on later.
2. Reducing the gap between seminary and presbytery. It was a curious thing in my seminary experience to see how much of a gap there was between the roles of seminary and presbytery in my development as a pastor. Seminaries, by and large, do not see their primary function to include their students’ emotional and professional development. They are academically equipping seminarians to serve the church. In my experience, they depend on the presbyteries to fill in the gaps of developing a seminarian to become a pastor. There is some valid reasoning here - not every seminarian is becoming clergy. Many are not coming from the same denomination as the seminary itself. As a result, when there are always myriad requirements on seminaries from accrediting boards, it becomes too complex of a challenge to add another responsibility to them.
   
   However, presbyteries are hit-and-miss when it comes to fulfilling their commitment, and the lines of communication of what may be happening in seminary are limited and mostly self-reported. As a result, the church may send ill-equipped people into positions where they are likely to fail.
   
   As I’ll mention in the next point, presbyteries need to do a better job redirecting people out of parish work if their gifts do not align with the tasks parish ministry requires. But they can only do so with as much data to assist discernment. No amount of ordination exams and annual meetings will provide that level of detail.
   
3. Presbytery involvement in discernment. Not every person who desires to attend seminary and become a pastor should be one. Whether it’s apparent issues as we’ve seen in the Catholic and Southern Baptist churches and their continued sexual assault issues, or even far more benign personality problems and expectation issues, leading people into a role that is so shepherded as is the call process in the PCUSA, only to not provide an off-ramp from parish ministry is unhealthy for both seminarians and potential churches.
   
   If we believe in Paul’s exhortation that there are many gifts in the body of Christ and each is sacred, then we should apply that to the people looking to lead in the body through the church. Again, no amount of ordination exams will attend to the matter. It has to be consistent, regular discernment with people, understanding their gifts, and helping them see that the parish is not somehow the top prize after going through seminary.
   
   I was not too fond of the feeling at times from some colleagues that things like chaplaincy or other ministry placements were somehow a consolation. This had been for a while institutional - it’s only been more recently that the PCUSA has permitted ordination into chaplaincy and other non-traditional ministry settings.
   
   I’d argue that the continued shift in the church’s role demands more unique locations for seminary-trained, thoughtful leaders. While I’m no doomsayer about the decline of the church, I do believe that as years progress, its importance as the center of ministry will reduce, and, over time, be part of a plurality with other faith-based non-profits carrying the work of God’s commonwealth in the world.
   
4. Presbytery involvement in congregational support. The world of ministry can be strange when it comes to culture change. The pastor, who is responsible for having a vision about what a community is called to do, must persuade the people who carry his annual contract. Do too much, and she risks angering the community and fomenting a coup. Do too little, and the church flails in its inertia. And each of us inherits the work of our predecessors and the story’s plot. As a result, what defines too much or too little is biased by the past. Sometimes, interim pastors can assist in resetting narratives, but they, too, can be equally culpable in creating difficulties for the next pastor. Ask any installed pastor about an interim who decided to get creative and add a pet project program in their time, and you’ll see what I mean.
   
   Presbyteries and their commissions could help more in this work by maintaining regular communication with churches throughout their lives. Acting as an objective outsider, they can counsel churches when they are straying too far, create toxic environments for clergy (and vice versa!), and have the tools in their polity to make a strategic change when needed.
   
   However, too often, presbyteries only work with churches in crisis. Most of us tend to avoid relationships with crisis workers in times outside of crisis: it is the rare person who joyrides on ambulances when they’re not injured. Moreover, past crises’ trauma is a plot line amidst churches with presbyteries.
   
   It would do us well to amplify the work of commissions on ministry so that they are shepherding churches at all times. Not only would that mean that churches have some objective, non-partisan support in good times, but also have a familiar, caring presence in difficult moments.
   
5. Asking hard questions about expectations. Throughout Lang’s diatribe, I kept returning to a question about expectations. What expectations did he have of his job? How did that feed into the expectations of others about him?
   Pastors, indeed, wear many hats. But as I said in my previous post, they are all under our ordination and installation vows, which direct us to focus on Scripture, our Reformed tradition, and the work of bringing all of that to bear in the work into the present. As a result, we’ll be tasked