Pastoral or Missional?
In the late 20th century, the Episcopal Church began focusing very much on the ministry each and every one of us has by virtue of being baptized and striving to live according to the serious promises we make in the Baptismal Covenant. Some congregations began to move towards a less centralized, clericalist model of leadership. This is a major shift, responding not only to the theological emphasis of the new Prayer Book but the changing place of the church in the larger culture. We have now moved through the end of "Christendom"--that era of 1500 years when Christianity was the default faith and practice of western society-- and into a new reality.
Now, in the 21st century, it is clear that the church must continue this shift, to what is called a "missional" model of functioning rather than a "pastoral" culture and self-understanding. What do those terms mean?
The Pastoral model: People come to the church to receive religious goods and services, and the pastor is present to engage and meet their spiritual or religious needs in every way.
The Missional Model: Ministry in and for the context in which people have an ever greater variety of religious options. A congregation must become a place where members learn to function like cross-cultural missionaries rather than be a gathering place where people come to receive religious goods and services.
Clergy trained in the 20th century were trained in the pastoral model, and it is what congregations whose core members were raised in the mid-20th century, like Calvary, often assume and expect.
Clergy trained and ordained in the 21st century, as I was, and members of congregations which have by circumstances have already been forced to engage with the vastly different cultural assumptions around religion and institutions which predominate in the 21st century, have begun to shift to the missional model.
I grew up in a parish which was ahead of the curve and already making some of these changes in the late 20th century, and the parish which sponsored me for ordination was fully in this new paradigm.
At our vestry retreat last February, our leadership consultant shared a chart similar to the one below and asked which side we believe best described our experience of and assumptions about church and leadership. I chose the "Missional" side because it described the self-understanding of most parishes I've known over the past 20 years and my own understanding of the role of clergy in a parish. But the adjectives of that side were new to most or all of the vestry members.
A lightbulb went off--this language and these assumptions about how clergy and congregation work together were new to many people at Calvary. The Our Church 2030 survey confirmed this.
Calvary and the many other congregations still in the pastoral model, are often struggling to meet the realities of the 21st century. We are now in a world in which "religion," "Christianity" and "institution" are assumed to be negative words rather than positive ones.
To meet the demands of this new age, we are called to do the very hard work of recalibrating our self-understanding, our expectations of congregants and clergy, and our definition of our purpose. To meet this new reality we need to be missioners and ministers of the Gospel rather than receivers or administrators of care and programs.
How is a parish functioning in a "missional" model different from one functioning from a "pastoral" model? One huge difference is the expectations the congregation has of its pastor and the role the pastor has in leadership. This chart is one way of describing the difference. It is not the only way, but it highlights some of the key elements of this one dimension of church life in the 21st century.
PASTORAL MODEL
Expectations of clergy
Ordained ministry staff functions to give attention to and take care of people in the church by being present for people as they are needed (care and attention given by people other than ordained clergy is deemed “second-class”)
An ordained pastor must be present at every meeting and event or else it is not validated or important.
Time, energy, and focus of clergy shaped by people’s “need” and “pain” agendas.
Pastor as celebrity (must be a “home run hitter”) AND “recovery expert" (“make it like it used to be”)
Preaching and teaching offer answers and comfort and tells people what is right and wrong.
Pastor as “peacemaker”: conflict suppressor or “fixer”
Pastor functions as the manager, maintainer, or resource agent of a series of centralized ministries focused in and around the building that everyone must support. Always be seen as the champion and primary support agent for every one’s specific ministry.
MISSIONAL MODEL
Expectations of Clergy
Ministry staff operate as coaches and mentors within a system that is not dependent on them to validate the importance and function of every group by being present.
Ordained clergy equip and release the multiple ministries of the people of God throughout the church.
“Pastoring” must be part of the mix, but not the sum total
Pastor as cultivator of imagination and creativity
Preaching and teaching invite the people of God to engage Scripture as a living word that confronts them with questions and draws them into a distinctive world.
Pastor makes tension OK.
Create an environment that releases and nourishes the missional imagination of all people through diverse ministries and teams that affect their various communities, the city, nation, and world with the gospel of Jesus Christ.
[Chart and definitions are from:
Roxburgh, Alan J.; Romanuk, Fred. The Missional Leader: Equipping Your Church to Reach a Changing World. Wiley, 2020, pages 29-34. It is representative of a large body of work in church leadership from the past 20 years.]
How do you react to this?
Which list is closest to your idea of how clergy and congregation work together? Or is your inner model a mix of the two?
What do you see as the key differences between the two?
What parts of the missional model make you go "Yay!" or "Of course!" ?
Which parts make you say "Baloney!," "Yuck!" or "Huh?!
What part of the pastoral model would you miss the most?
This chart is one author's description of just one dimension of the larger changes that have to occur as the church retools for a new environment. This particular chart isn't a stone tablet delivered from Sinai! But the overall shift is real, no matter how it's worded.
Some version of this basic shift is happening in almost all parishes which are successfully responding to the challenges of our new era. And it is just one of the shifts that Calvary is being called to make. It won't be as easy as flipping a switch or changing brands of toothpaste, or even reading a chart in a church newsletter.
It will require honest dialogue and conversation, articulations of the sense of loss and bewilderment that such cultural changes often evoke, and compassionate listening to one another. All of this can be done when we remember we are accompanied by God's inspiring Spirit and responding to Christ's urgent commission, and members of one Body!
Blessings,
—Gillian+