Leadership for the Journey
Last night I had the opportunity to meet with a number of folk from My People, which is a ministry to the indigenous people of North America. In talking with Ray Aldred and Terry LeBlanc, not only about their ministry, but also their perspective on the God's Story, Scripture, the Christian journey, etc. it generated some insights on the way leadership is to be carried out through the pastoral role.
As the people of God we are a part of a story, in fact we are a part of a number of stories and what gives our lives meaning and direction is how these stories are connected and integrated. Each of us has our own story involving our family, our heritage, our life journey, but we are also a part of a greater story, as story that acts not only as a metanarrative and telos for our being Christian, being human, but also transforms our stories and enables us to see how our stories are caught up in the ultimate story -- God's Story.
Ray and I talked about Scripture as God's Story and that this Story is told and retold, not so much as a series of propositions, but as a Story of God engaging a people, a people of his choosing -- and so it is a Story that is told, heard, retold, reheard in community. The truth of this Story cannot be pulled apart and compartmentalized apart from the Story, but the truth of this Story is meant to impact and transform our lives as we submit the story of our lives to God's Story. Truth, God's truth is relative to his Story. The modern experiment, in which so many of us have become used to categorizing and compartmentalizing truth, has ripped truth out of its context, its God context. God's truth is meant to be heard, understood and lived out in story -- and the ultimate good news is that as we are embraced by God's Story (through our surrendering, submission to Christ Jesus and living in the presence and power of the Spirit) our stories are transformed and caught up in God's Story.
Terry and I talked about life as journey, rather than life as being only destination focused. Life is more than where we are headed, but it is living in God's Story throughout the days of our life -- hence a journey that is directed by God's Story and God's Vision (or eschatological telos). And the living out of this journey is not done alone, but in a community -- journey is walked with others.
The implications of all this for pastoral ministry and pastoral leadership are rich. Much of our modern conceptions of leadership have to do with destination and little to do with journey. But if we see life as journey and that our life journey is not only about our stories, but our being embraced and transformed in and through God's Story (in Jesus and in the power of the Spirit as we live our lives in light of the Father's mission--missio Dei), then pastoral leadership is to be exercised in a community experiencing God's Story and being transformed focusing on the journey, rather than just the destination. Now journeying with God is directed by God's telos, which gives purpose and direction to our journey, but it is primarily about our day to day living in this Story, than just where the destination is.
This means that pastoral leadership is less about being upfront, out ahead, trying to get people to follow so that we can get to the destination, but rather, pastoral leadership is being with, alongside, among the people of God we have been called to serve to guide them along their life journey as they grow more and more each day in seeing how their story is embraced by God's Story. In being with, alongside and among, pastors repeatedly help the members of their community see what God is doing and hear what God is saying to them as a people -- for them to see how God's Story is being unfolded in their midst right here and right now. In being with, alongside and among, it is not about planting some new vision into their lives, but helping them see, uncover, discover, discern the vision that the Spirit of God is manifesting in their presence as the body of Christ. The pastor does not need to "sell" any vision to get a congregation "to buy into it" --rather the pastor has the responsibility to articulate the commonness of the stories that are being lived in light of and in integral relation to God's Story in our midst. It as the pastor articulates the shape of God's Story in their midst, the people bear witness to what the Spirit has already been shaping in their lives. This is vision-casting in a new frame, this is pastoral leadership from a different perspective. It has all to do with God's Story, the community of God's people living in this Story, and it has to do with discerning how our stories -- our stories within the community story-- are embraced and integrated with God's Story.
This kind of pastoring helps people to attend to God in all of their life, helps people discover how God has been active in shaping their story, and leads to their participation in God's ongoing Story (as it continues to be lived out in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit--not that we are adding to the text of Scripture). This is pastoral ministry focused on a community in the midst of journey, rather than a community merely focused on the destination. It simply requires a different kind of leadership than we have been taught over the past 20-30 years.
As the people of God we are a part of a story, in fact we are a part of a number of stories and what gives our lives meaning and direction is how these stories are connected and integrated. Each of us has our own story involving our family, our heritage, our life journey, but we are also a part of a greater story, as story that acts not only as a metanarrative and telos for our being Christian, being human, but also transforms our stories and enables us to see how our stories are caught up in the ultimate story -- God's Story.
Ray and I talked about Scripture as God's Story and that this Story is told and retold, not so much as a series of propositions, but as a Story of God engaging a people, a people of his choosing -- and so it is a Story that is told, heard, retold, reheard in community. The truth of this Story cannot be pulled apart and compartmentalized apart from the Story, but the truth of this Story is meant to impact and transform our lives as we submit the story of our lives to God's Story. Truth, God's truth is relative to his Story. The modern experiment, in which so many of us have become used to categorizing and compartmentalizing truth, has ripped truth out of its context, its God context. God's truth is meant to be heard, understood and lived out in story -- and the ultimate good news is that as we are embraced by God's Story (through our surrendering, submission to Christ Jesus and living in the presence and power of the Spirit) our stories are transformed and caught up in God's Story.
Terry and I talked about life as journey, rather than life as being only destination focused. Life is more than where we are headed, but it is living in God's Story throughout the days of our life -- hence a journey that is directed by God's Story and God's Vision (or eschatological telos). And the living out of this journey is not done alone, but in a community -- journey is walked with others.
The implications of all this for pastoral ministry and pastoral leadership are rich. Much of our modern conceptions of leadership have to do with destination and little to do with journey. But if we see life as journey and that our life journey is not only about our stories, but our being embraced and transformed in and through God's Story (in Jesus and in the power of the Spirit as we live our lives in light of the Father's mission--missio Dei), then pastoral leadership is to be exercised in a community experiencing God's Story and being transformed focusing on the journey, rather than just the destination. Now journeying with God is directed by God's telos, which gives purpose and direction to our journey, but it is primarily about our day to day living in this Story, than just where the destination is.
This means that pastoral leadership is less about being upfront, out ahead, trying to get people to follow so that we can get to the destination, but rather, pastoral leadership is being with, alongside, among the people of God we have been called to serve to guide them along their life journey as they grow more and more each day in seeing how their story is embraced by God's Story. In being with, alongside and among, pastors repeatedly help the members of their community see what God is doing and hear what God is saying to them as a people -- for them to see how God's Story is being unfolded in their midst right here and right now. In being with, alongside and among, it is not about planting some new vision into their lives, but helping them see, uncover, discover, discern the vision that the Spirit of God is manifesting in their presence as the body of Christ. The pastor does not need to "sell" any vision to get a congregation "to buy into it" --rather the pastor has the responsibility to articulate the commonness of the stories that are being lived in light of and in integral relation to God's Story in our midst. It as the pastor articulates the shape of God's Story in their midst, the people bear witness to what the Spirit has already been shaping in their lives. This is vision-casting in a new frame, this is pastoral leadership from a different perspective. It has all to do with God's Story, the community of God's people living in this Story, and it has to do with discerning how our stories -- our stories within the community story-- are embraced and integrated with God's Story.
This kind of pastoring helps people to attend to God in all of their life, helps people discover how God has been active in shaping their story, and leads to their participation in God's ongoing Story (as it continues to be lived out in the presence and power of the Holy Spirit--not that we are adding to the text of Scripture). This is pastoral ministry focused on a community in the midst of journey, rather than a community merely focused on the destination. It simply requires a different kind of leadership than we have been taught over the past 20-30 years.
posted by Roland G. Kuhl at 7:47 AM
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