Creativity Gift

The Pastoral Leader

Highlights

· Real people-people

· Prefer face-to-face human interaction and influencing people through inter-personal relationships

· Characterized as warm, tender-hearted, sincere, kind, gentle and compassionate

· Brings to the team the nurture and support that each member requires in order to persevere

· Avoid task-oriented leadership roles and extended periods in the office addressing administrative duties

Report

Many church leaders feel they ought to be Pastoral Leaders, although many do not possess Pastoral Leadership as their primary style. Pastoral Leaders are real "people-people", who have an important role in supporting the Pioneering Leaders, Strategic Leaders, Team Leaders and the rest of the church, particularly when times are hard. Vision and moving into vision seem less important to Pastoral Leaders. They care deeply about each individual, and his or her personal and spiritual welfare. The Apostle John was a Pastoral Leader. He repeatedly calls the Body of Christ to “Love One Another”…a complete contrast to Paul's energetic church planting and exhortation.

Pastoral Leadership is often unseen, and often unappreciated publicly, yet hugely important. Pastoral Leaders can sometimes be threatened by emphasis placed upon “vision” by Pioneering Leaders and Strategic Leaders - and at times may find themselves irritated by the attention to detail shown by Administrative Leaders. Yet their contribution to a team is invaluable. Think for a moment of a Pastoral Leader that has impacted your life, and you will probably find that you regard that person with considerable respect.

Pastoral Leaders are invaluable. Pastoral Leaders care little about vision or mission except when they can see how such things practically impact people in a positive way. The Pastoral Leader loves nothing more than to sit face-to-face with people and to share authentic life in Christ. They value one-on-one and small group ministry opportunities. Their nature is commonly characterized as warm, tender-hearted, sincere, kind, gentle and compassionate. They typically excel in their ability to listen to others and to perceive the needs of others. Pastoral Leaders emote with others effectively and are able to cry when others cry, and rejoice when others rejoice. For this reason, Pastoral Leaders are often called upon in times of intense suffering, such as when a loved one is hospitalized or has died, or during times of great celebration such as weddings.

In addition, Pastoral Leaders are commonly prayer warriors who value spending time with God as much as they value spending time with other people. Intercessory prayer is a gift of the Holy Spirit granted to many Pastoral Leaders, and they should be strongly encouraged to utilize that gift for the sake of the mission at hand and the members of the mission team. The Evil One will come against any and all people who seek to be used in significant ways by Christ for the advancement of His Kingdom within this world. Intercessory prayer coverage is an essential element to any spiritually healthy and effective ministry team. In this respect, the Pastoral Leader may be the most significant and essential members of a ministry team.

Pastoral Leaders are less likely to lead missional groups or teams, although they can and may do so, but are more likely to prefer interpersonal interaction and one-on-one influence. They are not at all task focused. Pastoral Leaders will value the individual above the task every time. For this reason, Pastoral Leaders may better serve a team in a support role rather than in a lead role. When Pastoral Leaders are placed in dominant leadership roles, the consequence is generally that the team must endure many meetings, with much discussion, that results in little ministry actually getting accomplished. This is not because the Pastoral Leader does not wish for the work of ministry to go forward. Simply put, the Pastoral Leader is more concerned with the feelings and perspectives of everyone who may be impacted by the ministry efforts of the team than with the mission itself. The project synergy and momentum that Pioneering or Team Leaders believe to be essential to accomplishing a mission are often depleted by Pastoral Leaders over an extended period of time as they move the team forward slowly and cautiously. The ultimate goal of the Pastoral Leader is to minimize risk…risk of failure and the risk of hurting others. However, like the classic band aid illustration, sometimes Pastoral Leaders will move a team so slowly that they unintentionally extend pain over a long period. Pastoral Leaders are not likely to “pull the band aid off quickly”. For this reason, while their motives may be pure, the Pastoral Leaders’ methods in leading a ministry team may not be the healthiest or the most effective for the team. This perspective regarding organizational change within the ministry may result in relational stress between the Pastoral Leader and other leader types such as Pioneers and Strategic Leaders who value positive change and realize that synergy and momentum are often crucial allies in any serious project. But this relational stress can also be healthy in that the Pastoral Leader will provide a check-and-balance to the highly task oriented leaders who might otherwise steamroll over people in their zeal to accomplish their missional objectives.

However, when a Pastoral Leader serves a team in a support role, assigned the responsibility to care for and nurture the members of the team, the team is likely to be spiritually and emotionally healthier and function more effectively. The Pastoral Leader’s influence will be positively felt by the team as team members begin to feel that their needs and concerns are being addressed. Pastoral Leaders can do much to limit the stresses a team may experience that would otherwise result in relational conflict. Their calming spirit, along with their ability to perceive and understand differing perspectives enables Pastoral Leaders to earn the respect and trust of each team member. Pastoral Leaders are by nature, unifiers. They seek to be peace makers and are very unlikely to be the source of conflict, division and strife among a team or within an organization.

Because of the relational challenges typically experienced within with in a team environment, Pastoral Leaders should have responsibility over the spiritual and emotional needs of the various team members. The Pastoral Leader will likely find that managing data and tasks is far more difficult for them than caring for people. While they may have some administrative skills, care should be taken to protect the Pastoral Leader from overwhelming stress caused by relational isolation in an office. The Pastoral Leader is fully equipped to pastor and encourage the team. The team needs a Pastoral leader to pastor, encourage and lead the team members emotionally, spiritually and relationally.

It is important that Pastoral Leaders realize that they cannot accomplish the support the team alone…they need their team members and the team members need the Pastoral Leader. 1 Corinthians 12 affirms that the Body of Christ is comprised of many different members who all need one another. The passage also affirms that God positions the members of the body, just as he has determined. God created the Pastoral Leader and positioned him or her strategically in this world, at this particular time, and within specific churches because God intends for them to nurture and support those who labor for the sake of Christ. With the support of the Pastoral Leader, the Kingdom of Christ will be propelled forward within a world that desperately needs to know the power and love of the God who himself sent us His Spirit to comfort, nurture and guide God’s people as they seek to be faithful to his calling and direction within their lives.

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