Are You Recognizable in Your Parish? Should You Be?

Are you recognizable to the average attendee at your parish? Should you be?

Good question.

I’ll backpedal a bit first…one of the things that surprised me when I began formation as a lay ecclesial minister was that the question of if, say a Director of Evangelization, Adult Faith Formation Coordinator, Director of Religious Education, etc. should be a parishioner at the same parish where he/she is employed. Coming from significant time in evangelical Protestant settings, I found this culturally perplexing–I’d never known anyone on ministry staff in any of my Baptist churches that maintained “membership” elsewhere.

There’s as much individual variety in this question as any, i.e. circumstances where a person works far from where they live due to family or financial needs, situations where language/cultural differences in parishes drive a specific choice, times when one’s “home” parish simply doesn’t offer any employment opportunities in a person’s field, etc.

But, let’s enter a generic (aka like none of our lives!) situation, an imaginary vacuum of sorts. Chris Wesley asks the essential question: “If someone needed a youth minister [in your parish/church] would they know exactly who to walk up to?” I encourage you to frame it more broadly and ask this: is your position on staff as a lay ecclesial minister one that a person who is less-engaged (i.e. not attending Mass weekly, checking parish website, etc.) would need to talk to?

Maybe it’s because you’re leading the RCIA team or Alpha–ministries where the less-engaged might find a starting point. Maybe it’s because you’re key for helping people discern their gifts and connect to ministries to serve in. Maybe it’s because you’re coordinating children’s ministries and rarely get a chance to talk to the adults who drop-off kids at your programs.

If this seems like you, Wesley sends an encouragement to simply be present around weekend Masses. Not in a way that compromises your own participation in worship and liturgy–but as something intentional flowing from your staff role. (See Must-Implement Concept #9 on the importance of including this in job descriptions).  Doing this, Wesley writes, “not only maximizes your impact, but creates a loving and relational culture. That type of environment is why people will come back to your church.”

Be present and be approachable.

How you do this will depend on your role, your personality, your parish, and more. But the point is to do it. Take the step to offer more connection, more person-to-person contact, and see what fruit it brings in terms of relationships with those you serve–and fruit in your own spiritual life. Many in ministry recognize a humility in being behind the scenes–and this is a good thing. However, you’ll never know how God may be wanting to use you to offer a smile, a well-spoken word, a consolation, a hug, much needed empathy, or simply a reminder that they are not alone, to those who aren’t at your “regular” ministry events. Our parish campuses/grounds are the perfect place to first embody the love of Jesus that we week to bring to the entire world.

Image: Thomas Hawk via Flickr

Millennials in Ministry: Lencioni Thinking

Too often, people in church-world speak of “reaching” Millennials as if we’re some “foreign entity” (h/t Tim O’Malley) or a group solely in need of being reached/served/ministered to, in contrast to being baptized-believers whom God is already at work in and through–right now.

Patrick Lencioni, co-founder of Amazing Parish, offers these thoughts on Millennials:

As it turns out, there is a better way to think about hiring good people than focusing on a person’s generational stereotype. It comes down to looking for three simple, timeless and observable virtues that are reliable predictors of whether someone of any age will be a good team player. Thankfully, while generations change, the nature of teamwork does not.

I agree! A healthy organization is a healthy organization not because of the particular generational identities of its members, but because of their common commitment, the way the relate, and the way they make decisions together.

Millennials are largely missing from the teams of leaders in many church ministries—what holds us back? Maybe, a better appreciation of what makes a healthy organization and what cultivates effective teamwork is a missing piece. We don’t know how to “talk” about being an effective ministry organization because we lack the vocabulary, and so we default to stereotypes, thinking it’s because of a person’s age, marital status, regional identity, race, gender, etc. that “we can’t work well together” or “we always communicate poorly.”

As I’ve said before, I highly recommend Lencioni’s The Advantage for anyone in ministerial leadership. And 🙂 as a Millennial, I’m looking forward to reading Lencioni’s latest book, The Ideal Team Player, to see how it connects with each of our own baptismal vocations in ministry and some of the classic scholarship on “courageous followership.”

Have you read “The Advantage” or plan on reading “The Ideal Team Player” through a ministry lens? Share your thoughts in the Comments.

Jeff Djevdet (Flickr), CC by 2.0

Christian Unity: 10 Leaders You May Not Have Heard Of

This year during the Octave/Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, we’re taking a learning approach and exploring practical take ways from a diverse range of church leaders.

Today, I’m sharing these 31 Lessons From 10 Church Leaders You Should Be Listening To  from the awesome website UnSeminary.

Now, depending on your ministry circles, these leaders might not be household names. And that’s a good thing. Getting outside of one’s usual circle of ideas can spur us to break down assumption, reassess some of our paradigms, better understand mental models, and just plain feel refreshed by knowing we’re not alone.

Check out the list. And if something intrigues you,  go further. Read a new article or book, listen to a bit of a podcast, consider where your ministry might need a pragmatic change of wineskin. Pray and learn during this holy time of focus on Christian Unity.

“Leading Up” in Ministry

Ministry settings aren’t usually know for having simplistic, clear-cut lines of “command” when it comes to bosses and supervisors. And that’s a good thing. The inherent messiness of a “team of teams” often creates the space for our unique gifts of the Holy Spirit and natural/developed talents to shine through.

But how do we lead when we have no single “boss”? When we answer to critical volunteers, councils, boards, diocesan staff, and commissions (just to name a few!)

Check out these 9 Tips for “Leading Up” at Your Church and remember, when you lead in ministry it’s not just about those who answer to you, or look to you for guidance–it’s about leading up, leading to your left and right, leading in whatever direction God sends you for the building up of the body of Christ (cf. Eph 4:12).

Lay Disciples

Can you name any or all of these lay disciples?

Give it a try in the comment box 🙂

The Call, The Loss, and a Disciple’s Vocational Integration

Fr. Jean Vanier, founder of L’Arche, on the essential relationship of connection between loss and response to a call, to any true vocation:

Grief and loss are inseparable from the call.

If we accept the call but not the loss
we will live in a contradiction.

When people make a decision, for example to live in l’Arche,
but do not fully accept the consequences of their decision,
it is a cause of great distress.

They constantly feel sorry for themselves,
sorry that they do not have a  higher salary,
or more time for themselves,
shorter working hours, etc.

There is the call
and there is the loss.
But who wants loss?

When I left the navy more than fifty years ago,
I sold everything I had,
which wasn’t much, and gave it to the poor.

Today I do not have much to sell
and I doubt if anyone would want what I have!
But the call and loss continue.

Excerpts from Vanier’s Befriending the Stranger (2001), p. 20

Living this Paschal Mystery (h/t Joyce Donahue) is part of any healthy discernment of a call to a particular form of work, life, or oftentimes–both. As Vanier alludes to, if we as disciples seeking to follow Jesus in the Holy Spirit fail to integrate loss and call early on, the effects will linger. “Distress” will simmer beneath the surface, negatively impacting our relationships with God and others.

The degree to which this “distress” appears outwardly negative will vary by individual and situation. I know that I have been guilty of making decisions about following the call without fully accepting the consequences–and yes, this led to interior self-pity, to regret–even as my life was filled with genuine joy. It can be an odd mix sometimes.

But, a healthy, wholesome integrated life of discipleship avoids this temptation, as this temptation ultimately harms our relationship with God. We can be joyful for a time, but it is difficult to authentically sustain this joy from the Source if we have not fully accepted the consequences of our calls as disciples.

1 Minute Review: Fr. Robert Spitzer’s “The Spirit of Leadership”

I was excited to take a look at Fr. Robert Spitzer, S.J.’s book The Spirit of Leadership: Optimizing Creativity and Change in Organizations (2000) since I study/teach leadership, management, and ethics [in both secular and faith-based settings] and rarely see books that specifically explore change leadership written from a Catholic theological perspective.

Spitzer’s work is truly unique. It’s deep. I mean deep into the psychological and philosophical background that guides well-formed and ethical leaders. He doesn’t talk theology (on the surface) often. It’s not as much a “take it into the trenches with you” guide like many other modern leadership books. This book provides a solid foundation for anyone seeking to better understand the person of the “leader” in today’s organizations. It’s a complex book (not an “easy” read), but done in a way that brings psychology, philosophy, and moral theology into a secular world without requiring a background Masters Degree in Theology–and this is greatly needed!

So who’s this book right for? I think it is understood best as a form of pre-evangelization. Something for the unevangelized, spiritually seeking/open, or curious secular leader to use that (beyond helping him/her grow as a leader!) might prompt this person to new curiosity about the ethical life and spirituality. Spitzer provides such a comprehensive philosophical and ethical background, that this could easily spur someone to begin thinking about God and human existence. Spitzer compellingly shows that our deepest human longings shape how we interact with others and the world–and this is magnified for those leading organizations.

I would not recommend this as a “how to” leadership development book for those in ministry formation or already working in ministry. Why not? Because those folks are likely past the pre-evangelization stage and need something more practical. They probably don’t need to be convinced of the ethical and spiritual foundations of leadership, and instead they need to know how to lead and manage. [As a caveat, I would offer that reading this book might be a useful for those in ministry as a way to see how to use virtues, spirituality, and moral theology to connect with secular leaders and managers.]

For a taste of the unique style of this book, check out Spitzer’s website, which includes
tidbits like this that show how he connects an understanding of the human person with a foundational spirituality of leadership.

Vocation. Integration. Combination.

Patrick Didonato on work, ministry, and personal integration:

For the lay disciple, what is the difference between being just a great [insert a job title here] and working for the Church full-time?

It’s not just one or the other, but rather, audaciously fusing the two in every aspect of our lives.

That’s our mission as intentional disciples.

Why is this so important?

Because becoming a disciple of Jesus Christ and following Him means recognizing that God cares what we do with our time. Yet, this doesn’t mean that every single person who calls Jesus Lord is called to work (paid or volunteer) “full-time” in the Church. Church work is not, by default, better than secular work–or not working for pay, etc. This would fail to acknowledge that as Christians, we are not of the world–yet still in the world–and called to bring the Gospel into all spheres of society.

Failure to fuse or integrate the two ideas also reveals some real human resources issues in our design of “jobs” in ministry, i.e. treating full-time work as “better” or “more significant” than part-time work, rather than looking at actual outcomes; of thinking “more hours” is better (when this may prevent healthy integration of ministry and human formation/needs); and closing out many potential candidates for ministry work due to our own inability to recognize the evolution in more flexible work policies, and more.

To work “in the Church” or not is a false, humanly constrained set of choices. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we must pursue something more–“audaciously fusing” and integrating our lives in a way that opens us the most to follow the Holy Spirit and embrace the renewed life offered to us in communion with Jesus Christ.

 

Lifelong Learning & Technology: Implications for Faith Formation

The Pew Research Center recently published an interesting new study on how Americans utilize technology as a part of lifelong learning. While the study looked at all subjects of interest (i.e. from hobbies, to work, to new skills), we in ministry can apply many of the findings to our own design, planning, and conduct of lifelong faith formation opportunities for adults in our parishes.

Some key lessons for ministry:

The harvest is plenty! Almost 3/4 of adults consider themselves “lifelong learners.” Thus, if the adults in our midst care about their relationship with Jesus (this foundation has to come first–all too often we push learning before conversion), the vast majority will want to learn more.

Multiple [and virtual] locations matter. “By an 81% to 52% margin” adult learners are “more likely to cite a locale such as a high school, place of worship or library as the site at which personal learning takes place than they are to cite the internet.” Now, don’t use this as a reason to immediately discount online-learning–52% used the internet. That’s a lot.

Benefits align with parish life. Check out the benefits adults report from lifelong learning (see chart to the right). From a discipleship perspective, I see human formation, community formation for volunteer ministry service, and more all happening here. And, the adult learners consider these benefits, not a burden we’re heaping on them. Consider–are adults participating in lifelong faith formation experiencing these broad benefits?

Margins exist. The study found that, “As a rule, those adults with more education, household incomes and internet-connecting technologies are more likely to be participants in today’s educational ecosystem and to use information technology to navigate the world.” And, the same often goes for faith formation in parish life (or through diocese or regional centers). While faith formation for a life of discipleship certainly has an “educational” component and should use sound pedagogy–an overemphasis on intellectual formation can be a huge turn-off, and even an insurmountable barrier, to those with lower literacy levels and negative associations with “classrooms” and “schools.” Jesus desires that all come to know Him and the eternal life offered to us (starting now) as disciples–we must ensure that adult faith formation can fit the needs of those in our communities, especially those on the educational-margins.

New methods of learning are not widely known. This part mostly applies to deacon and lay ministry formation (facilitated by dioceses or other regional/national agencies). Distance learning, MOOCs (Massively Open Online Courses), and Digital Badges are largely unknowns. We don’t leverage them well or in the nuanced ways to enhance formation (rather than merely substitute for F2F (face-to-face) learning). Currently models of formation are based on centralized institutional models, rather than competency models tailored for adult students and ministries with diverse needs. We have a huge opportunity to improve here and ultimately provide better formation for ministry that’s more economical and valuable for the ministries that need it the most.

Your thoughts? Anything else in the study with significant implications for adult faith formation?

Beyond Adequate: Why Self-Development in Ministry is Critical

In his classic work, Managing the Nonprofit Organization: Principles and Practices, Peter Drucker wrote:

You can’t be satisfied in non-profit organizations with doing adequately as a leader. (17)

Now, we shouldn’t try and argue our way out of this theologically [i.e. it’s okay because God’s got me covered…] simply because we’re engaging in leadership in the Church. Grace builds upon nature. From the “nature” side of things, we shouldn’t settle for adequate–especially when the Holy Spirit opens our eyes to the needs around us.

So how to grow beyond “adequate”?

Let’s face it, professional development budgets for paid ministers are pretty small (or non-existent). And, most of us (including myself) are ministry volunteers, not church-staff.

But getting beyond adequate isn’t something someone else does for us. It starts with our own vision. As Drucker explained:

From the chief executive…[to] volunteers, the person with the most responsibility for an individual’s development is the person himself–not the boss. Everyone must be encouraged to ask themselves: What should I focus on so that, if it’s done really well, it will make a difference both to the organization and to me? (190-191)

Then, hold yourself accountable.

To be accountable, you must take the job seriously enough to recognize: I’ve got to grow up to the job…You ask: What do I have to learn and what do I have to do to make a difference? (193)

Self-development then involves skills, capacity, and experience–but also growing the self-respect and self-confidence to actually make the difference only you can make.

As a Christian, this advice for “managing oneself” is quite compatible with how we understand gifted-ness and spiritual gifts within the Body of Christ. All of the baptized are endowed with spiritual gifts. Plus, each of us has a “nature” that grace builds upon. God knows each of us by name. What should you focus on, so that if it’s done really well, it will make a difference to the Body of Christ and you? What is it that the Holy Spirit is asking you to do? Discover this, and you’ll never settle for “adequate” again when it comes to self-development.