Beyond the Ordinary

Heavenly Books

by Ida Smith

This week, as I was browsing the New York Times nonfiction best sellers list, I couldn’t help but notice “Heaven” in the title of four books in the top 20.  Number 20 was “Waking Up in Heaven,” a book about what happened during nine minutes of unconsciousness.  Number 17 was called “When Will the Heaven Begin?” a book where a sister remembers the visions of heaven as experienced by her brother who died at the age of 18.  “Heaven is for Real” tells the story of a five- year-old boy’s encounter with Jesus and angels while having surgery after his appendix ruptured.  It was number 11 on the list.  The number one book this week was written by a neurosurgeon who recounts his near death experience during a coma in the book entitled “Proof of Heaven”. 

What do Americans think of heaven?

A Baylor study from 2007 found that 82 percent either “probably” or “absolutely” believe in heaven.  Pew found in the US Religious Landscape survey (2007) that 74 percent of Americans believe in heaven.  An equal number believe in life after death.  The General Social Survey (2010) found 71 percent of Americans believe in life after death. 

How did U.S. Congregational Life Survey respondents answer similar questions about heaven and life after death? 

The majority of respondents (94%) said “yes”, they believe in heaven.  More Catholic and conservative respondents believe in heaven (96% and 99%, respectively) while 87% of mainline congregants believe in heaven.   The majority of respondents (88%) believe there is a life beyond death.  Nearly seven out of ten respondents (66%) do not believe in reincarnation.  The table below compares religious traditions.

Those who believe in life after death are generally more involved in church life. Usually, they:

• attend worship weekly or more often
• are more likely to be a member of a congregation
• are involved in Sunday or church school,
• are more likely to believe that worship helps with everyday life
• are involved in devotional activities weekly or more often
• are more likely to have said they grew spiritually in their faith over the last year
• believe the Bible is the word of God
• are more likely to say their spiritual needs were being met
• are more likely to have said they had a conversion experience
• are more likely to say they were at ease expressing their faith
• are more likely to invite family or friends to attend worship
• have a high school education or less

 These characteristics are especially true for mainline Protestants.  Also, for mainline Protestant worshipers, those with a strong sense of belonging, those who tithe, and those who value sharing in Holy Communion are more likely to believe in life beyond death. For Catholics, those who believe in life after death are involved in devotional activities, report that they had grown spiritually in their faith, and are at ease expressing their faith.  For conservative Protestants, those who believe worship services help you with everyday life and those with a high school education or less are more likely to believe in life after death. 

 What are your beliefs concerning the afterlife?  Are they similar or different from others in your religious tradition? It might be interesting to read any of these books on the list to see if it shapes or changes your opinion. 

 

Mental health of clergy requires balancing stress and success

By David Briggs

"God does temper the wind to the shorn lamb. To how many has it not seemed, at some one period of their lives, that all was over for them ... And yet they have lived to laugh again, to feel that the air was warm and the earth fair, and that God in giving them ever-springing hope has given everything."

--  Anthony Trollope

Stress comes with the job for most clergy. Long hours, the many demands on their time and addressing the often conflicting needs and desires of congregation members are major challenges.

And while pastors in troubled congregations may be the most vulnerable, even the road to success can be paved with additional stress and anxiety.

Congregations that are strong in welcoming new people, focusing on the community and increasing participation in church activities tend to add greater stress for pastors as some in the congregation resist moving out of their comfort zones, Cynthia Woolever and Deborah Bruce report in their book, "Leadership That Fits Your Church."

The good news is that for many pastors the blessings of their ministry outweigh the pressures of the job.

In studying data from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey, Woolever and Bruce found pastors reporting the highest satisfaction with their ministry rarely thought about leaving their current congregation regardless of their stress level.

"The sense that their ministry is going well makes these pastors able to tolerate higher stress levels," the researchers say.

At the other extreme, however, pastors who are relatively dissatisfied with their ministry and face more job-related stress are the most likely to think about leaving and suffer burnout.

The challenge for congregations and their spiritual leaders becomes how to increase the clergy's satisfaction with their ministry and decrease pastoral stress.

The U.S. Congregational Life Survey provides some important insights. In addition to enjoying good mental health and being satisfied with their ministry, other factors found to contribute to lower job stress for clergy include:

• Lack of conflict. Serving in congregations that
  have experienced little or no internal tensions in recent years helps keep
  stress low.
•  Personal time. Clergy who are able to maintain a
  personal life separate from ministry experience less stress.
• Regular time off: Pastors who regularly take a day
  off each week report less stress.
• Smaller congregations: Pastors who
  serve smaller churches also report less stress, as do pastors who only serve
  one congregation.

More personal time, high satisfaction with their spiritual lives and a lack of church conflict also were found to be associated with clergy having a higher degree of satisfaction with their ministry.

Satisfaction with salary and benefits and a sense of accomplishment and enthusiasm also were linked to greater satisfaction.

Protecting the mental health of clergy is a responsibility shared throughout the congregation, the research indicates.

“Congregational leaders should be sensitive to the responsibilities they ask their pastors to meet,” Woolever and Bruce write. “Providing the pastor with regular time away from the congregation, encouraging the pastor to take steps toward self-care, and limiting the pastor’s workload all help to combat stress.”

Signs of ever-springing hope among the daily stresses of congregational life can come from the pew as well as the pulpit.

 

Joy to the world: Spending private time with God linked to benevolent love

By David Briggs

It is one of the most intense experiences in the lives of individuals, but a major new research project indicates spending quality time with God also may hold a key to benevolent love for all of humanity.

The Godly Love National Survey, led by researchers at the University of Akron and the Institute for Research on Unlimited Love, found people who most often reported feeling God’s love were more than twice as likely as the average American to give time to those in need more than once a week.

In addition to being generous with their time, talent and treasure, people who experienced God’s love most frequently also were far more likely to strongly agree all people share an unbreakable bond of humanity, a strong predictor of benevolence. Scholars Matthew Lee, Margaret Poloma and Stephen Post share the survey findings, along with related research, in their new book, “The Heart of Religion.”

So it seems to be an especially good practice that so many Americans spend a great deal of time in prayer and other devotions, according to findings from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey.

About half of U.S. worshippers said they spend time in private devotional activities such as prayer, meditation or reading the Bible alone every day or most days. Two-thirds said they engaged in devotional activities at least a few times a week. 

We pray most often for ourselves and our families, according to a random sample of 846 Christian adults asked about their prayer practices as part of the 2008-2009 survey.

Three-quarters of respondents, including 81 percent of conservative Protestants and two-thirds of mainline Protestants, said they personally pray for themselves and their closest loved ones every day or most days.

But we also pray for more universal concerns. Consider these findings:

• More than half of respondents, including two-thirds of Catholics, said they pray at least once a week for world peace or an end to war.
• About half of respondents, including 59 percent of Catholics and 52 percent of mainline Protestants, reported praying at least weekly for an end to world hunger or poverty.
• Some four in 10 respondents, including 42 percent of conservative Protestants, said they prayed a great deal or quite a bit more often than in the past because of world and national events in the
  past five years.

The idea that communion with God leads to love of neighbor is deeply rooted within the Christian theological tradition.

What the latest research appears to affirm is that the stronger the connection individuals have with the divine, the more likely they are to move beyond caring for loved ones to embrace the world.

“As you come to know the depths of God’s love, it’s easier to give that love away,” Poloma said in an interview.

More good news: Getting closer to God is also a win-win proposition, researchers found. Individuals who reported experiencing God’s love more than once a day were far more likely to say they have a strong meaning and purpose in life and to both find “great joy” in helping others and to recognize the “great kindness” other people have shown to them, researchers found.

As we enter 2013, many of us may want to consider having one of our resolutions be to work on our spiritual lives. You, your loved ones and your neighbors near and far may all be better off.

 

New Resource Available – Leader Guide for Leadership That Fits Your Church

Church leaders can now access a new resource that will help them involve their members in new conversations about finding the best leadership for their congregation’s ministries. J. Brent Bill, who currently serves as the Project Director for the New Meetings Project of Friends General Conference in Philadelphia, PA, authored the guide. For many years he was the executive vice president of the Indianapolis Center for Congregations. A Quaker minister, Brent has also served as a pastor in three congregations. He is a writer, retreat leader, and congregational consultant.

The guide will help your congregation to:

• process the information contained in Leadership That Fits Your Church:

What Kind of Pastor for What Kind of Congregation in a way that is useful for your setting;

• gain new insights into pastor-congregation dynamics;
• understand where some tweaks might be needed to improve or fix issues in this crucial relationship between the pastor and the congregation;
• assist pastoral search or clergy relations committees; and
• learn to care for each other in fresh ways.

The material in the study guide is

• organized into six, ninety-minute sessions; it can also be adapted for use at a leadership retreat; and
• filled with interactive exercises and discussion questions for small groups.

You can download the Leader Guide for Leadership That Fits Your Church on our project website:

http://uscongregations.org/

http://uscongregations.org/pdf/Leadership-That-Fits-Your-Church-Leader-Guide.pdf

Any questions? Call 800-728-7228 ext. 2040; or email us at [email protected]

 

How to Find Leadership that Fits Your Church: Buy the book!

by Cynthia Woolever

Most church members report a high level of satisfaction with their church’s current leadership. In fact, only a very small number—3%—stated that they believed their pastor and congregation are not a match. That’s encouraging news for churches facing one of the most daunting decisions a congregation can make: finding the right pastor. In Leadership that Fits Your Church: What Kind of Pastor for What Kind of Congregation (Chalice Press, $19.99 paper, November 2012), Deborah Bruce and I (coauthors) offer insights into making a successful match.

The book is based on findings from the U.S. Congregational Life Survey (USCLS). The survey, funded by grants from Lilly Endowment, Inc. and the Louisville Institute, records the views of more than half a million people who regularly participate in worship. In addition, one key pastoral leader in each church responded to a survey about their ministry tasks, job satisfaction, sources of support and stress, compensation, and theological education.

The scope of the USCLS allows for a comprehensive portrait of pastoral leadership, drawing upon a large representative national sample of pastoral leaders, congregations, and parishes; a broad range of denominations and faith groups; the experiences of pastors in congregations of all sizes; and the opinions of both pastoral leaders and worshipers in the same congregations. This book presents a 360-degree data driven view of all that is involved in congregational vitality: the values, commitments, experiences, and perceptions of members, lay leaders, and pastors.

Leadership in the congregational context is particularly complex and difficult. Yet most pastors who participated in the study reported that they are enthusiastic about their ministry and feel they’ve accomplished a lot. High ministry satisfaction can be a buffer against the high stress levels that accompany pastoral work, and can prevent burnout.

We show how a strong match might be made between pastor and congregation. Then, we follow the pastoral transition experiences of three churches: mainline Protestant, Catholic, and conservative Protestant. The book outlines pastor and church types, and then we dig more deeply into the dynamics that yield a successful match.

We highlight several implications for pastors, lay leaders and other members of the congregation, including the importance of:

• Learning from the past by reflecting on the ministry of previous pastors.
• Allowing unstated assumptions to surface.
• Clarity about financial responsibilities.
• Recognizing how conflict damages congregations and pastors.
• Providing ongoing clergy support.
• Identifying and building on strengths.
• Seeking to understand and articulate what God is calling that particular church to be.

Leadership That Fits Your Church is the latest volume in The Columbia Partnership (TCP) Leadership Series.

How can you get your hands on this great new book? Available in Kindle form or hard copy at ChalicePress.com (or call 1-800-366-3383). You can even save 30% off all TCP books, including this one, with the code TCP2012 (offer expires on November 30, 2012).

 

Question Authority?

By Cynthia Woolever

Worshipers grant the pastor some level of authority as their designated leader. What is the basis for that recognition? Jackson Carroll addresses that question and the nature of authority in his most recent book, As One With Authority (second edition, 2011).[i] The authority to lead gives the pastor the right to exercise power in a particular group or institution. Carroll asserts that there are at least two bases for pastoral authority: (1) that which arises as a representative of the sacred; and (2) that which stems from expertise, gifts, and capabilities. As long as the group acknowledges the leader’s legitimate right to exercise power, the leader is acting with authority.

In his earlier work, God’s Potters (2006), Carroll describes pastoral ministry as an occupation in flux.[ii] He believes there are three views of ministry but that they are not mutually exclusive. Rather each model focuses on a particular feature of pastoral leadership that its proponents believe is the most important characteristic for defining a church leader. The first model sees pastoral leadership as an office, a formal or official position with specific duties. A congregation or denomination makes the role sacred through the rites of ordination. The second model views ministry as a profession, carried out by ordained professionals, who are socialized into the field through seminary education and training. The third model of pastoral ministry holds that ministry is a calling. This model gives emphasis to the spiritual dimension of pastoral leadership, essentially affirming that God selects or calls certain individuals to carry out ministry. 

Faith traditions vary in how they view authority issues in ministry. Some tend to reference infallible Scripture or the teaching office as the source of pastoral authority. Other groups emphasize individuals’ personal knowledge of God and the inner conviction that God has called those people to ministry.

We asked pastoral leaders about several factors that might influence the congregation’s acceptance of their leadership. How important are the following four characteristics in how worshipers view their leadership: (1) being ordained (relates to ministry as office); (2) having a seminary degree or certificate (relates to ministry as profession); (3) having a clear sense of call from God (relates to ministry as calling); and (4) being competent in the tasks of ministry, including preaching (relates to ministry as profession)?

Ministry as Office

Almost all Catholic priests (95%) indicate that being ordained is of “great importance” for their current congregation’s acceptance of their leadership. Three out of four mainline Protestant pastors (74%) also say that ordination is of great importance for their congregation’s acceptance. However, less than half of conservative Protestant pastors (40%) report that ordination is of great importance to their congregation. A similar percentage of conservative Protestant pastors (42%) say ordination is “somewhat important” for their congregation. 

Ministry as Profession

Pastors are close to unanimous in affirming that their expertise, gifts, and capabilities are a source of their ministry authority. Nine out of ten pastors—regardless of faith tradition—say that being competent in the tasks of ministry, including preaching, is of great importance for their congregation’s acceptance of their authority.

Pastors see seminary training as less related to gaining congregational acceptance for their leadership. About half of Catholic priests (50%) and mainline Protestant pastors (59%) report that a seminary degree or certificate is of great importance for their leadership role. Only one in four conservative Protestant pastors (25%) believe that a seminary degree or certificate is of great importance for their ministry authority.

Ministry as Calling

As one might expect, conservative Protestant pastors give considerable weight to pastoral leadership based on a sense of God’s call. Most of these pastors (85%) believe that a clear sense of call from God is of great importance for the congregation’s acceptance of their leadership. While a sense of call is important for Catholic priests and mainline Protestant pastors, it is much less so. About two out of three in these groups (69% for Catholic priests; 63% for mainline Protestant pastors) respond that a sense of call is of great importance for their pastoral authority in the congregation.

Respecting Leadership Authority: Competency Comes First

Catholic priests see their authority arising from their ordination (office) and capabilities (profession). Mainline Protestant pastors believe their authority rests on their competencies (profession) and slightly less so on their ordination (office). Conservative Protestant pastors portray their authority as stemming from their ministry competencies first, closely followed by their call from God (calling).   

These results support Carroll’s thesis that the three models of ministry are not mutually exclusive. Pastors draw on multiple sources of authority as they serve congregations. In this time when many question all authority, pastors need to claim the historical roots of their authority:

    “And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he

    taught them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.”

                  Matthew 7:28-29 

---

[i] Jackson W Carroll, As One With Authority: Reflective Leadership in Ministry (Eugene, Oregon: Cascade Books, 2011).

[ii] Jackson W. Carroll, God’s Potters: Pastoral Leadership and the Shaping of Congregations (Grand Rapids, Michigan: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2006).

Recommended Read—Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard

By Deborah Bruce

Chip and Dan Heath have another best-seller—Switch: How to Change Things When Change Is Hard. It’s a fascinating read, full of wonderful examples and real-life situations.

Why is change hard? The authors help us understand that the rational, logical side of our brain often competes with the brain’s emotional, instinctive side. They tag the brain’s emotional side as the headstrong Elephant, and the rational side, the Rider. Those images make it abundantly clear that no matter how fantastic the Rider’s vision of change is, the Elephant won’t turn in that direction without encouragement. The rational side wants to lose those extra pounds. The emotional side wants the ice cream. The rational side wants our congregation to begin a new ministry program. The emotional side is perfectly happy with things they way they are.

Riders and Elephants at their worst. But don’t assume that Riders are the good guys, and Elephants prevent change. At their worst, Riders become paralyzed by choice—they spin their wheels in the face of too many options. And they can seem dry and dull—all analysis and no feeling—or negative—always focusing on the problems. At their worst, Elephants are fearful, resistant, and spooked by the possibility of change. They go for short-term satisfaction and are easily demoralized by bigger quests. Yet feelings inspire and motivate Elephants. And Elephants possess incredible strength and drive.

Shaping change. Change can happen when the Rider and Elephant trust one another; when the Rider directs the Elephant toward an appealing destination and shapes the path to get there. The authors show that Shaping the Path is the third key element in change. What appears to be a people problem (they don’t want to change) may instead be a situation problem. Changing the situation—Shaping the Path—makes change more likely.

Find the bright spots. I particularly appreciate the authors’ suggestion to find the bright spots. Just as we encourage congregations to identify and build on their strengths, the book advocates finding bright spots. Learning what already works and doing more of it gives the Rider direction and helps motivate the Elephant.   

The book includes many rich illustrations of successful change in family life, communities, medicine, industry, education, and government. These examples help the reader learn how to Direct the Rider, Motivate the Elephant, and Shape the Path. I came away with a new language for discussing change and lots of practical ideas. I’ve already tried a couple with my husband—successfully I might add!

How might you use these practical tools to make changes in your congregation?

Read the first chapter here.  I know you’ll want to read the rest!

 

For Your Congregation’s Sake, Read a Book!

By Joelle Anderson

It’s fall!  Now’s the time to enjoy pumpkin spice lattes, sweaters, and cozying up with a good book on a crisp evening.  Beach reads are over, so dive into something a little more substantial—pick up the second edition of A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations: Who's Going Where and Why (2010).

The first edition of A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations (2002) provided a comprehensive view of worshipers and congregations across the country using data from Wave 1 of the U.S. Congregational Life Survey.  The new edition features results of Wave 2 of the survey when almost 1,600 congregations and 163,000 worshipers took part. This latest volume has been revised to reflect Wave 2 findings and includes up-to-date statistics, tables with the latest information about worshipers and congregations, and original cartoons (!!)  (It's OK to admit that the cartoons are your favorite part of our books. We love them, too!)  The second edition also features two new chapters: one on pastoral leadership and another that describes the significant changes in congregational life between Wave 1 in 2001 and Wave 2 in 2008 and 2009.

The second edition is practical as well as informative.  Fast Facts (signposts for congregations moving toward data-driven decisions) and Myth Traps (tempting assumptions about congregational life that can trap congregations in dead ends) are interspersed throughout the book. 

 
Take steps toward congregational change by ordering the new edition of A Field Guide to U.S. Congregations from Amazon or from Cokesbury today.