supervision

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Pastor, what do you do when you’re ’out of season’?

Pic: D Groenenboom

“Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction.” (2 Timothy 4:2, NIV)

Reflecting on this passage this morning, I thought about that phrase “be prepared in season and out of season.”

In the original, ‘be prepared’ is a call to ‘stand up’ or ‘be ready’ to preach and minister under any circumstance. Lea and Griffin (NAC) see this as staying on task whether you feel like it or not, and/or whether the people under your care find it convenient or not.

I’m guessing most pastors sense when either they or their church is in season or out of season: times of self-doubt, fatigue, feelings of hopelessness and/or helplessness. Or church congregations which may need challenge, correction, or gentle guidance into the newness of the Kingdom (see 2 Tim 4:1).

It would be nice if all pastors found these situations easy to work out. It would be great to know they can pick themselves up in times of doubt, or tiredness, or the weariness of long obedience. Truth is, even if a pastor has sufficient mental clarity to make what they believe to be sound decisions at such times, few have the necessary objectivity and headspace to do so.

This is one of the reasons why plurality of leadership is a very good thing in the church. Besides being biblical, pastors can talk through challenging matters and prayerfully decide with their team what the best approach might be.

So, what does a pastor when they find themselves ‘out of season’? When things are not going well, when ministry – too often – interrupts life, well-being, and healthy practice?

Beyond any team discussion of pastoral challenges, the guided reflection of regular pastoral supervision can be incredibly helpful. Supervision sessions can bring new understanding to how one responds to ministry complexities, to one’s perceptions and perspectives. Pastoral Supervision provides a safe and confidential space to reflect on one’s work, how one is responding to ministry situations, and how one might do it better.

An ‘out of season’ moment…

Consider how Pastor John* dealt with his ‘out of season’ experience…

John’s interactions with Harry* were becoming complicated. It seemed that every time they spoke there was awkwardness and discomfort. John sensed that Harry was unhappy. Was it something John was doing? A direction the church was taking? Something about John himself? He just couldn’t work it out. John knew he had to do something, but it was all too confusing to think clearly about it all.

John, like most pastors, loved pastoral work and often took the role of peacemaker. He didn’t like it when people conveyed disapproval or unhappiness. John was especially uncomfortable because it had gotten back to him that Harry had spoken to others about his feelings. Would others turn against him too? What was Harry’s problem? What had John done wrong? What could he do about it? Could he do anything to change the situation?

An additional complication – not uncommon in church circles – was that Harry had strong connections with some of John’s co-leaders – that made any discussion of the issue quite tricky.

Sure enough, when John was trying to turn off at night, those questions yapped like a stray dog at the heels of his consciousness. So he was wide awake at a time when he could ill afford it. John was tired, confused, isolated and increasingly anxious.

John’s pastoral supervision experience…

John took his experience to his next supervision session. The supervisor sat with John, probing various perspectives, enabling John to fully explore and verbalise his experience. This helped John broaden his perspective and get some clarity on his core responsibilities. Supervision provided a safe space for John to consider what Harry’s point of view might be. Together John and his supervisor explored what Scripture might have to say to John, to Harry, and what impact the Gospel might have on it all.

Supervision helped John untangle his thoughts and responses. The Gospel truths John considered with his Supervisor were not new to him, but he did find some new ways to apply them to his complex situation. John’s Supervisor wasn’t telling John what he should do: he just helped him access his own theology and apply it to his pastoral interactions. In the sessions John was able to decide on a plan to move ahead and identified some specific ways he could interact with Harry.

Supervision helped John find clarity on his own responses and what he might be able to do differently. John felt safe to be vulnerable about himself, his fears, and his thoughts about Harry. He was able to review how things unfolded in subsequent supervision sessions.

The value of supervision

While a coach might have worked with John to identify better goals and strategies, and a mentor might have passed on some of their timely wisdom, John’s professional pastoral supervisor helped him see this issue with greater clarity. He guided John to identify how Scripture and theology informed the context, and drew it all together in a workable action plan to be reviewed in future sessions. 

Supervision is no silver bullet. The sessions can be hard work, but they allow a vulnerability, an objectivity and discernment that can lead to significant learning outcomes and better ministry. For both John and Harry, the Gospel might come to greater expression, and that would be good news all around.

*Not their real names

David Groenenboom

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Managing Ministry Creep: Supervision Strategies

Photo by Luis Villasmil on Unsplash

A few weeks ago I had the pleasure of preaching at the installation service of our new pastor. As I prepared for the service, I was reflecting on the tasks any local church pastor might do on a typical week…

…respond to emails, make pastoral calls, address church leadership matters, service planning, sermon prep, connecting with the community, supporting volunteers, keep abreast of what’s happening in the world, train leaders, facilitate discipleship, review ministry programs, meet with a few ministry leaders, Safe Church training, engage new members, connect with visitors, preach a cracker of a sermon, keep learning, keep growing, make sure you take your day off, be a model parent, have a great family, find regular time for prayer and Bible reading…

No doubt, there are a few things I’ve missed, and maybe it’s just me, but ministry seems to be getting more and more demanding. When I was in local church ministry, I found the best way to prepare for Sunday was to have a day and a half of largely uninterrupted time to complete the background exegetical work and to formulate my Sunday message. The problem was getting (and retaining!) that uninterrupted space! The phone keeps ringing. Emails keep arriving. Text messages keep lighting up the phone. And there’s the gloriously noisy Kid’s Ministry just a room or two away…

I’ve started to calling the ever expanding list of pastoral responsibilities ‘ministry creep’. No matter how well planned your schedule is, there are interruptions. No matter how clear your job description is, there are always other things that find their way into your task list. Murphy’s Law: the list of things you have to do always exceeds the time you have allocated to do them. We all know this.

Needless to say, fragmentation and challenges of time management are par for the ministry course. The pressure may not always be intense, but it is constant. It’s hardly surprising, then, that pastors often struggle to stay grounded and keep their head above the waters of schedule and interruption.

Today’s Australian pastor is a hemisphere and two millennia away from the NT Church. Even so, Paul encouraged his younger pastor friend, Timothy, “keep your head in all situations”, “watch your life and doctrine closely”, “train yourself to be godly” (2 Tim 4:5; 1 Tim 4:7, 15-16).

My question is:

How do I do this?

What regular process do I have to keep watch over myself?

How do I train myself to be godly?

And can I even do any of this effectively on my own?

This is where regular pastoral supervision is really important. No doubt, there’s great value in reflecting on your own – we all should do this (and here are some tips to get you started) – but I am never going to have the sort of objectivity I need to really keep myself honest, or to ask myself the hard questions, or even just to probe a bit and notice something that might stand out clearly to another person.

Supervision allows me to step outside of my schedule, to step back from pastoral busyness and ministry creep, and in the caring presence of another, keep watch over myself better. Supervision helps me consider how ministry is impacting my soul, to consider how I can do better in my role, and how I can better engage in my wider ministry context.

Supervision will not make ministry creep go away, but it will more than likely help you approach the demands of your ministry with greater clarity. It will help to take you deeper into your calling, and to be more intentional about the care you bring to the people God has given you.

Ultimately, supervision will bring you back to what matters most: doing ministry better, centring our ministry on honouring Jesus, nurturing his people to maturity, and stimulating his church to embody the Kingdom of God to his world.

When Supervision helps me sort through the clutter and approach my work with greater clarity, it makes sense to make it a priority.

Action steps:

  1. Email me here to discuss how regular supervision can help your ministry.
  2. Speak to your church leadership about making this a regular priority. If you’d like me to connect with your leadership I’d be open to exploring this.
  3. Check out the list of other Supervisors accredited with the Australian Association of Supervisors

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Pastoral Supervision: An Invitation

What is pastoral supervision?

One of the best ways to understand pastoral supervision is to see it in the Biblical concept of “paraklesis”. We find the word group in the New Testament, amongst other things, to describe one person coming beside another to encourage and support them. Jesus used this word when talking to his disciples about the Holy Spirit, whom he would send to lead his people into all truth and be with them forever (see John 14:15ff, 15:26). The word is used to describe Barnabas the ‘son of encouragement’ (Acts 4:36). In Romans 15 Paul uses the word to refer to the endurance and encouragement that comes from Scripture and which brings hope. This is why in pastoral supervision a supervisor comes beside a minister to help them reflect on their ministry, and how they are engaging with that work, with a view to doing things differently in the future.

A safe and courageous space

Pastoral Supervision is a context of both safety and courage. It is ‘safe’ because supervision sessions are governed by strict confidentiality. Ministers and ministry workers can be assured that anything discussed will go no further (the only limitations here are when someone else is at risk, or reportable actions have been disclosed). Over my nearly 40 years in ministry, the best contexts I had to speak very candidly was when I was talking with someone acting as supervisor. Thankfully in my last two pastorates I was blessed with such people, and equally blessed that my local church supported those engagements in principle and financially. Sure, fellow leaders can be trusted too, but I found the supervisory context gave greater objectivity and freedom. In that sense supervision was particularly valuable.

Pastoral Supervision is not only safe, it is also courageous. It affords an opportunity to discuss one’s struggles, fears, joys and aspirations. It really is a blessing to be able to open up about the things that keep one awake at night, or the tendency to avoid certain situations/issues, or the weight of pastoral burdens, interactions with difficult people, even decisions one might struggle with in the local church or wider assemblies. Few ministers have contexts where they can courageously and with vulnerability engage in such self examination with a suitably qualified person.

While I recognise my knowledge of what other pastors are doing is not exhaustive, I think it’s fair to say throughout the recent history of the Australian evangelical church, our ability to engage in disciplined reflection about our calling and how we are going with it has not been a strong point. For too many, ministry experience has sometimes, perhaps often, been one of isolation, loneliness and helplessness. Supervision is a critical piece in changing that scenario.

If you have ever been asked for advice in situations of local church tension or ministry heartache you will probably have recognised the value of early intervention. You may also have observed that it did not eventuate, and that it was probably too late to retrieve the situation. Pastoral Supervision is no silver bullet to prevent such tragedies, but the anecdotal evidence indicates that good supervisory practice is a critical piece in reducing the incidence of pastoral breakdown.

What are your thoughts?