Wisdom For Pastors From Tom Bandy

One of my disciplines is to keep up with the conversations between local church pastors and the staff at Easum, Bandy & Associates.

Occasionally I see something too good not to share - especially when the timing is serendipitous.

In congregations everywhere pastors are gearing up for the resumption of church activities and attending a flurry of meetings to prepare for new and on-going programs - most of which have their real center not in advancing the reign of God but in satisfying existing parishioners and attracting new church members.

Admittedly, I am not immune to that dynamic in middle judicatory work. Perhaps this is the real reason why Tom Bandy's words in a recent post jumped out at me:

"I mention emotional burnout primarily because family church pastors become overwhelmed and exhausted bearing the problems of others, listening to complaints, and a steady barrage of selfishness.

But you are identifying another facet of this burnout. In order to escape chronic guilt, many pastors retreat into a false "professional personae". Although they talk about self care and protecting time off and private space, it is really often keeping life at arms length. So they become consummate preachers but they can no longer worship God personally.

Yes, perhaps it can help going to worship occasionally at another church of your spouse's choosing ... but more often than not we are still so obsessed with competitiveness and comparison that we find it difficult to be refreshed by God. So I think it is even more important to build a devotional partnership with a pilgrim band, and let yourself be refreshed by a smaller, more intimate circle of worship." (Taken from a post by Tom Bandy on the Advanced Leadership forum of Easum, Bandy and Associates.)

I want to close this post on a more hopeful note. This past week NW Area pastoral and support staff and Area Board officers met by conference call with Dick Hamm - our coach - and then we met face-to-face at the area office. Perhaps the most important thing we did was to agree to be for each other more of the kind of "pilgrim band" that Tom talks about. Over the course of last month we worked out a covenant with each other to:

• be in prayer at least two and more times each day
• take part in a telephone conference call at 7:45 am each Thursday morning to identify our missions, to ask for and to offer support, and to pray
  
• to seek help if our prayer discipline seems dry, lifeless, or fruitless
  
• remember each other in prayer daily
• worship together as a team on fifth Sundays with our families - sometimes at a church not among those we serve
• spend part of one day every month in personal prayer retreat
  
• be in spiritual retreat with each other, directed by someone else, at least once a year

Perhaps the best thing about this for me is that we agreed to do this - not because any of us wanted to be trendy or religious but because the mission entrusted to us was too important not to do this. There is simply no way for us to advance as servants to congregational leaders without significant spiritual and personal transformation of this team and of each individual member.

Most of those making this covenant are volunteers and are choosing to be more accountable to one another, so, you may understand why my spirit soared after we agreed to this.

I cannot tell you how much it has meant to me to be part of a group of highly committed Christ-followers where planning about mission is usually focused on serving and not preserving. I look around the table and see folk who have sacrificed a great deal and endured lack of support, apathy and criticism from those they serve - primarily because they are passionate about serving congregational leaders.

And, no, ours is not a perfect situation, nor is any of us without serious flaws and gaping holes in our characters. All of us still depend deeply upon the forgiveness Christ offers. We are, however discovering fresh expressions of the Spirit in more missional community and for that I give thanks and encourage you to seek or perhaps to help call together such a community.