The Pastor as Docent

A Theology of Pastoral Leadership

A Paper Submitted to
Rev. Phil R. Hamner
in partial completion of a course in
Pastoral Leadership
at
Northwest Nazarene University
Nampa, Idaho

by
Ralph Johnson
October 15, 2010
 If we as pastors and church leaders were to engage in our practices of ministry as persons
shaped by the radical perspective of divine encounter, what might this mean for the churches we
lead? – Michael Jinkins
 It is necessary to establish a theology of pastoral leadership if pastoral ministry is to be a

lifelong vocation. Said theology must encompass not only the practical aspects of congregational

life and ministry, but, perhaps most importantly, the spiritual formation of the pastor. When the

seas of pastoral life become rough and choppy, and they will; this theology will be that which

sees one through the storm. In his article for the Journal of Religious Leadership, Michael

Jinkins describes this concept succinctly:

[His proposal is] a recovery in pastoral ministry and church leadership of the
radical perspective of awe in the presence of the holy, reverence in the face of the
sacred other, and a recovery of the pastor’s defining identity as, what I shall call,
a docent in the house of wonder, that is, a humble guide in the mysteries of God,
one who leads among and with and on behalf of the people of God modestly
assisting them in becoming theologically conscious of that transcendence which
is God’s promise and God’s threat to all we are, because this “transcendence” is
not an abstract quality, but is none other than the transcendent God, other and
wholly other, who is free and who has the unique power to judge and to grace and
so to transform us.
Such a profound understanding and foundation for a theology of pastoral leadership is

bound to enlist one in a battle over the supremacy of praxis and theory, of substance and

spirituality; yet it need not be so. The power and awe that accompanies the “docent” (as I shall

use Jinkins’ terminology throughout this paper) as she kindly and lovingly shepherds her flock

through all the various aspects of pastoral leadership comes directly from God Himself. It is God

who calls, God who assembles, and God who guides. It is necessary to realize “that theology lies

at the center of the work of Christian leadership and the identity of a sound Christian leader.”

(Beeley, 12) Out of this theology will arise the practical matters of pastoral leadership that will

be addressed momentarily. “Practical matters of church leadership are themselves no less

theological for being practical.” (Beeley, 12)

 The practical matters of pastoral leadership include, but are not limited to, vision casting,

church administration, financial administration, mission development and oversight, and spiritual

transformation. Limits are not placed on this list because the practical aspects of pastoral

leadership are endless. Fortunately, God is as well. “Herein lies the crucial paradox of God’s

holiness and the secularity of God’s world: The closer God draws to us, the more clearly we

discern that we are creatures and that God alone is Creator. It is the immanence of the holy God

that convinces us that there is between God and us an infinite qualitative difference.” (Karl Barth

quoted in Jinkins, 11) It is only through one’s personal recognition of this reality that a true

understanding of the task and theology of pastoral leadership emerges. “It is positively dangerous

and a crass exercise of human power to seek to guide others when one has not been guided

oneself by God’s transforming word.” (Beeley, 27) “The essential quality is this: ‘All the varied

activities of the pastor have a single center: life in Christ.’” (Hamner, lecture 3)

John Berntsen, in his monumental work, Cross-Shaped Leadership, talks about the

“marks of the church.” In these, however, are extenuated as components of pastoral leadership

theology rendered in the disciplines of the pastor. “Luther’s earlier proposal, based on his reading

of Scripture, included the following seven marks: the preached word of God; baptism; holy

communion; the Office of the Keys (the use of absolution for sin); the Office of Ministry (the

calling and consecrating of ministers); the public use of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving; and

possession of the sacred cross (the experience of suffering in the communal life). (Berntsen, 84)

These “marks,” extracted from Scripture by Luther, are the markers of discipline for pastoral

work and thought. Who we are, what we are, why we do what we do, (Hamner) these questions

(and their answers!) make up the fundamentals of pastoral discipline.

 It has been posited that pastoral discipline may have a direct relationship to pastoral

effectiveness. (Carter, Transformational Leadership and Pastoral Leader Effectiveness) Yet,

attempts by Ms. Carter to quantify the effectiveness of certain leadership traits proved

inconclusive. Effectiveness tends to be a subjective analysis left in the minds and hearts of those

who are direct objects of the efforts given. “…clergy who were more achievement oriented,

organized, and reliable were seen as being more effective.” (Carter, 268) Is this not what is to be

expected? In an American culture, so inundated with business models and capitalistic rhetoric, it

is not unusual for congregants to judge the effectiveness of their pastor in light of those same

models and rhetoric. Universality, the concept of inclusiveness of all in ministry, actually proved

to be negative in value. “…those high in a sense of universality were rated lower on pastoral

effectiveness.” (Carter, 268)

It is more important to concentrate on what makes pastoral leadership theological (God-

like, God-loved, God-desired and God-directed) than to focus on subjective rationale provided

by congregational feedback. This is not to lessen the importance of perception of leadership by

those being led; however, primary concern must fall on leading as God would have one lead. “…

a theology of leadership needs a theological understanding of power so that leadership is not

misunderstood as an exercise of one’s own ability and strength, but rather is based upon the

knowledge that in fulfilling the mission of the church, everything comes from Christ, and

ultimately from God.” (Strawbridge, 66) It is the power of God that infuses one’s theological

understanding of pastoral leadership. As such, it is a power that is meant to be shared and to be

delegated, not one that is to be horded by the collegial few. “As soon as we assume that the

church is a zero-sum game, in which one person’s power automatically threatens another’s, then

we are no longer talking about the Kingdom of God or the Body of Christ. On the contrary,
strong leaders make a strong church (and vice versa), and they are the best pastoral

representation of Christ, our Lord.” (Beeley, 15)

It is this strength of leadership and of leaders that is sought through the development of

this theology of pastoral leadership. “’The first of all our duties,’ Gregory [of Nazianzus,

Oration] writes, ‘is the administration of the word,’ through preaching, teaching, counseling, and

the celebration of the mysteries.” (Beeley, 18) Through the practice of these “administrations,”

pastoral discipline is initiated and maintained. As this discipline of the word and of all its

corollaries in our understanding is practiced, strength of leadership is witnessed in and through

the power that is God’s alone. We live in a time that requires strength and power; one that

necessitates that pastoral leadership rises above the humdrum of models and theory and, instead,

attaches itself to God and His glory. “Our time demands leaders who think theologically and help

God’s people see their world and their struggle in terms of God’s encounter with them in

Scripture, through history and into the future. Theological imagination is essential for a leader

wanting to form a missional congregation.” (Roxburgh, 170)

Numerous leadership models have been proposed (see Willimon, 56-69). Jinkins relates

the connection between a variety of these models and emphasizes the overarching model of

Christ as our leadership model: “The communication of the gospel cannot be divorced from the

shepherding of persons without doing real harm both to the gospel and to those who hear its

message. The leadership of a congregation cannot be understood in isolation from the

perspectives of communicating the gospel and shepherding persons, without losing the meaning

of the church itself as people of God called to follow Jesus Christ.” (Jinkins, 4) So, of the various

models Willimon describes, perhaps it is preacher, shepherd, servant and visionary that are most

telling.
 The pastor as preacher is the one who is communicating the gospel. Within that

communication is the opportunity to address the other issues of leadership that have been

discussed. “There is, to be sure, a place for the courageous, prophetic sermon, but the best

preaching creates an invitation for the listener to think and feel, to consider how God and world

are intersecting in any given issue. The invitation is not, ‘Listen to me because I have all the

answers.’ Rather, it is more like, ‘Join me on the journey as I try to understand my faith in light

of what is happening in my church and world.’”(Colglazier in Bass, 185) As the pastor makes

this endeavor to guide along her fellow travelers, she will find it necessary to shepherd her

people, helping them to find the greenest grass with the most nutritional value instead of a

congregation’s penchant for finding inane issues in which to become involved.

Servant leadership comes to the fore as the pastor follows Christ’s model of leadership

simply because Jesus likened himself to a servant on numerous occasions. Hamner makes an

excellent argument when he associates servant leadership with incarnational leadership. “To

follow Jesus’ example and fully demonstrate incarnational leadership is to live in full dialogue

with the culture while not succumbing to it. Jesus did not lead the disciples by ignoring the

culture around him. He taught the disciples to engage fully with those who were even opposed to

what he was passionately pursuing—the kingdom of God.” (Hamner, Lecture 4) Through servant

leadership and a vision that attracts believers and nonbelievers alike comes one of the greatest

rewards of pastoral ministry; namely, that of reproduction of the servant leader. “…servant

leaders exercise mission by the example of their life in Christ; and power, coupled with humility,

begets more servant leaders. Love multiplies, feeds upon itself, and is contagious.” (Strawbridge,

76) Contagion of this sort is exactly where pastoral leadership that is theologically founded and

theologically sound wants to progress.

 To help spread this “epidemic” requires vision along with mission. Though seemingly

unrelated, vision and mission closely associate in pastoral leadership. The vision that is expected

of a pastor is a vision of mission. “Transformational leaders are those who articulate a vision of

the future and share it with peers and followers. These leaders also consider long term needs of

the organization, increased productivity and developing followers into leaders.” (Carter, 262)

It is incredibly vital for a theology of pastoral leadership to have the ingredients of vision

and mission. Mission makes sense of the purpose of the church. In Leading Congregational

Change, Herrington, Bonem, and Furr offer this explanation:

Mission is the most general description. It describes God’s eternal purpose for the
church and is essentially the same for all congregations (even if different words
are used). Mission provides the framework and boundaries for vision. Vision is a
clear, shared, and compelling picture of the preferred future to which God is
calling the congregation. Peter Senge states, ‘Visions are exhilarating. They
create the spark, the excitement that lifts an organization out of the mundane.’
The fourth stage in the change process should result in a written vision statement
that meets this high standard. Visionpath is the next level of detail beyond vision.
It explains the meaning and implications of the vision. Vision describes the big
picture of where the church is going, and visionpath begins to fill in details of
how the church will get there. A vision statement may be several sentences long,
and visionpath may be several paragraphs or pages long.” (Herrington, et al, 50-
51)
Mission and vision are the characteristics that directed the ministry of Jesus in first century

Palestine. He saw the coming Kingdom of God that was present in his ministry and set about

causing it to come to pass. Well before any training plans could be established, long before a

Master’s degree in missiology could be earned, Jesus sent the disciples out on a mission trip. It is

the driving desire of the ransomed of the Lord to be in mission, working in the harvest that is

plentiful. “[A]uthentic vision is not a master plan sold as an agenda; vision is rather the living

voice of the gospel as it sounds forth within and from the assembly. It echoes not from above, but

from below. The leader expects to behold the vision from within the chaos of the community’s
life together.” (Berntsen, 77) As stated before, it is not the power of the pastor that drives a

congregation or its vision; it is and must be by the power of the Holy Spirit at work in the

community of faith, the Body of Christ.

There is a necessary practicality that must accompany that of the vision and mission of

the church. That is the financial administration of the contributions given according to the

stewardship practices of the congregation. In the Leadership Handbook of Management and

Administration, Richard B. Cunningham writes, “A biblical view of stewardship will cover

aspects of both our possessions and our contributions.” (Berkley, 412) If a pastor is to be truly

biblical, and particularly New Testament, in her example and preaching on the Christian’s

responsibility and stewardship of the great gifts God has given, she will realize that the real zero-

sum game is played on the field of giving to the Kingdom.

The New Testament teaches several profound concepts with direct implication to
us: (1) Most passages on giving relate to God’s gifts to us. (2) Most of the
remaining passages on giving are about people giving to the poor—often outside
the context of the church. (3) The only time Jesus said how much a person should
give, h called for radical sacrifice: ‘Sell your possessions and give to the poor’
(Luke 12:33). (4) The major extended passages on giving concern Gentile
offerings for believers in Jerusalem—and are not a direct prescription on giving
to the church. (5) There are virtually no references to giving to the church’s
ministry and mission. (6) The New Testament affirms individual freedom and
responsibility as the basis for stewardship. (7) Sacrificial giving is held out as the
measure of resources believers should give. (Cunningham in Berkley, 412-3)
While financial management of the sacrificial giving of a congregation is extremely

important, one can approach it only from the standpoint of the pastor’s key roles: “…to sing

around the table—around the gathering to the table that is the bath of baptism, around the table

of the Word, around the table of the Eucharist, and around the sending to the table of the poor.”

(Lathrop, 68) Indeed, we are called to give everything away, to see to the distribution of finances

to the poor, the widow and the orphan. Yet, many of our financial resources go to the
proliferation of all that we have been doing. It makes one wonder, “If what we’re doing isn’t

really working, shouldn’t we at least consider Jesus’ way?”

It may be that our churches are in decline due to this theological issue. The church is not

as considerate of the poor as she should be. “’Feed the poor’ means feed the poor!—even if it

transcends that meaning at deeper levels, such as feeding the poverty of the brokenhearted, or

those poor in the knowledge of God.” (Beeley, 27) Dr. Dale Galloway offers a checklist of

healthy, dynamic churches: “ (1) A clear-cut vision, (2) A passion for the lost, (3) Shared

ministry, (4) Empowered leaders, (5) Fervent spirituality, (6) A flexible and functional structure,

(7) Celebrative worship, (8) Connections in small groups, (9)Seeker-friendly evangelism, and,

(10) Loving relationships.” (Galloway, Making Church Relevant, pp. 26-42) These obvious (and

perhaps not quite so obvious) truths speak to the same theological issue, pastors are to be guides,

docents, in the “house of wonder,” (Jinkins) that is, the wonderful house of God. Elmer Towns

recognized that effective church growth pastors “realize that you must become something before

you do something.” (Galloway, Leading with Vision, 130) Or, as the “working theologian in

residence,” John Berntsen puts it, “’Who’s on the bus’ comes before ‘where the bus is

going.’”(Berntsen, 81) This “becoming something” and recognizing “who’s on the bus,” comes

out of spiritual transformation.

There is little doubt of the importance of spiritual formation; whether in the lives of the

congregation or in the life of their pastor. Northwest Nazarene University recognizes the value of

spiritual formation as they offer a Masters of Arts degree in Spiritual Formation. “Gregory [the

First] warns the leader that the focus must be on God, so that faith is not based upon the wisdom

of the leader but on the power of God.” (Strawbridge, 73) So must our theology of pastoral

leadership be. It is not foremost pastoral, though, of course, it would not be considered were it
not for pastors. Nor is it primarily leadership, though how to lead is the whole point of the

exercise. No, it must chiefly be theological. One’s theology of pastoral leadership is contingent

upon one’s understanding of God.

All that has been considered in this essay is important to the task of developing a truly

theological understanding of pastoral leadership. Yet our study cannot be pastoral nor leadership

nor theological if it is not about the transformation of pastor and congregants.

The pastor has this calling above all others to be an usher at the threshold of the
holy. The pastor has this role – sacred, irreducible, and foolish – to deliver the
people into a consciousness of the presence of God, in which they will know
themselves to be creatures created for God’s own ends. This is, of course, an
impossible task. But a competent docent in the house of wonder helps to set the
conditions for the impossible to occur. In setting these conditions the docent
denies their efficacy, protesting that God cannot be made known by human
efforts, that God is free, unfettered, and unbounded, and that this free God wills to
transform us into the likeness of Jesus Christ using all sorts and conditions of
instruments, even pastors (Jinkins, 19-20)
Being a pastor draws out many unpleasant tasks; preaching funerals, contentious board

meetings, conflict at every turn. It also brings to the surface some of the greatest joys ever

experienced by humanity. I am privileged to serve as a “docent in the house of wonder.” I

consider this my theology of pastoral leadership: to guide God’s people, not as a boss or a

dictator, but as a friend and a shepherd, a servant and a confidant; into the awe and glory of our

infinite, holy God.

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