Questioning and renegotiating the authority, roles, responsibilities, and relationships between lay and ordained leaders has become the order of the day for the church. In her new book for clergy and congregations, leadership expert Katherine Tyler Scott provides models and spiritual practices to feed the growing hunger in our churches for grounded spiritual authority.

Transforming Leadership

By KATHERINE TYLER SCOTT

Church Publishing

Copyright © 2010 Katherine Tyler Scott
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-0-89869-599-1

Contents

Series Preface................................................viiPreface.......................................................ixAcknowledgments...............................................xii1. A Time of No Longer and Not Yet............................12. Shifting Paradigms.........................................193. On the Margin: Promise and Possibility.....................464. The Call: Leadership as Vocation...........................555. The Sacramental Nature of Leadership.......................83A Guide for Discussion........................................113Resources.....................................................125Notes and Sources.............................................130

Chapter One

A Time of No Longer and Not Yet

Well-defined self in a leader—what I call self-differentiation—is not only critical to effective leadership, it is precisely the leadership characteristic that is most likely to promote the kind of community that preserves the self of its members. —Edwin H. Friedman

"Can you help us?"

The question was plaintively expressed by the voice on the line after revealing an all-too-familiar situation. A midsized Episcopal parish in the northeast, nestled in a suburban area described as having the greatest population growth in decades, was experiencing a dramatic loss of members. The once slow decline in membership had become more noticeable in the previous year, when fifty congregants, many of whom were considered pillars within the congregation and in the larger community, left. The initial explanation for this mass exodus was unresolved conflict over the direction of the parish's programs, a decline in pledges, and shifting demographics. In the course of asking more probing questions, serious concerns surfaced about the perceived autocratic and imperious leadership style of the rector.

The rector's ultimate response to any congregational conflict was to state in various ways his positional power. "I am the rector" was a refrain used to trump any dissent or discord. His leadership style created divisions between the newer and the longer-term members. Those with little or no history of the parish seemed content and were impervious to the dissension; those with a lengthy history and more involvement were notably discontent and more expressive of their unhappiness. The fault lines within the congregation had begun to affect relationships between congregants, and rumors about the parish's problems seeped out into community, tarnishing its once stellar reputation.

Disagreement or criticism was deemed to be a personal attack; the rector was portrayed as a victim by those who supported him and a manipulator by those who disagreed with his actions. The consequence was an even deeper division within the congregation, with members taking sides and evolving into opposing camps of "us" and "them." The departure of a number of parish leaders in a short time created more fear and anxiety and a bunker mentality in the vestry, the one group that could be expected to exert leadership in this crisis. Their behavior served to escalate the hostile, defensive communication already tearing the congregation apart.

Answering their initial question—"Can you help us?"—meant asking more probing questions of clergy and lay leadership. For example:

* What is the current parish culture?

* How would you describe the relationships between lay and clergy leaders?

* How are authority and dependency handled?

* Are there "responsible critics"? How are they perceived and treated?

* How has the congregation confronted similar problems in the past?

* What is the congregation's mission and vision? How are they expressed?

An articulation of questions such as these could have led this congregation to a constructive discussion and problem-solving process. It might have helped those remaining congregants with unquestioned loyalty to the parish and its rector realize that a different kind of support, other than taking sides and demonizing the dissidents, was needed. The ability to identify, listen to, and address the concerns of those who expressed their displeasure could have helped the vestry and other congregational leaders obtain more timely professional help for both their priest and their community of faith. In this case the vestry leaders contributed to the polarization by encircling the priest and erecting a "no criticism" zone around themselves. Anyone who differed with their opinions or who were critical of the rector's behavior was not taken seriously, and marginalized.

So the answer to this parish's initial question was not simple. The congregation had become locked into a cycle of insularity that did not permit much self-examination, new learning, or corrective intervention. By the time the vestry and rector did seek outside assistance the request for help came more from a need to prove the rightness and wrongness of aggrieved parties than from a desire to change the pernicious behaviors that were damaging to the remaining community.

According to the Faith Communities Today (FACT) studies conducted by the Hartford Institute for Religious Research in 2001 and 2005, a large percentage of conflict occurring in Episcopal churches stems from the leadership style of the priest. The leadership style of the priest determines a congregation's perception of the roles and responsibilities of clergy, church staff, and laity. It is clergy leadership that enables a congregation to form and strengthen itself as a community and to understand the larger context in which parish life exists. Perceiving the larger context leads to a clearer understanding of the forces that affect congregational life and leadership. It also gives wiser guidance about how a parish can respond to a larger truth.

* * *

the larger context

Like so many other institutions, the church is not immune from the current seismic shifts taking place nationally and globally. Experts in every field recognize that we are in a period of such rapid and complex change that it is comparable to historical periods in which new epochs of human understanding emerged. This is a time that can be compared to the fourth century, when human beings witnessed the triumph of Christianity, and to the seventeenth century, which introduced the Modern Age.

During the fourth century human understanding of the Divine, and the relationship between the Divine and human beings, profoundly changed. For God so loved the world that he sent his only Son to redeem it?! What wondrous Love was this? The birth and ministry of Jesus transformed reality, a reality many found hard to accept. To believe that salvation came from being the recipient of a Love so sacrificial and powerful that it transformed everyone and everything was liberating to some and threatening to others. The disciples and early converts to Christianity ushered in this new reality through the spiritual disciplines of storytelling, preaching, prayer, evangelism, and worship, practices that enabled them to embrace a new way of seeing and being that was so paradoxical and radical that to this day it continues to raise doubts and engender disbelief. The Good News is disturbing; it changes everything—it is transforming!

A similar sense of dissonance and disruption occurred during the seventeenth century, as the value of reason and rational thinking increased and the concepts of democracy and national sovereignty emerged. Diogenes Allen, Professor at Princeton Theological Seminary, described this period as a time when "all that had been thought to be true and valuable was set aside. However hallowed, respected, loved, intellectual integrity required it to be verified by the sovereign court of reason." It was a revolutionary time in which different understandings and perceptions of what is true and real emerged. It was the beginning of the Scientific Age, the origins of a painful parting between theology and psychology, and the triumph of facts over faith. Like the present time, these two periods in history were times when fundamental assumptions and views about reality were questioned and changed.

Once again we are in another period of dramatic change and shift. Facts are still highly valued, but what has changed dramatically is our access to a vast quantity of information. We can instantly communicate with almost anyone, anywhere, through devices smaller than a postcard. Schedules and address books are stored in palm-sized instruments that organize and manage our time in every setting in which we operate. We can meet electronically, as we see and talk with colleagues, family, and friends via computers and phones. Every individual is a potential source, disseminator, and recipient of data. The leadership challenge today is not obtaining or receiving facts and information, it is discerning the veracity and meaning of them.

* * *

what does it all mean?

Churches are normally thought to be contemplative places of spiritual respite and havens of stability, but the rapidity and complexity of change is contributing to a different internal and external reality. The current context in which the church exists demands responses that seem antithetical to traditional practices of worship. If the younger generation finds its connections to one other and forms community through Facebook and You Tube, how does this affect the ways in which the church preaches, worships, evangelizes, and teaches? If people are twittering and tweeting with each other, how can this form of relationship and communication help them form a strong faith relationship to God and to a church? If individuals can go online and find information that helps them interpret the Bible, what does this mean for the preaching and teaching role of clergy? If congregants can retrieve information electronically in seconds, how might this affect what, how, and when clergy convey what they deem as most precious and essential in the Good News? If phenomena such as iChat and Skype continue to be significant modes for connection, relationship, and community, how does this affect the ways people create meaning within a parish culture?

When the first indicators of these huge changes began to surface, the Episcopal Church responded by clarifying its mission and reorganizing its ministries. The mantra of Service, Worship, Evangelism, Education, and Prayer (SWEEP) swept through pews and sacristies in the 1970s and 1980s. Christian education was given greater importance and expanded beyond children's Sunday school to include more substantial adult education.

Perhaps the most notable catalyst and reaction to these changes and the subsequent breakdown of the old order is the theological and liturgical recovery of baptism. It has prompted a serious reexamination of Christian identity, mission, and practice, challenged conventional views of ordained and lay ministry, and changed traditional forms of worship. The idea of the ministry of all the baptized has significantly affected roles and responsibilities of clergy and laity, and transformed their relationships to one another.

At a Consortium of Endowed Episcopal Parishes preconference for clergy several years ago, the tensions and opportunities of implementing this new vision revealed some of the unresolved concerns that frequently arise in congregations, and can either lead to more creative forms of ministry or increased conflict and power struggles, including the meaning of vocation, the identity of the priesthood, the redistribution of power, the definition of community, and the meaning of "the ministry of all the baptized." These areas of concern within congregations are still in various states of discussion, redefinition, and renegotiation. Parish leaders and congregants are in varying degrees of being caught between verbal professions of shared leadership and the longstanding cultural norms and structures of a church that still often operates as if its ministers are only those wearing clerical collars. We live in a time of no longer and not yet.

Shared ministry between clergy and laity can be an enlivening force in church culture and structures when the right kind of leadership is practiced. When clergy and lay leadership have a clear, shared vision, can listen respectfully to one another, can invite participation from everyone, and exhibit congruence between word and deed, followers will develop the trust and loyalty, and engagement necessary for sustainable church growth and vitality.

The ultimate sustainability of the church and the effectiveness of its mission and ministry in the world will depend on factors such as these. The key then is the capacity of clergy to establish healthy relationships of vocational interdependence rather than a vocational caste system that promotes elitism. Many parishes are still trying to figure out what this interdependence should look like and, more importantly, how to live it. This task will become more challenging as the church encounters even more shifts in the near future and experiences the resulting disequilibrium that always attends such changes. We will find that in this time and place of no longer and not yet are opportunities for transformation. In such times we must acknowledge change and prepare to respond responsibly. There are three changes that demand the immediate attention of the church.

A SHIFT IN DIVERSITY

A future wave of change that can either lift the church to new heights or leave it dashed on the shores of denial is the increased ethnic diversification in the general population. By 2050, Caucasians will no longer be the numerical majority in the United States. While the Episcopal Church is still struggling with what it means to fully embrace its longstanding African-American members and remains conflicted about the meaning of full inclusion of gays and lesbians, it is being awakened to the reality of an ever-widening spectrum of ethnic and cultural diversity. Hispanic, First Nation, and Asian-American populations are growing at faster rates than other groups. This means that the future growth and relevance of the Episcopal Church will be strongly linked to its ability to perceive and accept the changed cultural and ethnic context in which it exists. Will the church have the will and leadership capacity to translate these changing demographics into meaning that gives an urgency to change our behavior? Will the church finally be able to elevate diversity to a deep level of mission integration that takes members beyond any specific training program to a movement of true transformation of beliefs and practices?

A SHIFT IN SIZE

The second significant change that will have an impact on the church is the slight yet steady decline in growth and in giving. Half of the congregations in the United States have fewer than 100 active members; 25 percent have fewer than 50 regularly participating adults. Of the 7,145 congregations in the Episcopal Church, slightly more than half of the churches have between one and 75 members. These family-size parishes account for 17.6 percent of the average Sunday attendance in the Episcopal Church. This level of attendance is slightly higher than the 16.3 percent average Sunday attendance of the 205 resource-size congregations. These statistics support those who say that the Episcopal Church is "a church of small churches." But nearly half of Episcopalians are members of resource-size parishes, and this accounts for the truth of those who say that the Episcopal Church is "a denomination of large churches." It is both/and; we live with the paradox that we are both small and large, which makes the debate over size irrelevant according to the Reverend Canon Keith Brown, author of "Some Key Data and Trends in the Episcopal Church." Canon Brown says that both small and large congregations are facing declining plate and pledge revenue and rising operational and maintenance costs. The predominately small, rural, non-endowed, urban parishes and ministries will be more quickly affected by these dips and drops because they often lack the people resources and financial cushion that many larger parishes have. An increasing number of the smaller parishes will be unable to support full-time clergy or to provide adequate compensation or sufficient health insurance coverage for their staff.

In addition to the decline in church membership and attendance, the lower percentage increases in giving in Episcopal churches are indicative of a potentially precarious situation facing the church. These changes, while mirroring national statistics and trends for other mainline Protestant denominations, are too disturbing to be quickly dismissed.

A SHIFT IN NUMBER OF LEADERS

A third wave of change that will affect the Episcopal Church in the future is the numerical decline of ordained leaders and the anticipated turnover of leadership in every order. The degree of change in leadership in five of the eight Episcopal provinces in the United States is significant, as seen in the table below.

In addition to this decline in the number of ordained clergy, a significant number of bishops are retiring over the next decade: According to statistics compiled by the Church Pension Fund, a total of seventy-four bishops will be eligible to retire in the next ten years. Leadership transitions will occur at diocesan, provincial, and national levels as well. While no scientific studies have been undertaken to tell us the degree of shift in lay leadership, observation and experience indicate that the church will face significant transition here also. The rates of leadership attrition and turnover will be felt even more keenly because of the changes previously noted.

(Continues...)

Excerpted from Transforming Leadershipby KATHERINE TYLER SCOTT Copyright © 2010 by Katherine Tyler Scott. Excerpted by permission of Church Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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