Pastoral Leadership and Trust

Lovette Weems reflects upon pastors as leaders of change in the congregation. The prerequisite for leading for change is trust:

The first thing that leaders must create is trust. People give out of trust. They must have leaders who are creditable to them. "A leader wins trust slowly, but can lose it quickly."

"In leadership, the challenge is to provide the 'glue' to cohere independent units in a world characterized by forces of entropy and fragmentation. Only one element has been identified as powerful enough to overcome those centripetal forces, and that is trust." James O'Toole.

"Relationships are the first imperative for trust." Working on a fulfilling, common purpose, with all the struggle that entails, we can build strong relationships.

Weems says that a recent study of pastors and clergy leadership shows that "The single most common source of difficulty for pastors was in their struggles around interpersonal relationships within the congregation. "(p. 29).

Ron Heifetz says that "one of the distinguishing qualities of successful people who lead in any field is the emphasis they place on personal relationships." (p. 29)

"I am coming to believe that all leadership is local. There is a sheer presence required for effective leadership. Leaders must stay close to the people with whom they work and close to the details of what is happening in their setting of leadership. When too much time and emotional energy are being given to endeavors outside that setting of leadership, there is almost always the deterioration of the quality of relationship and leadership." (p. 29).

"I have noticed how closely great leaders stay connected to their local settings of leadership." Credibility is built on relationships.

"Whom you would change," Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "You must first love." (p. 31)

Character is also important-a relationship between what one says and what one actually does. To character, relationships, Weems adds competence as a builder of relationship. We must be able to do what we say we are going to do. We must not only wonder who we should be as a person, but also what we should be doing, that is where confidence comes in.

A prelude to change is the truthful and realistic definition of a congregation's reality. Leaders must help groups to tell the truth about themselves. Lyle Schaller contends that United Methodism is on the whole, in a "state of denial". Good leaders are those who flood the system with accurate, truthful information that describes the reality of the organization. Bad leaders try to keep painful or threatening information away from the group, sometimes out of a fear that the group is not possessed with any resources to deal with reality. Good leaders trust that the system has resources to deal with reality. A vision is built upon an accurate and truthful depiction of what really is.

After a situation has been truthfully described, leaders intervene. Weems lists the intervention options that are available for leaders: Observation (reflections to the group of the real situation without judgment or evaluation) questions, like what does all this mean, is this what we really want?), interpretation (this is where the leader interprets the situation for the group and checks out his or her interpretations. This should not happen too soon), and actions.

Actions take place far down the road, and are the last move and intervention, rather than the first.

Leaders must understand and respect the culture of a congregation. It is not enough simply to come forward with a new vision. Rather, that new vision must build on the values that are deeply embedded within the organization and its tradition.

"I found that older renewed churches are like the next generation of family than they are like a new species." Robert Cueni, (p. 69). Often the best way forward is to become what we have always been at our best. We build on tradition and identities rather than destroying them.

-- From Lovett H. Weems, Jr., Take the Next Step: Leading Lasting Change in the Church (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003).

William H. Willimon