Rachel Boehm Van Harmelen
June 2006
In today’s fast-paced world leaders move at high speed. They manage a frantic pace of phone calls, meetings, travel, and appointments. Thanks to tools like the Internet, Blackberrys and cell phones, leaders can move even faster than ever before, communicating virtually anywhere—with anyone.
A pastor’s work is not untouched by the frenetic pace of the world in which they serve. As leaders in local churches, pastors, too, move quickly from one meeting to the next, answer phone calls in the car on the way to visit the sick in the hospital, and respond to urgent E-mails late into the night.
Rev. Michael Kooy is pastor of First Christian Reformed Church in Mount Vernon, Washington.He and his peers were interested in studying how their sense of calling and character shapes them as leaders and pastors. “Aware that ministry arises out of ‘who you are’ as a person in Christ, we want to lead from our authentic self, from our spiritual center and passion,” says Kooy. The pastors formed a peer learning group to study accountability in this context. They received a grant from Sustaining Pastoral Excellence (SPE) to help purchase study materials and hold regular peer group meetings.In addition to looking at accountability, however, Kooy and his peers also wanted to consider what leaders should look like from "the inside out." Externally, leaders may be busy people with many responsibilities, but what internal characteristics keep leaders—specifically, spiritual leaders—strong and effective?
To accomplish this goal, Kooy and his peers accessed a second SPE grant to help cover the costs of a continuing education event. They invited leadership expert Ruth Haley Barton to lead a retreat with the theme "Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership." Barton is cofounder of The Transforming Center and is the author of several books including Invitation to Solitude and Silence (InterVarsity Press 2004) and coauthor with John Ortberg of the book and discipleship course entitled An Ordinary Day With Jesus (Zondervan 2001).
At the retreat, participants spent time in silence and solitude, focusing on internal qualities that shape effective Christian leaders. "Our retreat's purpose was to enable participants to reflect on leading from the calm center of one’s relationship with Jesus, " Kooy says. "We were able to experience and reflect upon a process of deep listening to the spirit of God at work within us, with the result of our being transformed and discerning the will of God for our ministries."
Kooy says that he and other retreat participants definitely left for home feeling they had a better understanding of the importance of maintaining a strong sense of internal peace and letting it shape their external characteristics as leaders in the local church.
Kooy says the retreat has been a real source of inspiration and motivation for the pastors who attended. The time spent together provided a fortaste of true spiritual community, Kooy says, and motivated the pastors to return to their churches to model their experiences with local leaders, especially the elders in their congregations.
"I would definitely encourage others to apply for a continuing education grant, " says Kooy. "It was a great opportunty for our peer learning group to grow together and to share our study with others in our classis and benefit from their experiences, insights, and feedback. I feel strongly that continuing education is a great benefit to church leaders who want to take the time to reflect on a particular aspect of their ministry."
