Big News and a Coming Move

I've been preoccupied. Overwhelmed is perhaps a more fitting term. So, for those who follow my blog, I apologize for my absence.

Just over a month ago I accepted an offer of employment from Briercrest College and Seminary as seminary dean and assistant professor. It's sort of a dream come true.

The same week my wife was hired as the director of spiritual care and mission at one of the very few facilities in the province of Saskatchewan that provide Clinical Pastoral Education (CPE) training for spiritual care practitioners. God's hand was all over this.

So, three of four family members will be packing up and moving halfway across the country from Southern Georgian Bay, Ontario to Southern Saskatchewan. We'll be leaving the valley of apple orchards for the land of the living skies. Our daughter will remain in Ontario to finish up her final year of university. I think it will be harder on me than it is for her.

Pray for us. We are excited about the adventure that awaits but sad about the many friends and family members we leave behind. We are looking forward to new opportunities, friends, and a new place to call home.

The Future of Theological Education

There are very few books written about the future of theological education. I've had the chance to review most, if not all, of them.

This week, the Toronto Journal of Theology published my reviews of Daniel Aleshire's excellent book, Beyond Profession, and Barabara Wheeler's edited volume, Disruption and Hope. Both provide a thoughtful and important look at what might be around the corner for theological schools.

If you are interested in seeing what might be ahead for theological schools, I welcome you to read my review of Beyond Profession and my review of Disruption and Hope.
 

Good News for Spiritual Care Practitioners seeking registration with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO)

Lately, certified spiritual care practitioners seeking registration with the College of Registered Psychotherapists of Ontario (CRPO) have been facing obstacles. Until recently, CRPO has been grandparenting spiritual care practitioners into the college by registering them without a rigorous verification process. Grandparenting is now over and many spiritual care providers are finding the CRPO has made it next to impossible for them to prove their training and education provided through the Canadian Association for Spiritual Care is substantially equivalent to a registered psychotherapy program.

This seemed unfair so I wrote a paper showing how Supervised Pastoral Education is substantially equivalent. The article was peer reviewed and published this week online in the Journal of Pastoral Care and Counseling. You can read it here.

The article has already been presented as part of an appeal to the Health Professions Appeal and Review Board (HPARB) challenging the CPRO's rejection of an application. I am happy to report the CRPO Registration Committee has responded favourably and are willing to grant a certificate of registration if the applicant takes four additional courses.

If you are one of the many applicants who have been rejected because your SPE/CPE educational units were not considered substantially equivalent to an registered program, reference this article and get in touch with me if you need more help.

The Pastoral Art of Spiritual Direction

I've had the privilege of sitting with a couple of wise spiritual directors over the past couple of months. One asks excellent questions that allow me to probe my thoughts and emotions to discern what God might be up to in my life. The other offers poetry, scripture, and imaginative exercises to help me find new ways of encountering Jesus. Both directors use distinct yet helpful approaches prodding me to grow in faith and I am grateful for their assistance.

Job, the Hebrew Bible figure, had a different experience. In the midst of devastating life circumstances his counsellors attempted to help get him in touch with God but, in the end, the LORD ended up judging them saying, "you have not spoken of me what is right..." (42:7). Yikes! They were so convinced they knew Job's soul and the mind and heart of God. Yet, in the end, they were off the mark.

I wonder how many pastors are like Jobs friends. No doubt, I'm in that company. Spiritual direction, coming alongside those seeking to grow in intimacy with God, is an important but often neglected part of ministry. If practised at all, it's usually done poorly.

I know I've blogged a lot about Eugene Peterson but I'm going to turn to him again. He believes spiritual direction is one of the central aspects of the pastoral vocation. He also believes its an uncommon part of church life. In his book Working the Angles: The Shape of Pastoral Integrity, Peterson describes several bad examples of spiritual direction from George Fox's Journal. In the end, Peterson describes the heart of good spiritual direction by pastors saying, "...there must be a predisposition toward prayer, a readiness for prayer. Spiritual direction is then conducted with an awareness that it takes place in God's active presence, and that our conversation is therefore condition by his speaking and listening, his being there" (p. 192).

I've sensed God's being there in times when I meet with my spiritual directors. It's something I want to cultivate in my own ministry as I provide that sort of prayerful space for others to discern God's speaking and listening. It's a beautiful grace wise directors have given me and I'm hoping to pass that gift along to others.

Love must be sincere

Romans 12:9 is clear: love must be sincere. But it's easier said than done.

Thomas Merton linked sincerity and love in his book, No Man Is an Island. He writes: 

If my will acts as the servant of the truth, consecrating my whole soul to what the intelligence has seen, then I will be sanctified by the truth. I will be sincere. ‘My whole body will be lightsome’ (Matt 6:22). But if my will takes possession of truth as its master, as if the truth were my servant, as if it belonged to me by right of conquest, then I will take it for granted that I can do with it whatever I please. This is the root of all falsity. …In the end, the problem of sincerity is a problem of love… And the secret of sincerity is, therefore, not to be sought in a philosophical love for abstract truth but in a love for real people and real things—a love for God apprehended in the reality around us. (Merton, 197-198).

Sincere love is expressed in the relationships we have with others. It includes arresting direct lies, about things we have or have not done, but also goes beyond by addressing the things we tell ourselves and others. If my will acts as, what Merton calls, "a servant of the truth" then I'm not spinning stories or speaking niceties just so I look better in the eyes of others. I should be self-aware enough to name the truth, even if it leaves me looking weak or incompetent. 

I had a colleague friend stop and ask me a few weeks ago, "How are you?" Normally, I'd say "doing well!" or something like that. But that day was different. I responded honestly and said, "I'm not doing very well." That led to an exchange about some things that I was wrestling with. He didn't laugh or judge but did something surprising; he opened up about his life too. 

Loving and being loved start with sincerity. After "Love must be sincere", Romans 12:9-10 goes on to say, "Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love." That kind of love for others and with others only comes from truth, honesty, and sincerity.  

 

"Pastoral work requires a small community"

I wrapped up listening to the Mars Hills podcast this week. In the midst of swirling thoughts and lamenting over that community's rise and fall, another large church scandal hit the headlines. Only days ago the teaching pastor of a large, well known, Ontario church resigned due to an abuse of authority and sexual harassment; what he called an "adulterous relationship". Now, this church joins Mars Hill, Willow Creek, Harvest Bible Chapel, and countless other megachurches that have said goodbye to their pastors because those same leaders' ethics and values were at odds with the Good News they preached.

I'm not surprised. It reminds me of something Eugene Peterson wrote in his July 2, 1990 journal entry, captured in his authorized biography, A Burning In My Bones, by Winn Collier. Pastor Eugene penned himself a dire warning about unencumbered church growth:

I'm about to be dogmatic on one detail in this: good, authentic, pastoral work--the working out of vocational holiness--cannot be done in a large congregation. It requires a small community. "Big" introduces dynamics and perceptions that destroy intimacies. I am willing to concede occasional exceptions--but only in exceptions--never as models. We must repudiate the desirability of the large congregation and the so-called professional staff. 500 is top number. (Collier, 194)

Did you catch that part in the middle? "Perceptions that destroy intimacies". The bigger a church grows, the more power becomes consolidated in a smaller group of people who make big decisions in order to prevent expansion constraints. That smaller group of people allow the leader to isolate himself (I thought about writing him/herself but I am not aware of any female megachurch pastors who have been in this situation) from those who may otherwise challenge them. Without those who challenge, the isolated leader starts to believe they "deserve" to be treated differently or they are allowed to take liberties that others cannot or should not. Their perception about themselves and their churches gets skewed. Intimacy with real people erodes and, well, you know how the rest of the story unfolds.

I had the opportunity to pastor a church of close to 500 people and recently my wife and I co-pastored a much smaller church. Both had their celebrations and challenges. Usually the challenges came in the form of resistance. Getting resistance and push back feels deflating. Sometimes humiliating. But I'm grateful for those who resisted, pushed back, and made my life difficult. They were God's gifts to me and the church. While it was difficult to see at the time, I see how important they were in my vocational holiness. They kept me humble and made me holy. And, as I rubbed them the wrong way, I may have been helping some of them become more holy too. Spiritual growth happens when pastor and people worship in this environment. It may be difficult but so is the way of the cross. This sort of tension is not a great way to grow a church numerically but it keeps a pastor and a church humble. And, according to Jesus and the Scriptures, humility isn't a bad attribute to aim for.  

Thanks Eugene and Jan!

The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast

I'm halfway through listening to episodes of The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill. (Thanks for the recommendation, Aleks!) This podcast is eye opening. The narrative follows the rise of a church in Seattle led by Mark Discoll. I didn't know much about Driscoll before listening to the episodes and now I'm too familiar. Excerpts from his preaching are downright shocking. He screams, swears, and talks openly about former pastors he ran over with the Mars Hill "bus" a.k.a. church on the way to achieving the mission. Somehow, his leadership and preaching appealed to thousands of people who attended services and groups.

When I first started out in pastoral ministry the church growth movement was in full swing. Business models of congregational leadership were in vogue and I, along with others, flocked to conferences to hear megachurch pastors pontificate about how to grow a church. Today, many of those big churches led by larger than life pastors have been plagued by scandals and run into substantial problems. Mars Hill is one example.

If you want a good analysis of a grow-at-all-costs ministry model, and the problems arising from that mentality, The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill is worth a listen. Parts of it are good fodder for a pastoral theology course. Invite students to consider Driscoll's pastoral theology alongside others such as Eugene Peterson, Will Willimon, and Dietrich Bonhoeffer. The contrast could not be starker.

 The full Podcast is available here. Below is a teaser to get you started.