Sailing the Spiritual Leadership Seas
Pastors leave training ready to save souls, care for their community and make an impact on the world for Jesus. They are ready to teach and preach and pray and care for the sick and feed the hungry.
Maybe this is or was you.
Then the reality of being in charge of a ministry or church set in. You began to realize the skills needed to be a great pastor are not the same skills needed to be a great leader. And more than likely you were left on your own to figure out how to lead people.
A quick google search on the requirements for a Master’s in Divinity reveals that most programs offer at most 2 courses on leadership.
Some don’t have any.
As a retired Navy Chief and former Pastor, I am going to give you a little insight into how being a pastor and being a leader relates to life on the High Seas.
Being a pastor and being a leader is like being the captain of different ships – the pastor, shepherding souls through the spiritual seas, and the leader, guiding the ship through earthly waters. Both must be confident and courageous in the face of uncertain waters. Because, let’s face it: “there be dangers in these waters.”
Sailing the Pastoral Seas
A pastor is a spiritual guide who shepherds a congregation in matters of faith, offering guidance, conducting worship, providing pastoral care, and fostering a sense of community and connection within a religious context.
They wear many hats (which you know all too well…):
Spiritual Helmsman - Navigating the Divine Currents
The helmsman steers the ship. Imagine pastors as seasoned helmsmen, steering the congregation through the journey of faith.
With the compass of scripture and the sextant of empathy, they chart paths that guide souls to safe harbors of enlightenment.
The pastor, like a skilled navigator, must calibrate their course using the celestial map of faith and steer the congregation away from rocky reefs of temptation.
Sermon Navigator - Crafting Messages as Wind in the Sails
Navigators determine the speed and direction of any ship. Visualize pastors as skilled navigators, using sermons as wind to fill the sails of the congregation's hearts.
With each sermon, they navigate through the choppy waters of life, using the rudder of wisdom to steer towards deeper understanding.
Just as a sailor adjusts the sails to catch the wind, pastors adapt their messages to resonate with the current spiritual needs of their congregation.
Ceremonial Admiral - Commanding Sacred Rituals
Every Navy in the world has special ceremonies that celebrate their history. Think of pastors as ceremonial admirals, overseeing rituals like ships embarking on sacred voyages.
They baptize, unite couples in matrimony, lead the congregation in worship and communion, and solemnly bid farewell when someone sets sail for the final time.
These ceremonies are their ship's voyages, and the pastor is the one who ensures they sail with dignity and spiritual significance.
Morale Builder - Crafting Spiritual Communities
The Morale Welfare and Recreation committee on a ship is responsible for building community among the crew. Pastors are more than spiritual leaders; they're community builders, crafting communities as safe and welcoming harbors.
They ensure the harbor lights of compassion shine, guiding ships from various voyages to unity.
Just as a harbor shelters ships from storms, pastors cultivate communities that provide solace and support in life's trials.
Shipmate - Navigating Life's Storms
When a ship’s crew embarks on a deployment, everyone onboard is committed to helping one another make it back safely. Pastors steer their congregations through life's storms.
Just as a shipmate comes alongside in turbulent waters, pastors guide souls with a steady hand through life's challenges, remaining unwavering in their devotion.
When the tempests of doubt and adversity arise, the pastor stands as the lighthouse, guiding others safely to spiritual shores.
Sailing the Leadership Seas
Pastors may set sail with spiritual fervor, but captaining a ministry is a very different voyage.
A leader is a visionary guide who steers a team or church towards goals, making strategic decisions, fostering collaboration, and inspiring growth. T
hey navigate challenges, cultivate unity, and drive progress.
And there are a multitude of skills needed:
Navigational Communication - Steering by Clear Signals:
Like a skilled captain, leaders master the art of navigational communication. They must signal directions with clarity, ensuring the crew understands the course. And they must have hard conversations when the course needs correcting. Just as a captain uses signals to navigate at sea, leaders use communication to guide their teams towards shared objectives.
Team Building - Forging Strong Ship Bonds:
Imagine leaders as shipbuilders, crafting strong crew bonds. They ensure relationships are solid, fostering unity like a well-structured hull. Similar to how a ship's crew must collaborate harmoniously, leaders cultivate relationships that sustain the organization's journey. Leaders must value and celebrate the diverse strengths of each crew member.
Charted Alignment - Plotting a Unified Course:
A one degree difference in course heading can send a ship miles off course. Leaders, like navigators, ensure the crew is aligned with the charted course. They plot the course, guide the ship towards common goals, and ensure the ship makes it to designated ports. Through clear alignment, leaders steer their teams towards success.
Precise Execution - Pushing to Get Better:
Out at sea you are constantly running drills; firefighting, launching weapons, man overboard, battle stations... And every drill is run as if it is the real thing. After every drill there is an evaluation to determine how the crew could get better. Leaders must stay focused on execution as they guide their teams through the ever-changing seas of tasks and projects. And keep the big picture in mind, pushing the crew to achieve more than they thought possible.
Cargo Master - Providing Resources for Journey:
Having enough supplies can be the difference between mission success and mission failure. Leaders resemble cargo masters, loading the ship with the right resources for the journey ahead. And just as cargo is essential for a ship's voyage, organizational capacity is essential for team success. Great leaders ensure the ship is equipped to sail through challenges, train for future threats, adapt to change, and thrive.
• • •
As the ship of leadership sails, it's clear that pastors face unique challenges.
Not only do they have the heavy responsibility of shepherding souls, but they also must lead their congregation, their staff, themselves.
By growing in the skills of communication, cultivating relationships, ensuring alignment, executing with precision, and building capacity, pastors will be able to not only navigate the spiritual seas with skill, they will also steer their church towards horizons of success.
Use the questions below to talk through this post with your staff or volunteer teams so you can start applying these ideas to your own context.
Are you more naturally wired as a pastor or a leader?
In which of these pastoral roles do you want to see improvement?
How can you develop more people in these areas
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