Leadership: A word from Mennonite Church USA leaders

I remember well the stories of our daughter doing her rotations of clinicals during her nurse’s training at Goshen (Ind.) College. Her calling was confirmed and her resolve strengthened as she saw her studies being brought to life.

Such practical, hands-on experience—complementing and building on the good work of formal education—has long been a standard part of preparation for many careers. Most of us can easily imagine the anxiety we would experience if we realized that the pilot for our next flight had taken all the courses but never really flown a plane.

In his book Ministry Greenhouse: Cultivating Environments for Practical Learning (Alban Institute, 2008), George M. Hillman Jr. makes the case for pastoral internships by comparing the congregational environment to that of a greenhouse. In an environment that is carefully monitored, artificially controlled for a short time and designed to be a safe, fertile context, growth can happen more quickly and predictably.

As Mennonite Church USA strives to become fully engaged in the mission of God at all levels, leaders from across the church are calling for more opportunities to be created for practice-based ministry learning experiences, understanding that congregations that are actively participating in the mission of God help form missional leaders. To use Hillman’s metaphor, we would do well to have more congregations embrace their unique role as greenhouses of leadership development.

Many such models are already in place in our churches and schools. Through inquiry programs, students from Mennonite colleges and universities have the opportunity to explore pastoral ministry, service work and/or camping ministry. Our seminaries offer practice-based learning experiences as part of their core curriculum for students pursuing master’s degrees as well as in programs for students at a distance, such as Instituto Bíblico Anabautista (Anabaptist Biblical Institute), Journey, STEP (Study and Training for Effective Pastoral Ministry) and Pastoral Studies Distance Education. Yet few congregations today have the vision to create opportunities for people from within their own faith community to explore leadership in ways that are intentional and formative. When done well, it can be a win-win experience for everyone involved.

As a full-time pastoral intern at Belmont Mennonite Church, Elkhart, Ind., for nine months, I had many opportunities to grow as I tried things for the first time. I remember well the experiences of ministering at my first funeral and my first wedding and a hospital visit with a mentor who not only helped shape what I was doing but (more importantly) helped me think about what I had done once it was over. These experiences—which happened in a safe and caring environment—shaped the pastor I became.

Years later, as a pastor and mentor working with interns called out from the congregation I was pastoring, I grew as I stepped back and looked at the bigger picture of ministry, asking mentees, “Why is this or that important to God and part of our ministry task?” This reflective work helps students and pastors express the theological reality that God is at work in the world and in our neighborhoods.

For the congregation, becoming a greenhouse of leadership development is not about getting cheap labor; it is an opportunity to learn. Emerging leaders have fresh eyes and can create new energy that is contagious, spilling out into the community.

Congregations that catch this vision understand their role as part of the process—not replacing our schools but complementing them with the equally important task of providing an environment for practice-based learning. When a local congregation has a vision for growing leaders, there is often a sense of appropriately humble pride in helping develop these loved leaders who will share their gifts in the church and beyond.

What might you do to embody the greenhouse metaphor in your congregation? What barriers do you see that we can work together to remove? How might you help in the development of call, character and competence in someone in your congregation?
You and your congregation can make a difference in developing leaders around you.
Give it a try. We could use a few more greenhouses in Mennonite Church USA.