The nature of power in
Pastoral Ministry
Chapter 3
Power structures within the
Church
As the church of the
Apostolic and Post-Apostolic eras had to come to terms with a need to change
the structures by which they operated, so also there is the need for the pastoral
ministers of today to consider the power structures within which they work and
the authority which gives them freedom so to do. The balance between charismatic and
institutional power will always be a difficulty, but one which the church has
the responsibility to take seriously. In
order to maintain any form of accountability the church needs structures which bind
the power a pastor has with the responsibility of representing a larger
organisation, and with the ethos of empowerment that Jesus exhibited in his own
ministry.
Present day considerations
Having considered the way in
which the church has dealt with issues of power and authority historically the subject
leads naturally towards the structures within which that community exists
today, and the way in which the historical basis might usefully inform present
day reflection.
“Christianity claims that
all authority comes ultimately from God.” Writes Dr Jack Dominion (1976:
7). This has historically given the
hierarchy of the church great scope for justifying the activity, existence,
methods, models of ministry and structure of the church, claiming that the
authority to deal with both the members of the church and with the world
‘outside the church’ is divinely inspired and thereby answerable to none. This understanding is thwarted, we believe,
by the record of the early church found in the New Testament and in the life
and witness of Jesus.
Structural Abuses
For many years the church
has been an ‘authority figure’, and historically it is possible to find many
examples of times the church has taken a role of control and domination rather
than compassion and service. The crusades,
the Spanish Inquisition, pogroms and many other events, as well as general
attitudes and the teaching of the hierarchy give an impression of the church as
an ‘authority figure’ existing to exert undue influence over individuals at the
expense of personal freedom. Expressing
what Campbell calls an ‘unnecessarily extreme view’, Harvey Cox, quoted by
Alastair Campbell (1993: 2) says of the history of the church in pastoral care,
“…we should
read it more as a cautionary tale than as a treasure house of available
inspiration. We Christians today need to
understand our history as a compulsive neurotic needs to understand his - in
order to see where we veered off, lost genuine options, glimpsed something we
were afraid to pursue, or denied who we really are.”
Many would admit today that
the church has failed, and often still does fail, to live out the values which
it proclaims, of healing, wholeness and care.
It is also true to say that many church leaders have sought temporal and
spiritual control rather than taking pastoral care of those in their
charge. These shortcomings are obvious
and well documented, and cannot be ignored, but the church today is seeking,
and must continue to seek, to recognise the appropriate use of power both as a
response to changing cultural standards and a fresh understanding of the
history of the church and the nature of scripture.
However, as Campbell (1993: 1)
says, there is a tendency to discard too much, in an effort to distance
ourselves from the failures of the church in the past.
“…the
temptation to discard everything from the past as irrelevant to our present
situation must be resisted. This would
be an adolescent reaction to the views of past generations, as immature and
inadequate as the false antiquarianism which treats the tradition as
sacrosanct.”
As the last chapter sought
to explore, there is a need to consider the structures of the church and how
they came to be. Alongside this we can
see an ongoing critique within Christianity regarding power that may go some
way to correcting unhelpful developments in the use of power in the church.
Issues around authority and
the power of the church and its ministers are very much the concern of those who seek today to examine the church in
the light of cultural shifts and take account new understandings of the
responsibilities and the nature of the church.
Bishop Jamieson (1997: 9) explains,
‘We are a
faith with our own built-in critique and protection against the unwarranted
accumulation of power, so there is a real sense in which Christianity will
never rest authentically on unquestioned structures of power.’
As the Christian pastor
works within the constraints of church structures and with, sometimes
unwelcome, ties to the history of that body, there are a number of possible
sources of tension, both creative and destructive, in pastoral ministry. We must also consider the fact that the
hierarchical structures of the church have
been a home for controlling activity and misuse of power. Bishop Jamieson (1997: 53) writes
“There are
ways in which the very structure of the Church, its ordered hierarchy,
establishes relationships of responsibility, and power can distort and
sometimes destroy the pastoral ministry of the church.”
Changes
In the church, control and
misuse of power should be subverted by our own scriptural critique. Power is to be acknowledged and shared. The abuse of power runs contrary to the
principles and aims of Christian faith founded on healing and wholeness. But to talk of power openly, and to stress
the need to share power creates for many pastors some anxiety. For many the adjunct to power sharing is a
feeling of powerlessness, and to many ministers this means losing influence
over pastoral context. John Harris
(1977: 56), Anglican Priest and trainer of clergy and laity in Washington DC
writes,
“In my experience
pastors now encounter the problem of power (and powerlessness) in three ways: Institutionally,
as they see the church’s peripheral place in society; personally, as
they attempt to resolve confusion about their own roles in the parish; operationally,
as they search for new patterns of congregational leadership that share power
in authentic ways”
Harris believes that the
many pastors are seeking to work in a
way that recognises the change in the public perception and function of the
church. He also states that ministers,
in an age where change is pretty much a constant, need to constantly assess and
reassess their role, function, style of working and models of ministry. For Harris the changes in understanding and
using power need to be integrated into the structure of the churches, not just
seen as the responsibility of individual pastors. He writes (1977: 61),
“As
traditional models of authority have weakened, we have begun to discover the
meaning of collaboration – shared power between pastor and people, church
executives and clergy, in the development of the local church’s ministry.”
Many still turn to a pastor
with an expectation that she or he will have all of the answers, and that she
or he will exert some kind of control by telling them to live, think or believe
as certain way. The structures of the
church have often encouraged this, but with changes in those structures and
with cultural shifts taking place in western, and other, societies there is
some confusion about this role. This is
where ministers may find that the institutional approach of the church, which
might demand obedience and submission, must be subverted by the pastor in order
to allow the healing of those hurt by power as control.
The pastor can become a
prophetic figure, challenging structures within their own ‘faith community’ in
order to facilitate appropriate uses of power.
It must be remembered that the church does have some kind of authority
with which it has been endowed by its founder, and there will be times that a
pastor can only facilitate healing or growth by speaking from the perspective
of ‘the representative of the Church.’
Some people may only be healed by pronouncement, either the word of
admonition, or absolution, or some other form of declaration which offers the
church’s blessing or guidance.
Sharing Power
Individuals respond to
pastors in different ways, but often there is, Harris (1997: 61) states “… a
mixture of a yearning to be dependent and a desire for partnership.” This partnership has been the stated aim of
the church for many years, but it is only in the past thirty or so years, with
patterns of ministry changing, churches experiencing slower or negative growth,
less candidates for ordained ministry and other factors that the church as a
whole, and especially the leadership, is
taking seriously the role of all Christian people in the pastoral task. Because of this church structures are changing.
There are methods of
leadership that seek to take combined Episcopal, clerical and lay involvement
seriously. This has been the case for
many years in a number of denominations, but in the Church of England the
growth in the influence of local, diocesan and General synods has been a mark
of the encouragement of active participation by representatives from the whole
church in the government of the Church of England. There has also been recognition of the need
to involve individual parishes in the selection, training and ‘rooting’ of
ministers - making way for local ministry courses where individuals are
selected and ordained to serve a local area under the guidance of their own
congregation. This are two ongoing
acknowledgements, thought not always perfect, of the role of all believers. They are initial attempts to redress the
imbalance and destructive potential of a ‘top down’ hierarchical model.
Power sharing is not
powerlessness. This is a message that
needs to be communicated to all those who are involved in pastoral
ministry. Opening up pastoral ministry
in such a way that groups take on responsibility for what ministers do in their
name, and so that pastors acknowledge in pastoral relationships a sense of
‘mutuality’, a ‘shared journey’ in
pastoral encounter, creates more energy, more power for change than
having one individual who is ‘the pastor’ holding power. The term ‘holding’ power is an important one
here, as power that is controlled and released by a single individual is power
that is often misapplied and dysfunctional.
For those who use their position and influence in this way there is
normally a need for control, and this creates dangerous dynamics in pastoral ministry. Bishop Penny Jamieson (1997: 65) explains,
“When
pastoral care is associated with power, and pastoral ministry moves only in a
single, downward, direction, mutuality is discouraged. At times, this can produce a severe
distortion of the relationship of pastoral care. It implies that one party has everything to
offer, and the other can only receive.”
All of these ideas involve a
large amount of risk. Whether it is
challenging inappropriate structures within and around the community of faith,
or opening up pastoral encounters that may allow the client and others to see
the vulnerability of the pastor, or acknowledging the role of mutuality in any
pastoral relationship. All of this
require a pastor to go somewhere that she or he may not have been before. All of these demand that the pastor negate
the image of him or her self as ‘omni-competent’. In challenging the assumptions that have been
made for many generations the pastor risks disempowerment if her or his
approach is rejected, or if his or her support networks are insufficient to
cope with the demands of a broader approach to pastoral ministry.
Difficulties and Challenges
It is often easier to tell a
client what he or she should do. It is
easier to project an image of perfection in pastoral encounters that does not
allow for mistakes on the part of the minister.
At least it is easier in the short term.
Those who come to ministers seeking pastoral care also come seeking
authenticity. Healing is hampered by a
lack of honesty. Bishop Jamieson (1996:
65) tells us,
“…we all
thrive best where giving and receiving are interwoven. This, of course, means that the one offering
the pastoral care needs to give away a certain measure of both distance and
control, and be willing to accept a level of vulnerability – which might well
be costly, but is frequently more healing.”
Without genuine depth within
a pastoral encounter the client is being offered false solutions to
difficulties and superficial assistance and advice. It is also unhealthy for a pastor to continue
with what is ultimately a false act that will eventually leave her or him with
problems of personal identity and integrity.
As Campbell (1993: 102) writes,
“Without
the discipline of self-examination we shall find ourselves battling against
unseen and enervating forces in our efforts to do what we regard as our
Christian duty. Yet this discipline does
not add a fresh load, piling duty upon duty.
The discipline of knowing self frees us to offer a love grounded in our
own truth, reaching out to the truth in others.”
But as the whole area of
working at an appropriate use of power is so difficult it is important to build
new support structures for pastoral ministry, structures that make provision
for accountability and which acknowledge of the need for transparency in
pastoral contacts. Pastors who seek to
make pastoral encounters more open, more honest and more helpful are liable to
be under great strain on their personal resources, certainly in the first
stages of learning and exercising such relationships.
Ultimately, the fruitful
kind of pastoral encounter that springs from a relationship of trust and
freedom is energising and liberating for both pastor and client, but until
these relationships are recognised by the structures of the wider church and
the members of the immediate ‘faith community’ then working for such mutuality
is difficult and draining, creating negative forces of anxiety and even fear of
the unknown. Until that fear is faced
and conquered the pastor needs the love and support of the community he works for
and within.
The structures of the church
present both challenges and opportunities for the pastoral minister. If we do accept the self-critique which
should be foundational to the church then we are able to question, explore and
challenge from the inside. In order to
do this pastor will need to use the authority conferred upon them by their
position within the organisation as well as following the long heritage of
prophetic proclamation against restrictive and ungodly structures which is the
hallmark of authentic Christianity.
Church structures will need to change, but the task of the pastor
representing the church is to learn to hold on to those parts of the tradition
which are valuable, to speak with authority in such a way that challenges the
shortcomings of the church, and to live with integrity as an individual and
fellow-member of the faith community. In
this power and authority are used to express both a teaching/nurturing role for
those who seek pastoral aid and to speak out against that which is negative in
the structures of the church.
Back to basics?
If the Church is to take
seriously the model of Jesus as an example of the appropriate attitude towards
and uses of power then those in pastoral ministry are to follow that example
and to take seriously the instructions given to those who seek to continue his
work of compassion and healing.
Middleton and Walsh (1995: 139) state that,
“Jesus
explained that his followers were to exercise power…in serving each other, ‘for
even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life a
ransom for many. (Mk 10:42-45). The imago
Dei as the right use of power is thus equivalent to imitatio Christi (the imitation of Christ.)”
This understanding of power
in pastoral encounters is both liberating, in that the pastor is freed from the
need to always be ‘in control’ of every situation, and demanding as it requires
responsibility, honesty and humility.
Michael Riddell (1998: 68)
talks of ‘the dangerous memory of Jesus’- where those who seek to maintain the
remembrance of Christ are those active in subverting accepted structures of
power as control. Jesus had a radical
critique of power. A person of great
personal power and authority, he changed the lives of those he came into
contact with because of his self confident position as ‘God’s representative’
to those he met and through his compassion and his willingness to listen and
respond to the needs of those who encountered him. But as well as the authority which he
obviously carried we must remember the previously mentioned idea of ‘kenosis’,
the emptying of power taken on by Jesus which empowered humanity’s relationship
to God. This has many far-reaching
implications for pastors. Though both our records of Jesus in the Gospels, and
the writings of the Apostolic and Post-Apostolic church offer a very strong
picture of the power inherent in Christian life and ministry there are ‘checks
and balances’ that seek to prevent those who have power taking control of
others lives. Jesus talks of the
responsibility of leaders in a striking way, saying that,
“If any of
you put a stumbling block before one of these little ones who believe in me, it
would be better for you if a great millstone were hung around you neck and you
were thrown into the sea.” Mark 10:42
(with parallels in Matthew & Luke)
In New Testament terms,
especially with regards to the Gospel accounts of the ministry of Jesus, power
and authority are necessary components in the pastoral process. Jesus himself wielded authority to pronounce
healing and forgiveness to those who asked and the results recorded were life changing
for the ‘clients’ of the pastoral encounter and often for those who witnessed
the events as well. That authority has been passed on to those who
hold pastoral position in the church today.
In the meantime it has gone through a transformation of being a
primarily charismatic to a primarily institutional power, a change which leaves
the possibility of bring the pastor to account through the structures of the
church.
For those engaged in
Pastoral ministry there are many responsibilities and the basis of all care
must be concerned with healing and wholeness, with bringing those in need to a
position of self-dependence whilst fostering a dependence on the God who makes
their healing possible, and building a trust in the pastor who seeks to assist
in the process of growing to wholeness..
On many occasions Jesus affirms the faith of those who have come to him
for help, in a recurring statement, found in many forms but using similar
words, throughout the Gospels -“Go, your faith has healed you”. Jesus also affirms the act of seeking help
and asks those who come what they expect of him and what they need.
In the same way the task of
the Christian pastor, or indeed anyone with pastoral responsibility, is to
allow people to be a part of their own healing, firstly to acknowledge their
need, then to seek the way to proceed.
The pastor offers guidance, reassurance, support - and within the
authority given to them by the institution they serve and represent, often can
pronounce some form of ‘absolution’; forgiveness and the promise of
unconditional love. The pastor also has
the opportunity to reflect back to the
client what she or he is saying and to respond, when invited, by offering help
and advice as appropriate.
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