Clergy -
Have you lost your enthusiasm for leading worship?
Have you stopped looking forward to Sunday mornings?
Do you feel as though you have gotten stale?
The Dilemma
Sunday worship is the prime arena in which the talents and skills of members of the clergy are on public display. It is seen by most members of the congregation as the principal area of clergy expertise. The quality of the Sunday worship experience for parishioners is often the primary way in which members connect to God and their Christian beliefs. It is the part of clergy work which is most visible.
And yet, after a number of years of active ministry, clergy can sometimes find themselves feeling stale or unmotivated when it comes to the Sunday worship experience. Those serving in liturgical churches who use a more-or-less fixed text and structure for worship may be particularly vulnerable. The repetition of word and ritual can, over time, take its toll and leave the one who preaches and presides at worship feeling unengaged and unenthusiastic.
Sunday Consultations offers such clergy a tailor-made consultation experience to help them rediscover and reclaim the spark of energy and enthusiasm which they once brought to the act of leading worship. The consultation experience is one of listening, questioning, suggesting, and advising.
The Help
It is based on the experience of an Episcopal priest who has been able to maintain that spark of energy and enthusiasm in leading worship for 20 years. At the same time, this priest has also experienced some aspects of burnout and lack of motivation in other aspects of pastoral ministry. After long reflection, this priest is able to offer a sympathetic understanding of how clergy can become de-energized about an aspect of ministry, while at the same time offering much insight about how to keep alive the experience of leading worship. This priest has a recognized reputation among peers for worship presiding and preaching, and has done extensive research in the areas of liturgical worship and clergy burnout.
Sunday Consultations is aimed primarily at clergy working in a liturgical setting who still experience significant overall satisfaction in their ministries, yet who are not satisfied with the way they feel about leading public worship. It is for clergy who are finding that they have less enthusiasm when they wake up on Sunday mornings compared to the other days of the week. It is for clergy who desire more energy and engagement in the most visible and public part of their work.
Details
There are several things Sunday Consultations is not. It is not for clergy who are in crisis, or whose overall ministries are in serious jeopardy. It is not for clergy who feel unenthusiastic about their entire ministries, or who are in an advanced state of burnout. It is not preaching lessons or sermon critiques. And it is neither spiritual direction nor psychotherapy.
Instead, Sunday Consultations offers liturgical clergy a private series of conversations in which your consultant gets to know you, your history in ministry, your congregational situation, and your strengths and weaknesses. From there a unique strategy is developed which is designed to help you find approaches which result in your feeling pleasure and satisfaction in the act of leading public worship.
Though this strategy will most likely improve your performance on Sundays, that is not its main purpose. It is instead primarily intended to reawaken your experience of preparing for and leading worship as spiritual, interesting, and satisfying.