Learning and Leading in Ministry: Chapter Sixteen

Elevate Your Spirituality

Learn spirituality.

In the high, dry desert climate of southwestern Wyoming , the thin air lacks the oxygen levels that people grow accustomed to in lower altitudes. On a recent trip there, I saw a sign for a business on a strip mall building that said, ALTITUDE ANALYSIS. It’s a computer business that offers software support for altimeters and other instruments for airplanes. Immediately, I was struck with the application to the spiritual life. We cannot go higher without changing the way we live. Higher spiritual altitudes force us to adapt to a different atmosphere that starves our carnal appetite. Without change, we gradually retreat back to lower levels.

It’s never been harder to be spiritual. Contemporary pastors and church leaders work in the most complex environment ever faced by religious organizations. Technology, demographics, market demands, a radically-shifting social structure—you name it—all impinge upon leadership to keep up the ever-increasing pace. These factors place an enormous pressure plus a seductive pull upon church leaders to stray from their element of spirituality and suit up in the latest techie development or fashionable idea. Much of it is fun. A lot of it is interesting. All of it can be deadly. Leaders who abandon the highway of spirituality to seek out popular trends follow a glitzy path to apostasy and ruin.

Elevation of spirituality cannot be accomplished by just stepping up prayer activity or added emphasis on reading the Bible. There must be an accompanying attitude fostered by leadership that teaches people to actually seek God for personal and congregational direction. Often, churches enter into programs or series of studies in an attempt to “try this for awhile,” or “let’s see if this works.” After the final seminar session, people stop doing what they really didn’t want to do in the first place and go back to the way they were. Cultivation of true spiritual growth involves weaving in a constant reliance upon the presence of God in a person’s life.

Researcher Adair T. Lummis of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research studied an intriguing question about pastors, “What do Lay People Want in Pastors.” He found that people want a pastor with a sense of humor and an ability to laugh. But Lummis concluded that the most important trait people look for in a pastor is an authentic religious life. He said, “Most lay people define that as a person whose faith combines both head and heart; a person whose lifestyle is spiritually inspiring to others.” www.hartsem.edu/research. Wise pastors understand that people come to church for spiritual reasons. The church must be seen as a spiritual oasis in a high, dry desert.

Leaders and pastors who try to be everything to everybody will end up being nothing to everyone or everything to no one. People do not want legal, medical or financial expertise from their pastor. They do not want psychological, construction, computer-geek advice. They don’t want decorating, fashion-statement or sports advice. All these things may be interesting and entertaining, but they can get these from real experts in the community. More than anything else, they want spiritual help from their spiritual leaders. Pastors who become bored with living a spiritual life and dispensing spiritual advice cut their own throat. It is paramount that they have a ready scripture, an instant prayer, a spiritual insight, a Word from the Lord and an uplifting comment for people. Keep the church looking upward before you have it looking outward. Never allow any aspect of the church to overshadow its spiritual mission.