Living leaders? - Jonathan Carswell talks to Marcus Honeysett

98% of us feel stressed; 86% depressed; 83% are angry; 63% feel lonely; and a third of us are thinking seriously about leaving our job. So who are we? We’re the ministers and vicars of your local churches!

Frightening isn’t it? They say that statistics can prove anything you want them to, but who would want to prove that our church leaders are tired, downhearted and desperate to ‘get out’. What’s worse is that the situation isn’t improving; in fact it’s spiralling downwards faster than ever and it’s hardly surprising when the average age of a minister is over 50 and increasing each year.

So what can be done about it? Jonathan Carswell, a youth pastor himself, chatted to Marcus Honeysett to find out some answers.

JC: Marcus, you're the director of an initiative called Living Leadership — can you tell us what it is and what you’re trying to achieve?

MH: LL is a growing network of leaders, churches and friends committed to training and sustaining leaders. The vision is that, when God puts his hand on a person’s life for Christian leadership, the necessary training, development, ongoing nurture of life, soul and marriage will be available as a basic matter of course. We feel this needs to be provided as accessibly and cheaply as possible for the entire duration of their leadership. Our prayer is that God will lead us in building such a network and show us how to do so with a wide cross-section of biblical evangelicals. It is simply no good for someone to receive leadership gifts from the Lord but be prevented from using them to the full because man-made hurdles such as finance are put in their way. We want to find ways of clearing such hurdles

JC: So how do you plan to remove these hurdles?

MH: There is an unbreakable link between continuing to spiritually flourish as a leader, and the care that we receive for our souls. For most leaders, especially where they minister alone, they aren’t receiving the care their souls require. Therefore we need to develop long-term means for nurture of leadership if we wish to see the trends reversed.

One way LL is trying to do this is through a Pastoral Refreshment Conference. It is an oasis for Christian leaders and their spouses where our aim is to provide spiritual refreshment and nurture for their walk with the Lord and sustenance for their hearts. It is an opportunity for them to take time out and seek the Lord together. It is not primarily a theology or ministry skills conference, but rather a chance to rejoice, weep and worship with peers, to be prayed for and to receive spiritual nourishment from God and encouragement from others. We ran one this time last year which was really beneficial for many who attended.

JC: Is this not just another conference in an already crowded conference scene though?

MH: The conference scene is indeed a crowded one but I believe that the Pastoral Refreshment Conference provides a unique opportunity that is not currently mirrored elsewhere. It provides a safe environment to seek the Lord, to be prayed for, to have access to an experienced pastoral team, and receive encouragement tailored on remaining in the love of God and enjoying fellowship with him in leadership. Not just that, but it provides an opportunity to explore matters of leadership that aren’t available elsewhere, such as help with loneliness as a sole leader, or what to do when God seems distant but I still have to lead, or ministering with a heart of forgiveness when you are bruised.

JC: Is the conference just for those in a crisis then?

MH: Definitely not! We are trying to build an ethos of knowing and experiencing the love and grace of God into all leaders’ lives (and families) as a normal expectation.

JC: You describe the conference as an ‘oasis’ — how will it be such?

MH: Many conference programmes are rather packed and leave people needing time to get over them — we have tried hard to ensure that delegates are given the space they need to reflect on and search for God. The group is also small enough to have a ‘family feel’, where deep fellowship and friendship is possible yet large enough to enjoy meeting and mingling with a broad range of people from all over the UK.

JC: From the conference programme outline, a common theme is grace — why so?

MH: We often teach the doctrines of grace but don’t let it sink through into our own ministry patterns. It is easy to become ‘professional’ in the sense that our spiritual life is reduced to merely what we do for our work. Habitual patterns of reading the Bible can form because we are frequently preparing a Bible study for example. We can approach matters of faith thinking ‘how would I explain that to others’ rather than ‘how can I grow to be more like God, loving him and receiving his love’. All of which is symptomatic of replacing God with Christian work and thus replacing a real experience of his grace with merely knowing about it in the abstract. This path frequently leads to burnout, failure, replacing God with activity, lack of joy and a mere veneer of godliness that does not satisfy. In short, neglecting grace saps the spirit. We place a lot of emphasis on grace and the character of the leader, therefore, because we want knowing the love of God, rejoicing in Christ and finding our satisfaction in him alone to be real leaders’ lives. This conference is about receiving grace from God as we seek him together, such that we reign in life in leadership (Romans 5.17).

JC: Finally, Marcus, can you give us a little taster of what will be happening at the conference?

MH: The dates of the conference are February 5-7 at Hothorpe Hall in Leicestershire. We will have three days of encouragement in developing a godly character for leadership. There will be inspiring biblical preaching from Jonathan Lamb (International Director, Langham Preaching), exploring the theme ‘Enjoying God’s Grace in Leadership’. Times of worship will be led by John Risbridger (Above Bar, Southampton) and there will be a variety of optional seminars including practical pastoral issues related to the lives of leaders and their families. 10ofthose.com is our bookstore provider, which means there will be some great purchases to be had. It promises to be a great few days. At the moment there are still some places available and the conference is intended to be just as helpful for leaders’ spouses as for leaders themselves. Why not send your church leaders as a late Christmas present?
If you want more information about Living Leadership then email: info@livingleadership.org

Jonathan Carswell is a youth pastor in Northern Ireland.